'ZIP Archive' FileType Plugin (.ZIP) [Latest v1.4 2021-11-04]

[midora]

 

'ZIP Archive' FileType Plugin (.ZIP)

Download

Find the latest version of the plugin here: ImZIP.FileType.v1.4.zip[2021-11-04]

 

Summary

Loads/saves the content of a Paint.NET document (layers and metadata) from/to a compressed ZIP Archive. Each layer will be a separate file in the archive (or if the tiling feature is used a set of files where each file contains one tile). Several formats for the layer files are supported: PNG, BMP, GIF, and JPEG. Additionally a thumbnail and a composite image can be stored in the archive.

Tiling of the image is possible. Save may chop up the layers into tiles and load will glue the tiles together to the original image.

This file format may be used

• to export the layers to an other application in a standard format.
• to zip the image if an upload location does not allow .pdn format.
• as a replacement for the external Paint.NET tool LayerSaver

 

Keywords

FileType, ZIP, Archive, Save layers, Load Layers, Split layers, Tiles

 

Author / Copyright

Martin Osieka

2015-2021, Martin Osieka, Switzerland
You may use this plugin together with Paint.NET w/o any restriction.

 

Installation

Follow the instructions carefully

• Copy the folder 'ImZIP.FileType' together with its content into FileTypes folder of paint.net
• Remove other plugins supporting the same file type (.zip) from FileTypes folder (to avoid possible conflicts) I.e. 'TileImageFileType.dll' plugin.

To verify the installation you should restart Paint.NET and check that the filetype popup of the 'Open...' file dialog contains an entry starting with ZIP.

 

Compatibility

Paint.NET >= 4.3.2

 

Supported languages

The language used in the plugin depends on the language setting of Paint.NET and the support of this language by the plugin. The fallback is the first supported language of the plugin. Languages are defined in the .dlc files. This plugin supports the following languages in the moment:

• English
• Deutsch

 

'Save dialog' options

 

Layer subset Select 'All layers', 'Visible layers', or 'Hidden layers'. If the resulting layer set is empty you will get an error message box. Just continue and select an other layer set. Save formats of images The following formats are available in the moment PNG 32-bit ARGB BMP 32-bit ARGB GIF 8-bit RGB opaque (loosy) JPEG opaque (loosy) Only PNG ARGB and BMP ARGB allow you to load the zip back in the original quality. Because GIF and JPEG do not support an alpha channel, the layers will be rendered against a white background before saving. You can see this in the preview window. Thumbnail (preview image) If checked then a file 'Thumbnail.png' will be added as the first entry to the zip. This allows shell extensions of Windows File Explorer to show a preview of the zip. A thumbnail is not required to restore the Paint.NET document. Composite (flattened image) If checked then a file 'Composite.EXT' will be added to the zip. The extension depends on the selected image format. The composite has the same size as the layers. A composite is not required to restore the Paint.NET document. Tiling of layers The layer content can be splited in square or rectangular tiles. Typically this is used on flattened images but it works on a layered image too. Decreasing the size of the tiles will slow down the processing and increase the number of files in the archive.

 

'Load dialog' options

None

 

ZIP file content

A ZIP file describing a Paint.NET v3 document may contain the following files:

• 'PaintDotNet.txt'
  A txt file in UTF-8 format (starting with an UTF-8 BOM: 0xEF 0xBB 0xBF) In the moment the file just contains the signature text "PDN3" which means that the zip file describes a version 3 Paint.NET document completely.
• 'Thumbnail.png'
  A 32-bit ARGB png image containing the composite image of the document scaled down to a maximum size of 256 x 256 pixels (respecting the aspect ratio). Thumbnail.png should be the first file in the zip archive to support shell viewers which show the first image in the zip file in Windows FileExplorer.
• 'Composite.EXT'
  A composite (flattened) image in the requested image format.
• 'L{id},R{row},C{column},{name},{visibility},{mode},{opacity}.EXT'
  All layers of the document are stored in the selected image format. The file name of a layer starts with the character 'L' and contains the following elements
  {id}: The decimal index of the layer in the range [1..Z]. 1 is the bottom layer. The  index may be preceded by '0' characters.
  {row}: The decimal index of the row in the range [1..Y].
  {column}: The decimal index of the column in the range [1..X].
  {name}: The name of the layer. Unicode letters and digits are used directly but all other characters will be replaced with their 32-bit hexcode preceded with the character %. I.e. a comma in the name will be replaced with %002C.
  {visibility}: may be 'visible' or 'hidden'
  {mode}: Is the blend mode of the layer in lowercase letters, I.e. 'normal'
  {opacity}: The opacity value of the layer in the range [0..255]. 255 is opaque.
  The loader checks all file names in the archive for the pattern L{z},R{y},C{x} sorts them and glues all tiles of a layer together.
  The image with id 'L1' defines width, height, and dpi value of the document.

