PintaProject
Link layer support
Description It would be nice to be able to insert images as linked layers, so (for example) you could use vectors within Pinta) without needing full vector editing support. This would also improve interop between Pinta and other editors automatically, if linked layers auto-update upon file I/O changes.
Additional context I don't know if this would be supported in the .ORA format (will need to research), but if so, then it could be recommended for saving files with linked layers to preserve the data.
I'm not sure if I understand exactly what these "linked layers" would imply - is just an external image loaded from disk that isn't editable?
The ORA format is fairly simple (https://www.openraster.org/baseline/baseline.html) so this isn't supported without custom extensions. I think the ORA layers are all expected to be .png files embedded inside the ORA file
I'm not sure if I understand exactly what these "link layers" would imply - is just an external image loaded from disk that isn't editable?
Yes: Basically the way they currently work in other applications (like GIMP for instance) is that when you import the image, it's treated as a layer (you can apply layer effects, like blend modes, etc). However, if you want to edit that layer in the application you're working in (continuing with GIMP as the example) then you need to make that "Link Layer" into a real layer, which then you could use any tool on as usual.
The idea is, if say, you're working with a SVG image as an overlay, you can import it into the application (Pinta in this case) once, and then if you make changes to the source file externally, that link layer is updated to reflect those changes.
They're explained in the GIMP 3.1.4 release blog here:
https://www.gimp.org/news/2025/09/01/gimp-3-1-4-released/#link-layers
Thanks 👍 It sounds like if we wanted to do this, there would be some similarity to the ideas around having text layers or other types of "special" layers.