darktable-org / darktable-org/darktable

FR: retouch: add content-aware fill (inpainting/resynthesizer) mode

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difficulty: hard feature: new no-issue-activity scope: image processing
Dominant language
C
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Description

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

We have clone and heal algorithms in the retouch module, which copy from a source region to a destination region, but sometimes there is no suitable source region. In such cases, it would be useful to extend the pattern of the surrounding area of the image into the destination.

This or similar has been requested multiple times in the past (#12891, #8649, #2729), and this FR is meant to consolidate the requests.

Describe the solution you'd like

A new mode in the retouch module similar to the existing "fill" algorithm which does inpainting from the surrounding pixels instead of painting a fixed color. Using G'Mic (which already gets linked to handle compressed LUT files) has been suggested.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reading the retouch module and its existing clone, heal, and fill algorithms to understand how modes are structured. Review how G'Mic is currently linked for compressed LUT files and assess whether it can support the requested inpainting behavior. Done means the retouch module offers a content-aware fill mode that extends surrounding pixels into the destination.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
c
Domain
computer-graphics
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
32/100

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