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Alternative to LayerSaver


midora

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Released. See 'ZIP Archive' FileType Plugin (.ZIP)

 

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Maybe some users are missing LayerSaver in 4.0.

 

I created a filetype ImZip.FileType as an alternative to LayerSaver: ImZip.FileType v0.2.zip

 

It saves and loads the pdn document as a zip archive which contains

- a thumbnail png.

- pngs of all layers (The filename of the pngs contain the layer index, name, visibility, blendmode and opacity.

 

This is a test version. There are error checks missing and more.

 

In the moment the layer attributes are coded in the filenames. I'm thinking about to put them in an xml file

'Paint.NET.pdni' to describe the file structure.

There should be a unique file in the archive to identify the archive as a PDN zip.

 

This filetype may conflict with the 'Image Tiling FileType' because both are using the extension .zip.

Maybe I'm incorporating the tiling feature into ImZip.

 

ImZip.FileType has no UI.

 

Feedback is welcome.

 

Edited by midora
Fixed broken link to the release topic

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You're trying to make essentially an openraster plugin?

 

.ora is a zipped file containing an xml file explaining the layers and .png of all layers.

Edited by Zagna

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Yes I miss LayerSaver! Thank You! <3

There are so many times where I want to export paint.net's layers as individual images. I also miss LayerSaver as it was the only other thing that could read pdn. files.

 

However, before I try this plugin out, you say it's a test plugin, it might have errors, and it might conflict with something, so will a more stable version be coming out?

Edited by Cc4FuzzyHuggles
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For sure I know ORA but I'm not looking for a replacement for it. A format like ORA has always the problem that not all applications are using the same features (i.e. blendmodes). An ImZip created zip including a paint.net document would always contain the same information as the equivalent .pdn file. So you could work just with the .zip instead of .pdn and still access the individual layers easily in the FileExplorer.

 

-but the basic idea is to get a plugin which can be used instead of LayerSaver.

 

Paint.NET FileType can't access the destination file or the location so I guess .zip is the easiest for people to handle a group of files. Especially because Windows FileExplorer can open them as a virtual folder.

 

The question to the users is what kind of files do they expect in the group. Is png enough? In the moment the plugin supports internally png w/ and w/o alpha, bmp w/ and w/o alpha, and gif. An other question may be if the file names should follow a special naming convention.

 

The one to one mapping between a pdn document and the content of the zip is only one advantage. You may also open single images included in zips (i.e pages in the .cbz).

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Yes I miss LayerSaver! Thank You! <3

There are so many times where I want to export paint.net's layers as individual images. I also miss LayerSaver as it was the only other thing that could read pdn. files.

 

However, before I try this plugin out, you say it's a test plugin, it might have errors, and it might conflict with something, so will a more stable version be coming out?

 

No that's not really true. Irfanview can view .pdns (the composite image and the individual layers as a multipage image).

And pdn2png.exe or pdn2bmp.exe command line tools can extract composite image or individual layer images from .pdns.

All these tools do not require that Paint.NET or a dot net framework is installed.

 

This is a developer section so you should not expect to get a final version. Especially if the developer is asking which features the users expect.

 

The conflict I was talking about is a general issue of paint.net. 4.0.5 works better than older versions regarding this issue but still not perfect.

 

There are several filetypes in the subforum which share support for the same file extension. And there is a small risk that these are conflicting.

 

Still this is beta software and not alpha or less.

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In .ora blend modes are setup using SVG 1.2. The plugin translates the paint.net modes into SVG 1.2 modes and the other way around. Blends, opacity, visibility and names stored in an xml.

 

But it only saves in png and yours has many more formats so there's quite a difference.

 

Anyway.... good luck with this plugin, hope you get only few uncaught exceptions :P

Edited by Zagna

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Irfanview can view .pdns (the composite image and the individual layers as a multipage image).

And pdn2png.exe or pdn2bmp.exe command line tools can extract composite image or individual layer images from .pdns.

All these tools do not require that Paint.NET or a dot net framework is installed.

 

This is a developer section so you should not expect to get a final version. Especially if the developer is asking which features the users expect.

 

The conflict I was talking about is a general issue of paint.net. 4.0.5 works better than older versions regarding this issue but still not perfect.

 

There are several filetypes in the subforum which share support for the same file extension. And there is a small risk that these are conflicting.

 

Still this is beta software and not alpha or less.

Thanks for informing me about other things that can read paint.net files. The pdn2png.exe might interest me, but I will admit that I don't know where to find it or how to use it.

I realize this is the developer section. But sometimes even plugins that are still in the making are great plugins. But it is because they are still being made that the first few versions aren't always stable. If a developer continues to work on the plugin though, more kinks get worked out, and then more friendly versions become available.

