A few days ago it was announced Release of the new version of the "G'MIC 3.6" framework, which introduces new features, key performance improvements, new commands and creative filters that expand the capabilities of the framework.
For those who are not familiar with G'MIC (G REYC's Magic for Image Computing), you should know that this It is one of the most complete and versatile tools in image processingThis open-source engine not only provides a universal scripting language, but also offers graphical interfaces and plugins that allow you to convert, filter, and display graphical content with great flexibility.
Main new features of G'MIC 3.6
Among the most striking innovations is the Organic Fibers/Patterns filter, capable of generating visual structures similar to biological fibers. This effect allows for intriguing textures with great potential in digital design and generative art.
In the 3D rendering area, the multithreaded3d command is released, that enables multi-threaded rendering for the object3d command, accelerating the generation of three-dimensional graphics. Also The normals3d command is added, responsible for calculating unit normal vectors on meshes, which facilitates more realistic shading on complex surfaces.
The core of language also receive news: The substitution variable $% can now be used in loops, which evolves linearly from 0 to 1 over iterations, expanding the possibilities for animation and mathematical grading within custom scripts.
Furthermore, Support for braces is added in do…while structures, improving syntactical clarity and bringing the language closer to more familiar styles such as C++.
Internal improvements and performance optimization
The interpreter of the scripting language has been rewritten and now processes code 2.5% faster, thanks to the reduction of string comparison operations. The 3D rendering engine has been optimized with improved lighting calculations and Z-clipping to handle objects outside the visible area.
It is also highlighted that Important commands such as displacement have been recoded, which now delivers more consistent results when running in parallel, and the integrated 3D engine, which introduces improvements in lighting and out-of-plane geometry clipping.
The support of formats also evolve: Version 3.6 expands the compression options to save images in TIFF, and optimize reading and writing of large files with parallelization using OpenMP.
Additionally, the pack_sprites command has been completely redesigned, making sprite packing faster and smarter, ideal for game and engine developers.
New graphic filters
Regarding the new filters added, the following stand out:
- Rendering/Speech Bubbles, ideal for adding comic balloons to images.
- 2.5D Rendering/Extrusion, which simulates depth in flat graphics.
- Rendering/Fluffy clouds, with realistic atmosphere effects.
- RBF deformation, which allows you to distort images by manipulating key points.
New commands in the standard library
- multithreaded3d (mt3d): Enables multithreaded 3D rendering, speeding up generation but with the possibility of artifacts.
- normals3d: Returns normal vectors of 3D meshes.
- thickcircle, thickellipse and thickpolygon: allow you to generate geometric figures with thick, colored edges.
- at_curve: Extracts pixels following spline curves.
- resize_displacement: Optimizes the scalability of displacement maps.
General fixes and improvements
Among the most notable optimizations are:
- Improved support for compression in TIFF files.
- Speeding up min/max searches with OpenMP on large images.
- Improvements to split, displacement, and polygon rendering commands.
- Bug fixes for critical functions such as SVD, eigenvalues, medians, and operations with mathematical expressions.
- Precision issues in mathematical operations such as SVD and eigenvalues ​​have been fixed, bugs in 3D mesh rendering under the Phong model have been corrected, and parameters have been adjusted in the calculation of specular reflections.
- Bugs were fixed in commands such as median for vector images, the find() function for empty strings, and various inconsistencies in libraries associated with neural networks and parallel processing.
Finally, if you are interested in knowing more about it, you can consult the details in the following link
How to install G'MIC 3.6?
For those interested in installing this open source framework, you should know that its installation is simple and simply requires opening a terminal and running the following command:
flatpak install flathub org.gimp.GIMP.Plugin.GMic
Similarly, you can check the available downloads and packages from the link below.