Tips for Integrating an Image Editor in a 3D Production Pipeline

pixaeiro

Hello,

I am developing a node based* image editor, and I'd like to ask you guys what tools and features should I implement to make it more useful in a 3D Production Pipeline.

These are some of the features I have implemented already:

- Support for External Projects
- Save multiple files per project
- Save files from command line without launching the user interface.

And these are some of the features I have planned for the future:

- Scripting
- Full support of relative paths.

I would really appreciate any tips and suggestions you can give me.

Thank you!

* node based: Nuke and Natron are node based video compositors. XSI ICE is also node based.

ZacD

Well, you probably want to match the feature set of substance designer, that's a lot of tools and features to get caught up with.

Tobbo

So I have to ask why are you creating a node based image editor? For profit? Because you have some ideas that cannot already be done with Substance Designer? School?

xvampire

would be cool , if it more into node based version of imagemagick ( and natively written for windows )
then you can deploy it in cpp or command line code.

claydough

if it can be used to actually paint in 3d or at least preview. Alt centric navigation seems like an industry standard I always appreciate.

For a non-linear node based image editor that would replace photoshop...
I would need the polygon selection lasso along with advanced selection enhancements and brushes that are as customizable and hopfully work out of the box and plays nice with windows, wacom and n-trig.

( or photoshop could just become completely nonlinear and node based in the future with alt 3d centric navigation with a pbr render viewport )

pixaeiro

Just to clarify. The software I am developing is more similar to Photoshop, GIMP or Paint.net, than to Substance Designer or Nuke. Because of the nature of a node based engine, almost any workflow is possible. My first objective is to implement all the functionality of Paint.net, with some extras like non-destructive editing, and professional color modes like LAB and HSV.

ZacD wrote:

Well, you probably want to match the feature set of substance designer, that's a lot of tools and features to get caught up with.

Yes, I have watched a lot of substance designer videos. My software already has a good number of tools and features, but right now I am more focused on the user interface and the user experience. I think I have added all the nodes that define functionality (nodes that create images, nodes that change the color of the images, nodes that change the position and size of the images, nodes that combine images, nodes that break an image into channels, nodes that deform the images, etc), but I will like to have more feedback before adding more nodes.

Toboo wrote:

So I have to ask why are you creating a node based image editor? For profit? Because you have some ideas that cannot already be done with Substance Designer? School?

I started this project 6 years ago, when I was developing a 3D painting application for a customer. In my opinion, image editors that use a layer stack (photoshop, gimp) are very limited, and don't offer all the flexibility that is possible with an node based graph engine.

I know that node based engines are extremely flexible, and because they are non-destructive, they offer the artist an extremely short iteration time... you can test many things very fast. I think no other software in the market works this way.

And definitely not school... I have been developing professional 3D and 2D software for film and games for 20 years.

xvampire wrote:

would be cool , if it more into node based version of imagemagick ( and natively written for windows )
then you can deploy it in cpp or command line code.

Yes, all image operations are nodes, and they can be connected in any possible way. There are no limits of color modes, or image size, so a project can combine any kind of nodes, as the user decides.

And yes, I am planning to add a script interpreter (Lua or Python), command line access, and support for plug-ins.

claydough wrote:

if it can be used to actually paint in 3d or at least preview. Alt centric navigation seems like an industry standard I always appreciate.

For a non-linear node based image editor that would replace photoshop...
I would need the polygon selection lasso along with advanced selection enhancements and brushes that are as customizable and hopfully work out of the box and plays nice with windows, wacom and n-trig.

No plans for 3D painting yet!

Selection is one of the areas that I don't really know how to implement. You can use the output of any node as a mask for another node, but a selection channel, as in GIMP or Photoshop is not applicable, as the images can have different positions and sizes in the desktop. I really need some more feedback from beta testers on this area.

The editor already supports painting, but I haven't implemented any brushes besides circular and rectangular... I also need more feedback to do a good job here.

Some of the features people have suggested in this and other forums:

- Integration with Max, Maya, etc (via material/texture plug-ins).
- Python interpreter, and PyQt/PySide support.

Thank you for all your suggestions!