 

Known issues

• Paint.NET does not inform the filetype plugin that the save operation has  been aborted because the user changed a parameter of the dialog. This slows  down the time needed to compute the size of the file. So avoid to change the  parameters too fast.

 

History

• 1.4 [2021-11-04]
  - Replaced ionic zip class with ZipArchive class
• 1.3 [2021-11-02]
  - Modified to support paint.net 4.3 and .NETCore 5
• 1.2 [2021-08-17]
  - Refactored. Added 'Layers subset' option
• 1.0 [2015-07-08]
  - First public release

 

Edited January 16, 2022 by midora

[midora]

Thanks to Pratyush to remind me that there was no release yet.

See Alternative to LayerSaver.

[Maximilian]

I've been testing it and it works very well. Thanks for the efforts, Martin!

[Nichromo221]

I'm a complete noob to plugins, but I followed the directions, and put the plugins where plugins usually go (In the effects folder right?) But it still doesn't work, I am using one of the versions its compatible with, version 4.0.5 but it still doesn't work. I mean, how do I get the option to show? Like save it as a regular .PNG file?

Basically what I'm asking is how do I use the plugin when I have it installed.

[Ego Eram Reputo]

Not quite.

Filetype plugins go in the \Filetypes\ folder, not \Effects\.

From the first post...

 

Follow the instructions carefully

• Copy the two files 'ImZIP.FileType.dll/.dlc' to the Paint.NET\FileTypes\ folder
• Remove other plugins supporting the same file type (.zip) from Paint.NET\FileTypes\ folder (to avoid possible conflicts) I.e. 'TileImageFileType.dll' plugin.

To verify the installation you should restart Paint.NET and check that the filetype popup of the 'Open...' file dialog contains an entry starting with ZIP.

[Cc4FuzzyHuggles]

Basically what I'm asking is how do I use the plugin when I have it installed.

When installed correctly,

Go up to the Menu Bar in paint.net > File > Save As > click the Save As Type drop down list > look for "ZIP - Compressed Archive of Layers (*.zip)", and then click "Save". The plugin's user interface should pop up.

Edited October 11, 2015 by Cc4FuzzyHuggles

[Hypure]

Perfect.  Just what I was looking for. You are awesome.....Let it be known from this day forward.

Edited November 9, 2015 by Hypure

[Gio]

'ZIP Archive' FileType Plugin (.ZIP)

I tried and it's very useful. My compliments for your work!

[Hanako Seishin]

Doesn't work for layers with non-latin characters in their names.

[AhmedElyamani]

This plugin is very useful! Thank you, I appreciate your effort.

[Kanser]

Is it possible to prevent the layer names from being changed in the archive?

For example, in paint.net my first layer is "01". When I save it into an archive, I would like to keep it as "01", instead of "L3,R1,C1,01,visible,normal,255".

[AP2020]

Great Plugin!
I would just like to be able to convert an entire folder of pdn files into layers, or alternatively those currently open.

[Djisves]

@AP2020, you do not need a plugin for that.

On the Menu Bar, click on Layers > Import from File... and select as many files as you need. (I've only ever tried it with files within the same folder). 

More here.

