Gimps xcf support

[HGF]

Mario, at first - great stuff 
Is it planned to implement xcf support in Imatch5 ? Would be great.
The only lack I have with Imatch is the unsupported xcf file format, - I have a lot of them.
Maybe a workaround would help?

Thank you
HGF

[Mario]

IMatch supports GIMP XCF files. It will index them and I think ExifTool can even extract some bits of info.

If you mean that IMatch cannot show thumbnails for GIMP files (your feature request is very unspecific so I can only guess what you mean):

But there are no WIC codecs or libraries which allow to extract previews from GIMP files. I started reading all the info they have available, but stopped after learning that there are many different GIMP formats around, and none of the posted samples, libraries etc. supports them all, or all features of all GIMP files and so on.

If you have updated information or know about a library I can use in a commercial application like IMatch to extract previews from GIMP XCF files, let me know.

[HGF]

Mario, thanks for fast response. Correct, I'm talking about thumbnails. I'm wondering if it is so difficult to implement xcf thumbnail support. Just as an example Irfan View is supporting xcf thumbs since generations. Being honest not knowing how they do. I'm working with Gimp since a lot of years (and versions) I've never had a problem with xcf files generated by different Gimp version.
Thank you in advance,
HG

[Mario]

I'm working on some new module for IMatch which may solve this problem. Not sure yet. We'll see in due time.

[Mario]

PS.: I think when you have Google's sagethumbs Windows extension installed

http://www.askvg.com/sagethumbs-free-windows-explorer-extension-to-show-thumbnail-previews-and-convert-many-popular-image-formats/

IMatch should be able to use it and render thumbnails for XCF files. You may need to rescan the folder with the XCF files in the "force update" mode to re-create the thumbs.

[HGF]

Mario, much appreciate your support. Seems Saga thumbs has problems to display xcf thumbs, too. Some xcf files can being displayed, some cannot. I'll try to investigate the differences of xcf's. I did some more tests with Xnview and Irfan. Both can display xcf well, independent there are layers included the pic. Maybe they are doing some miracle. I'll continue my testings and let you know. Looking forward to Imatch5,
thank you, HGF

[Mario]

Since Sage is based on XnView it should be capable of displaying the same thumbs. But as I said, there are many flavors of GIMP files in the wild.

[Richard]

The only lack I have with Imatch is the unsupported xcf file format, - I have a lot of them.

When I read that comment yesterday I looked around to learn what the xcf format was.
http://whatis.techtarget.com/fileformat/XCF-GIMP-document had this to say.

XCF files are supported in other image editors, yet due to how often the XCF format is revised, it isn't recommended for use as a data interchange format.

Mario's comment today reminded me of what I read yesterday.

But as I said, there are many flavors of GIMP files in the wild.

[HGF]

Mario, after installing SAGE thumbs now I have thumbs of XCF files in Imatch5 . Unfortunately this thumbs are very small against other file types (see screenshot). XCF file 4912x3264, jpg file 2480x3508, png file 2480x3508. Setting thumbnail size in Imatch db = 300. No affect when increased to 600. Any idea how to enlarge?
Regards HGF



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[HGF]

Additional screenshot - all 3 files in equal resolution (2480x3508),
HGF

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[Mario]

Looks like the thumbnail delivered is really small.
You can see in the log file which size was returned. Search for the name of the file with the small thumbnail in the log file to see the pixel dimensions Windows was able to extract (via the installed XnView extension). IMatch tries to extract a large thumbnail via the Windows services, and if this fails retries a number of times with smaller sizes until it gets one.

[HGF]

Attached WICDiag.txt and IMATCH5_LOG.txt and another screenshot of SAGA context in explorer. For me, it seems IMatch didn't recognize SAGA as a WIC or SAGA is delivering nothing to IMatch. Being honest I'm not a professional in reading dump files. Nevertheless in order SAGA is serving Explorer it should be able to serve IMatch as well. HGF

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[Mario]

Saga is not a WIC codec. Saga installs a shell extension which enables Windows to render thumbnails for more formats.
IMatch also employs the Windows thumbnailing services if it has no built-in support for a format and there is also no WIC codec for a format - e.g. for some video formats, Microsoft Office documents etc. Whatever is returned by Windows as the "thumbnail" for the given file is used by IMatch.

[HGF]

Mario, understood, thanks for your explanation. With the help of SAGA windows explorer now is be able to display xcf thumbs correct in an acceptable thumb size. (screenshot). Am I wrong if I assume if windows explorer can IMatch should do as well? Sorry for being penetrable. HGF

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[Mario]

Please add at least a log file so I can see what IMatch is getting from Windows on your box.
Set the log to debug mode, create a folder containing some of your files in Windows Explorer and add that folder to IMatch. Attach log file and a sample XCF file. I will look into this as time permits. What Windows uses internally for Windows Explorer and what it gives to applications like IMatch may be totally different. This is a totally black box.

[HGF]

New folder created "Gimp Test" with two files "jpg.jpg" and xcf.xcf". LOGs and files attached. In order xcf upload is not supported I RENAMED to xcf.zip. Please just rename to xcf.xcf, don't unzip. HGF

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