Non-Destructive Editing in GIMP - GSoC 2023

 Hi! I'll be using this as my development journal for my 2023 Google Summer of Code Project. You can read the accepted proposal here:

"GIMP utilizes a Destructive Editing workflow – all changes are made directly to the image itself. A much requested feature is Non-Destructive Editing (NDE) which would allow users to make changes without overwriting the original image. This would mean they can easily revert prior edits, modify the settings of filters to see live changes, and rearrange the order that effects are applied in. GIMP’s image processing engine GEGL is fully capable of many NDE operations. However, these features are not fully exposed to users. The goal of this project would be to enable Non-Destructive Editing on individual layers and layer groups through “Layer Effects” such as drop shadows and brightness/contrast filters. A basic implementation consists of three milestones: 

1. Research and design a NDE workflow that compliments GIMP’s current design and user base. 

2. Implement “Layer Effects” for GIMP’s regular and text layers as well as layer groups. 

3. Add support to the PSD plug-in to recognize and import equivalent “Layer Styles” and “Adjustment Layers” as NDE Layer Effects."