My random thoughts about image editing needs and Krita

[furryball]

First of all I would like to thank you for building Krita. I just fetched the 
CVS version and I am a bit stunned. So much implemented in so little time! 
Though it's still incomplete it seems like it will be a real killer 
application. (Buggy though at this moment, but it's most likely my fault as I 
fetched the CVS version.. For instance the selection tools do not erm.. 
Select.)

I have chatted occasionally with a few people about the state of image editing 
programs available on Linux and there have been numerous weak spots we have 
chatted about. The applications available are not bad. Some of them are in 
some uses actually quite good. They just have one thing in common for some 
reason: they don't push for the high-end features (I would call it "quality" 
but whatever) and are in such not suitable for many tasks.. Here are my 
humble random thoughts about what would be very nice.

1. Good color spaces (CMYK comes first to mind) support for those who are 
doing a bit more serious work. It seems Krita has and is getting features for 
this problem domain. Great.

2. Color profile management. Nothing pisses off you more than making a nice 
image and printing it - just to notice that it looks horrible. It seems some 
work is being done on this area. Can the Krita file format save the 
information about the used monitor profile and the application on an other 
computer to adjust accordingly? Great going there!

3. Good importing and printing support. Many printing houses at this moment 
load the customer sent PDFs into an image editing application, retouch it 
quickly there and then print it from there. Could Krita do some of this 
stuff?

4. Dynamic layers. Just like what for instance Photoshop does. Say you want to 
build a complex image, with lots of plugin effects and layers and such. You 
draw some seeding form and start applying and fiddling and after a while 
you've got something really good looking. But you notice something went wrong 
at an earlier phase. Damn. Do it again. With dynamic layer effects you don't 
have to, just retouch the layer where the problem is and voila. Sure, you can 
setup macros and stuff like that but why do the task well when you don't have 
to do it all? Some of the users have more experimenting workflow and it is 
quite a powerful way to be sometimes creative. 

For instance http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=79025 contains some 
further discussion. However Gimp's present architecture is completely unfit 
for the job and there hasn't been any significant progress on this area for a 
few years and most likely will not be. It's an out-of-the-box thinking sort 
of feature and very powerful in some places. Could Krita be the only/first 
one offering this sort of stuff? I know of people who are using Photoshop 
because it is the only application (that they know of) that has this sort of 
stuff. 

5. Make plugins system flexible. A manager of some sorts to handle them and 
nice APIs and such for the developers - to kickstart the development of 
those. Krita at this moment seems to have very little amount of that stuff... 
For instance Gimp has a plugin architecture. But they are not managed. (Not 
by the program, not by really any sort of web registry..)

6. I'd add more color adjustments tools as the next tools implemented if I was 
you guys. To get people to use the application. Stuff like what is needed for 
fixing photos with color problems.. Consult the Gimp howtos.. But that is 
just my humble opinion.

7. I can't somehow distinguish the image I am editing from the white 
background.. Where does the image end and the non-used space start.. Could be 
more clear somehow, at least in the default application settings.

8. Guides with snap feature to help in lining up and adjusting stuff, helping 
in selections and such! You most likely have something for the problem in 
TODO list already :)

I am afraid I am not able to help due the lack of required skills and time. I 
would just like to hear where Krita is going. (And when.)