 

I want to test this plugin out, but if it was unstable I then thought I would wait and see what you do with the plugin first. The idea of an alternative to LayerSaver, or a LayerSaver that works with 4.0 is something I'm very interested in.

Edited by Cc4FuzzyHuggles
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Google for 'pdn2png' will help. And nobody is forced to be an early bird ;-)

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Updated the version in the first post to 0.2

 

Features on save dialog

- Select format of embedded images: PNG, BMP, GIF, JPEG

- Add thumbnail

- Add Composite

- Tiling of layers (W x H pixels).

 

Load does not need a dialog in the moment.

 

Be careful with the tiling feature. This is a kind of 3D tiling ;-)

Assume you are saving a 3 layer image 800 x 600 with a tiling of 8 x 8 pixels.

This will generate 3 * 100 * 75 = 22500 files in the zip.

I would expect that this feature is useful just on flattened images.

If you are generating a lot of tiles and the size field on top of the preview says 'Computing 100%' then the preview is active in loading the zip back and glue the tiles together. This may take a while.

 

Tested on Windows 8 and XP. Can not test on Windows 7 in the moment.

Edited by midora

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  • 4 months later...

You should ask questions about a plugin in the related plugin thread.
Is there any sw which is final? ;-)

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  • 2 years later...

This link on the first and on the 8 June 2015 posts does not work.

Perhaps one of the moderators can add a link to this one on the first post: 

 

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1 hour ago, Djisves said:

This link on the first and on the 8 June 2015 posts does not work.

Perhaps one of the moderators can add a link to this one on the first post: 

ImZIP.FileType v1.0.zip

 

I can't open the File of the Zip you gave @Djisves it says the file is empty or damaged ?

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How I made Jennifer & Halle in Paint.net

My Gallery | My Deviant Art

"Rescuing one animal may not change the world, but for that animal their world is changed forever!" anon.

 
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I tried to download it myself with Firefox and it wouldn't download. I got a warning that "this file contains a virus or malware".

I checked the zipped file I uploaded with AVG and it shows clean. I checked again the three unzipped files and AVG insists that all is well.

 

I then tried downloading using Edge and I the zip downloaded fine without any warnings. I checked again the downloaded zip file and the unzipped contents with AVG and they came out clean.

 

Perhaps try again @Pixey with a different browser? 

 

BTW, my first instinct was to delete the uploaded zip and upload it again, but I couldn't figure out how to delete a file under "My attachments". Any ideas?

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To delete your original uploaded Zip just go to Edit and you will see a delete option at the bottom.

 

I have tried Chrome and Firefox and both don't like the File for some reason:

 

firefox_and_chrome.png

 

Can you try to upload the Zip to Dropbox and then add the 'Shared' link please.

30b8T8B.gif

How I made Jennifer & Halle in Paint.net

My Gallery | My Deviant Art

"Rescuing one animal may not change the world, but for that animal their world is changed forever!" anon.

 
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6 minutes ago, lynxster4 said:

 

Many thanks @lynxster4 but there is only a .dlc

 

According to the notes, there should be 2:

 

- Copy the two files 'ImZIP.FileType.dll/.dlc' to the Paint.NET\FileTypes\

30b8T8B.gif

How I made Jennifer & Halle in Paint.net

My Gallery | My Deviant Art

"Rescuing one animal may not change the world, but for that animal their world is changed forever!" anon.

 
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That's a bummer....I don't have the other anywhere!  Sorry...

 

Try this Dropbox link:  https://www.dropbox.com/s/zuexwox30eqo9kl/ImZip.FileType v0.2.zip?dl=0

 

Maybe a Mod can attach this to the first post.  ?

 

Djisves's download link works for me. Disregard my drop link; it was an older version.

Edited by lynxster4
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The plugin that I have uploaded, the one released by @Martin Osieka on 8 July 2015, is v1.0, not v0.2

There's 3 files in the zip that Martin uploaded. The third one is the "read me" file.

 

I tried to upload to MEGA and RapidFire but both now require to register an account even for a temporary file upload, which I find too much trouble for one plugin. I don't know why Firefox and Chrome don't like it while the Edge browser downloads the zip without any problem. Perhaps one of the other mods can download the plugin v1.0 using Edge and attach it to the first post.

 

I am not going to delete the file after all because I have noticed that it has already been downloaded 22 times so far. So some people need it.

BUT, my question regarding the deletion of member uploads still remains. @Pixey when I go to my "my attachments", I do not have an option to edit or delete. I see nothing like your screenshot. Perhaps mods have options us commoners don't? I have no immediate need for it, but it would be nice to know how, for future reference.

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