Support for Krita .kra project file type
Currently Blender supports importing Photoshop Documents (.psd) as image files and the same should be possible for Kritas .kra file format - possible to an even greater extent.
Currently Blender supports importing Photoshop Documents (.psd) as image files and the same should be possible for Kritas .kra file format - possible to an even greater extent.
10 Comments
And GIMP's .xcf format.
There is an add-on that already provides some support for this (Import GIMP Image to Scene), though it requires an external tool (xcftools) to work.
The difficulty with XCF is that it's essentially a memory dump from GIMP (not unlike Blender's native .blend format). It's not meant as an interchange format and there's no clear API for it. The KRA format is essentially a ZIP bundle with images and assets inside of it, it should be slightly easier to support than XCF.
That said, it might be nicer to first support the OpenRaster (ORA) format, since that is meant to be an interchange format that works in multiple applications (GIMP, Krita, and MyPaint all support it).
oh, I forgot about that add-on. I've actually used it once. Anyway I guess you're right about all that.
.OCA format via BUIK tools ;)
JUST IMAGINE.... The video sequencer being able to be use to author layered output of KRA data. Imagine visual developing the compositing pipeline in Krita and refining it in Blender, importing a KRA file as a composition in sequencer.
That could really unlock some doors for creative workflows.
SOOO many powerful things could come from that.
This would be a great innovation, Krita could fill blender's holes in a perfect unison. Did that sound weird?
No matter they are already great companions, if Krita could port into blender like PS does with AE... Workflows for 2d bitmap integration could be super streamlined for open source.
Note: when saving to kra, Krita stores the combined result in addition to the layers (at full resolution, not as a thumbnail), which means Blender devs shouldn't have to worry about supporting Krita layers and effects. They could just find a way to retreive that stored image.
I think that's worth adding to the original post to bring attention to it.
I learned that the hard way when I realized my kra files were taking way too long to save and way too much space in my hard drive. Fortunately, after talking to the Krita developers, they added the krz format, which is a zipped kra that doesn't include the combined result.
Hey all this has essentially been circumvented with a more solid solution. Except instead of .KRA for interchange, you use .OCA. but essentially the same workflow improvement. Also the format already works with AE. And using BUIK tools you now havea n alternative to COA tools for everything short of runtime interchange, using this .OCA format.
rxlaboratory.org/tools/oca-for-krita/
..or just work with clean export formats like EXR or TIFF
@mfx: The ability to import project files in their native format saves space and time. If you could import a .kra file you could then make modifications to it in Krita, save the project and then you would just have to hit the update button in Blender. When you work with large 3D projects it quickly becomes really handy.