Feature Request: Gamma Corrected Image Resizing

[Sonen10]

So I've been using paint.net for textures for Sonic game mods and I want to use the program to create mipmaps for those textures, as the new Adaptive resizing filter has caught my interest. However, using paint.net to create mipmaps is unideal currently due to the lack of gamma corrected image resizing. This is something that is attainable with NVIDIA's Texture Tools Exporter, and its effects are noticeable in textures that have halftones, like the three attached images shown in sequential order.

 
This is the source image, showing half tones of alternating black & white rows, alongside two boxes with text that also has the half tones. The 128 text should appear brighter than its surrounding square while the 187 text should be noticeable if you look close enough but not as legible as the 128.


This is what the Adaptive resizing filter outputs when halving the resolution of the source image. Unlike the source image, the 187 text is perfectly readable now, while the 128 text is now the one that's far less readable. To my eyes, the 187 text also appears darker with this image compared to the harder to see but brighter 187 text in the source.

 

Finally, here's what the NVIDIA Texture Tools Exporter outputs as a mip with gamma correction enabled and the Kaiser filter type. The 128 text is readable and the 187 text isn't, much like the source image.

 

I would also reccommend making gamma-corrected resizing a toggle, much like the adjustable gamma exponent with the new Bokeh. That way things that shouldn't be gamma corrected whlie being resized, like normal maps, can still be correcttly resized.

 

Any feedback regarding this request or this post would be greatly appreciated, as this is my first post on this forum. I do hope that you take this request into consideration. Have a good day!

[Rick Brewster]

This is something I've been wanting to add for awhile, and I have been thinking about including it in a 5.0.x update sometime this year.

 

It was only relatively recently that this became practical to implement, but improvements and changes to the resamplers have made it very possible.

 

Also, for mipmaps, I do not recommend using "Adaptive (Best Quality)", which is being renamed to "Adaptive (Sharp)" in the 5.0.4 update. Once the 5.0.4 update is released you will want to use either Bicubic (the new default) or Fant.

 

cc @null54 since this is also related to DDS and its mipmap generation (see first sentence of OP's post)

[Rick Brewster]

This will be making it in for the upcoming 5.0.4 update, for both Image->Resize and the Move Selected Pixels tool. In addition, gamma correction will be used for thumbnails, the canvas itself (important when zooming!).

 

5.0.3 versus the latest build of 5.0.4. Due to scaling by your browser, these may not look quite correct, but I assure you they are

 

Notice that in 5.0.4 there is a new toolbar button -- this configures the gamma mode between corrected and uncorrected gamma. It defaults to gamma corrected.

 

[Rick Brewster]

The UI for Image->Resize is updated a little to accomodate this as well. The resampling mode is now at the bottom along with a checkbox to enable gamma correction (which is enabled by default).

 

[Rick Brewster]

You can try the v5.0.4 beta now at: