CinePaint Roadmap

by Robin Rowe 2/19/04, updated 2/24/04

• Deep Paint - new plug-in based approach to channels
• Vector 2D paint - based on GFIG
• 3D paint - based on OpenInventor
• ColorSpaces? - initially based on 32-bit RGBA with lossless conversions, new channel architecture to support arbitrary channels of any supported depth
• CMS - based on LCMS
• GUI - changes to streamline workflow plus macro recorder
• Video Editing - new flatbed editor in conjunction with transcode
• Performance - new scanline core based on img_img, procedural paint, batch render
• Help System - live help system based on HEML fork of Dillo

Description

• Deep paint including support for exotic bit depth formats. We've supported 16-bit integer and 32-bit floating point for a long time. Recently, we implemented 16-bit binary fixed point, another bit depth format widely used in the motion picture industry. One reason deep paint matters in pro work is film has greater dynamic range than monitors. Deep paint images clipped to 8-bit will look fine on monitors (which can only display to 8-bit) but can show visible defects when output to film.
• High dynamic range (HDR). We can read and write OpenEXR, an open source HDR format provided by ILM. We're adding paint features to better support HDR capabilities. HDR is to images what headroom is to audio. Without HDR an image clips white at 1.0. Colors in flames and other highlights can be lost, turn gray if the image is later adjusted back down again to be darker. HDR paint can repeatedly adjust image intensity without color loss.
• Roto and vector 2D paint. CinePaint (and GIMP) are raster paint programs. CinePaint can be used for rotoscoping, but the lack of vector 2D paint support (especially splines) hampers that. Good vector 2D support is also needed for our new slideshow feature, described below.
• 3D paint. CinePaint is used as a texture paint tool to support work with 3D packages such as Maya. We seek to have closer integration, be able to preview or even paint 3D in CinePaint using OpenInventor.
• Colorspaces. CinePaint (and GIMP) only have RGB support now. We've begun work to implement CIELAB and CMYK. We want to add XYZ, sRGB, and scRGB.
• Color management. We want output on film that matches what users see on monitors, to support precision and artistic control in how colors are displayed. We have recently implemented color management for 8-bit depth, but found the screen performance too slow. We have begun to overhaul our GIMP-based paint core to make CinePaint fast enough to handle CMS responsively.
• World-class GUI. Our goal is to offer a user interface superior to Photoshop.
• Slideshow feature. We want to offer an alternative to PowerPoint?. We have a new slideshow feature built into the movie flipbook in CinePaint.
• Compositing and effects. We want to offer an alternative to Apple Shake and Adobe AfterEffects?.
• Video editing. We want to add a flatbed film-style video editor including sound and support for transcoding to popular video codecs such as MPEG, DV, QuickTime?, AVI, and MJPEG. We want to offer an alternative to Adobe Premiere, Apple FinalCut? Pro, and Avid Composer.
• High performance. We're developing a command-line tool with no GUI, something like ImageMagick convert but to use CinePaint plug-ins. Our img_img tool is intended initially for fast image file format conversions on renderfarms and came out of a major studio. For performance, img_img uses a scanline-based architecture. It's plug-in architecture is a totally new API I developed, and unlike the CinePaint and GIMP tile-based APIs?. In keeping with our strategy of maximizing our compatibility across applications (e.g., GIMP, Photoshop, AfterEffects?) we will enable img_img plug-ins (such as our new img_img JPEG2000 plug-in) to work in CinePaint, and tile-based legacy CinePaint plug-ins to work in img_img. CinePaint seems likely to evolve into a scanline architecture more like Shake.

comments:

DV -- Fri, 06 May 2005 22:46:59 -0700 reply
I'd love to be able to edit my DV footage and do compositing without having to buy After Effects. I think compatibility with all major codecs would be a great thing to focus on.

C. R. Messen -- Sun, 19 Jun 2005 00:37:36 -0700 reply
Yes, i think too. My goal is to make an interesting movie, but is too long to the image sequence method. Plenty of image will be generated :( So, i think this step is the most expected thing. You guys are awesome! Your program is too! You have a freak now! :) (Sorry for my bad english) Take care!

Too many tools? -- Sat, 25 Jun 2005 17:41:44 -0700 reply
This is great software, but having all this tools (video editing, compositing, photo retouch/rotoscope, 3D texture paint, etc...) will jam the interface, don`t you think? There is no such "all-in-one" comercial product; why? Maybe is just too many to acomodate in just one interface... BUT IS JUST MY OPINION. Congratulations for your nice work.