Gursor Maker / News: Recent posts

I've had other imperatives these days, therefore the project stalled a bit. I'll be away for a while, then I'm starting a new job so I suppose I'll have a busy first week as usual. I hope I can release my long-promised version soon after that.
Sorry for the (rare) people who may need it absolutely :)

sorry for making wait the few people who're still interested, I'm experimenting a few ideas and experiencing some difficulties, which, I hope, will be overcome soon.
The new version will come with features that I'm sure you'll like: besides the monolithic interface, which is in my opinion much more handy, it will be possible to use GIMP plugins as modifiers and apply them in batch.
A descent file format will be introduced. It is basically a zip file containing xml files describing the project and folders containing the pictures. Therefore, manipulating the cursors can be done outside the software very easily.
That's for the big features. Then, I did speed up the color functions a lot, added several handy things (that you'll discover yourself!) and fixed bugs and bugs and bugs.
I will release a new version as soon as I'll have fixed couple of annoying bugs that I did notice, and when I'll have added xml descriptions of some of the gimp plugins (it's a bit messy now I reckon).
If you're over-curious or you wanted to do something special that you think you can do only with these new features, try the cvs version, and don't forget to REPORT THE BUGS!

The cvs contains now a version with a monolithic interface. Also, I did correct a few annoying bugs (like the spurious freezes). So if you are curious or you cannot stand these bugs anymore I recommend you to check out the cvs version (see http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=157772\).
The flip and mirror options are also included. There's a rotate feature which is very imperfect as I thought a bilinear filtering would be enough but I spawns weird results (conception mistake or intrinsic property of linear filtering?). You'll notice a GIMP filter entry which doesn't work yet (not fully implemented), but it's on the way.
If you give it a try, then have fun with these novelties, and, of course, don't forget to report the bugs you find. Thanks in advance,
V. Paeder

... also, I was planning to change the project file format to XML since the thing I've done now was really made in order to provide some kind of save option as quickly as possible. But now, as I'm introducing the GIMP integration, I do have problems with saving the options which differ from one plugin to another.
So if you did save something that you really want to conserve, send me an email so that I write a converter.

Someone did suggest adding rotate, flip and mirror to the effects, which is a pretty good idea I think. So as soon as I will have some time for myself I'll add those features.
Also, I did switch to a monolithic interface. I was trying to commit that to the cvs server but apparently it's not willing to cooperate. I did add a screenshot (see http://sourceforge.net/project/screenshots.php?group_id=157772&ssid=27608\) to give you an impression.
Otherwise, the GIMP plugin integration is on the right way. I can command gimp plugins from within gursormaker, send the picture to treat with given parameters, and read the result. I must still create some kind of graphical interface for the plugins unless I do find a way to call the plugin interfaces... will see.

As I've to write my master thesis I'll put the project aside for a few weeks. A will continue approx. in the end of february.
If you're however interested in seeing what's new at that stage I'll put the latest sources on the cvs server.
For now, I did a little bit of work on the interface, which is I think much more convenient to use. There may be bugs since I did these changes very quickly.
Otherwise, I did start to code the gimp plugin wrapper but there's no interface yet and it's not integrated at all. The way it works is as follows:
- the program starts a gimp instance in background, without interface, in batch mode, that launches a dedicated python-fu plugin
- the plugin communicates through sockets (INET type, ports 3976-3978) with the main program
- for now, the plugin can transmit the plugin list and also receive a picture... read more