GSoC’12 Update – Halftime

We are now at the half-way point in the 2012 Google Summer of Code, and the libCmpx/Krita project has seen much progress.

A lot of the work during the first half of GSoC was focused on preparing the library for its integration with Krita.   LibCmpx was still under development prior to the start of GSoC, and had needed its code to be finalized in order to be of use in any application.  The API has since been polished up, and additional features and internal code improvements are now in place in the library.

My previous GSoC-related postings, though slightly technical, had showcased some of libCmpx’s duties in providing printer color management.   At this point,  I am confident to say that libCmpx is finally ready for use.

The focus during the second half of GSoC, then, will be the library’s integration with Krita.  To provide an interface for color-managed printing using libCmpx, I have narrowed down two ways of doing so.  One idea is to implement a docker that will allow you, while working, to select a color profile for print, and at the same time obtain an image preview from that profile.  The other approach is to simply have all of this housed within the standard print dialog that Krita already uses.

It’s important to keep in mind that color-managed printing under Linux is still seen as “under construction”.  The work that I am doing now – interfacing printer color management in the application level –  is just one part of the landscape, and that other projects are actually underway during the summer that will help put together the complete picture.

So while color-managed printing requires the complete picture be available, I will do my best to have things “ready to go” inside Krita.

-Joe