Re: [gnome-love] GSoC 2010 Proposal (fast image viewer)

[Darko Makreshanski <d makreshanski jacobs-university de>]

Hi,

This is what I was looking for in linux all the time. I just checked out 
gliv, but there are some UI issues with it.

What I think it's a best solution is something like google picasa 
previewer (which works with linux as well [1], just it needs a lot time 
to load)

Basically I think the most important thing in an image viewer is 
preloading. If when the user looks at an image and the program 
automatically loads into memory the next images, then it feels very 
snappy and fast.

And this is what picasa is doing now, when the image is still not in 
memory, it first shows a low resolution image until it loads.

I think this is perfect, and I would like to see this in a linux viewer.

I hope this is of help

Best,
Darko

[1] http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2009/11/picasa-image-viewer-ubuntu.html

Aleksey Kunitskiy wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm student who is interested in implementing an OpenGL-accelerated
> image viewer/organizer using C++/gtkmm/gtkglextmm for GNOME project.
> I know there is a couple of projects such as eog[1], gThumb[2] and
> gliv[3] that implement viewer[1], viewer+organizer[2] and
> OpenGL accelerated viewer-only[3], but mine is kinda of coupling
> those features listed above in one app. My application will be:
>
> * written in C++;
> * easy to read and maintain ( I hope (= );
> * accelerated with OpenGL image drawing. Important things such as
>   viewing/zooming/etc will be very fast on modern not as fast computers
>   with OpenGL-compatible video card. From listed above there is only
>   [3] that is OpenGL accelerated. But it lacks basic organizing
>   features (tags, comments, etc), has segfaults, has very complicated
>   code IMHO;
> * with support of organizing images. Images will have tags, comments
>   and of course there will be search feature. Only [2] have
>   organizing features;
> * supporting of viewing all possible formats that gdk pixbuf supports
>   and will support RAW camera images with help of libraw[4] library.
>   Libraw is actively maintained library, that supports all cameras that
>   dcraw does. AFAIK only gThumb can display RAW camera images, but even
>   not all. It is slow and lacks configuration for decoding RAW images;
> * keyboard driven like gliv[3]. I like gliv's simple key bindings that
>   in combination with OpenGL acceleration allows very fast and
>   comfortable image browsing;
> * written with code parallelization in mind, to run even faster on
>   SMP-compatible computers;
> * with possibility of OpenGL effects in future. gliv has it, but it
>   slows down viewing because keyboard events wait for effect to be done;
>
> I'm self motivated implementing it because my hobby is photography(you
> can find me on flickr[5] as marten_kv). I'm using showfoto from digikam
> project, but I need something lighter, faster and something gtk-based
> because I don't use KDE and prefer gtk apps. I tried to fix gliv for my
> needs but recently I've got an idea to write something new with
> features listed above.
>
> P.S. short information about me: my name is Aleksey Kunitskiy. I live
> in Odessa, Ukraine. I'm studying in Odessa National University and
> hope to get M.Sc. degree this year =)
>
> P.P.S. I know there is F-Spot. But personally I don't know C# as good
> as C++ and it does not fit in my requirements.
>
> Feel free to judge me. I'll be glad to hear your thoughts about it. I
> hope GNOME community enjoy it.
>
> 1. http://projects.gnome.org/eog/
> 2. http://live.gnome.org/gthumb
> 3. http://guichaz.free.fr/gliv/
> 4. http://www.libraw.org/
>
> 5. http://www.fluidr.com/photos/39718472 N02
>
>