 

[AP2020]

Sorry @Djisves, your idea is good but it has 2 problems:

1. I have a many images and the computer crashed, processing one file at a time I suppose wouldn't have happened;
2. also my files have different sizes, so all the extracted layers would have been the size of the biggest image.

Maybe I was explaining myself wrong. My intention was not only to convert to layers, but also to export them to png

[Reptillian]

21 minutes ago, AP2020 said:

Sorry @Djisves, your idea is good but it has 2 problems:

1. I have a many images and the computer crashed, processing one file at a time I suppose wouldn't have happened;
2. also my files have different sizes, so all the extracted layers would have been the size of the biggest image.

Maybe I was explaining myself wrong. My intention was not only to convert to layers, but also to export them to png

 

Then you would need to use a batch processing software. Either ImageMagick or G'MIC would work. I could help you with G'MIC with a PM though.

 

Also, do report your bug to @Rick Brewster. I think the import layers to zip method to extract should work. If not, you always have the above method.

 

Edited January 20, 2021 by Reptillian

[aworkerb]

I just installed the files into the FileTypes folder but ZIP doesn't appear in the Open or Save As options. I'm on 4.2.15 -- anyone using it successfully with the latest version? 

[midora]

PDN 4.2.15

 

[aworkerb]

Ugh. Even removing everything else from FileTypes didn't help. 

 

Well, thanks for the reply. 

[midora]

 @aworkerbDid you check if Settings->Plugin Errors tells you something about an exception? Maybe it is just an installation issue.

[aworkerb]

1 hour ago, midora said:

 @aworkerbDid you check if Settings->Plugin Errors tells you something about an exception? Maybe it is just an installation issue.

 

Good idea. Unfortunately, "there were no errors encountered while loading plugins". 

[Ego Eram Reputo]

On 2/26/2021 at 4:20 PM, aworkerb said:

I just installed the files into the FileTypes folder but ZIP doesn't appear in the Open or Save As options. I'm on 4.2.15 -- anyone using it successfully with the latest version? 

 

Did you do these two steps.....?

 

Quote

• Copy the two files 'ImZIP.FileType.dll/.dlc' to the Paint.NET\FileTypes\ folder
• Remove other plugins supporting the same file type (.zip) from Paint.NET\FileTypes\ folder (to avoid possible conflicts) I.e. 'TileImageFileType.dll' plugin.

 

If you did, post a screenshot of your FileTypes folder showing us what's in there.

[midora]

Is there the possibility that you mixed up the two paint.net variants Standard and Shop? Then there are different FileType folders.

I would expect that paint.net throws an exception if the dll is in the right folder but access is denied.

 

 

[Ego Eram Reputo]

Quote

post a screenshot of your FileTypes folder showing us what's in there.

 

I recommended this ^ so we can also check the path is correct. That's what @midora is talking about.

[aworkerb]

 

10 hours ago, Ego Eram Reputo said:

 

I recommended this ^ so we can also check the path is correct. That's what @midora is talking about.

 

Well, I guess a picture's worth at least a couple of words. Here's where I installed the files. But see my forehead-smacking realization bolded farther down...

 

19 hours ago, midora said:

Is there the possibility that you mixed up the two paint.net variants Standard and Shop? Then there are different FileType folders.

I would expect that paint.net throws an exception if the dll is in the right folder but access is denied.

 

 

 

I'm not sure what the "Shop" version is, unless you mean the Microsoft Store? I've only ever had the standalone version. 

 

 

HOWEVER, your post made me poke around and finally notice that there were NO OTHER FILES in the parent folder of my FileTypes folder, only a handful of other folders (Effects, Shapes, Staging). That's because everything else is where the program actually lives, Program Files (x86), not plain old Program Files. 

 

I moved the filetype libraries to the correct folder, and now I can save out ZIP files. Too bad the reason I went down the path in the first place has come and gone. But I'll be ready for next time. 

 

Thanks for the help and motivating me to look more carefully. 

[midora]

ImZIp has been updated to version 1.2.

This version added the feature to save all layers, visible only, hidden only,

 

 

ImZIP.FileType v1.2.zip

 

Sorry that I'm not able to put it in the first thread but I lost the account email years ago.