darktable: custom raster mask module (read-only masks)

[ydyote]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe. Being able to create masks outside of darktable and use them in darktable

Describe the solution you'd like A module which would be able to load a mask from a file/clipboard (also quickreload it when the target file changes)

• possible issues when the path is not relevant, so I guess quickreload is optional, one time load would work too

Module can also store the mask into the sidecar file (dirtiest way would be to use some compression and base64) and then also load it from there

Alternatives Just get better with darktable current mask functionality I guess? But sometimes it would take way too long and not even parametric functionality helps there

or do more editing in gimp but thats only possible after the image export no way to use this within the darktable pipeline

Additional context I looked at https://github.com/darktable-org/darktable/issues/5952 https://github.com/darktable-org/darktable/issues/4459 https://github.com/darktable-org/darktable/issues/12295

I understand "DING (Darktable Is Not Gimp)." but thats why I didn't suggest any editing just load from a file or clipboard

common workflow I guess would be:

1. Take the raw photo, export quick jpg from defaults
2. Open the jpg in your editor of choice i.e. GIMP
3. make the mask using just white and transparency/opacity
4. export the mask into png or some other non-destructive format or copy it into clipboard
5. load it into the darktable module
6. Use the "raster mask" button within modules and select the mask from this new module there

There is a lot of issues and one of them that you always have to have full-image mask resolution but compression would fix big sidecar files if the mask is simple enough