= MacClipboard plugin for Gimp 2 =
   
   by Brion Vibber <brion at pobox.com>
   Version 0.7, 2004-11-30
   http://leuksman.com/mac/gimp/clipboard/
   
   Based on WinClipboard by Hans Breuer
   GPL license; see COPYING.txt

Gimp doesn't normally use the system clipboard for cut-and-pasting images,
probably due to X11's traditionally cryptic clipboard system. The Windows port
though has for some time shipped with a plug-in to add this support.

MacClipboard is a port of the winclipboard plugin for Gimp 2.0 to Mac OS X; you
can copy Gimp layers and paste them into Macintosh programs and paste images
into Gimp from Mac programs. Access to system services for screen capture and
scanning is also provided.


== Installation ==

Compiling the plugin requires that you have the Developer Tools installed and
have either installed Gimp from source or have installed the dev package with
the necessary header files.

To compile & install into ~/.gimp-2.0/plug-ins:
  make install

To compile only:
  make


== Use ==

The plugin does not change the function of the regular cut/copy/paste commands;
to copy to the system clipboard you have to use added commands:

* Edit->Copy to clipboard: copies the current layer's contents to the clipboard
* Edit->Paste from clipboard: pastes as a new floating selection to the image

For convenience you can assign keyboard shortcuts, like Shift+Control+C etc;
just hit the desired key while the mouse is floating over the menu item.

Also added to the toolbox:

* Acquire->From Clipboard: opens the image on the clipboard as a new document.
* Acquire->Grab: take a full or partial screen shot using the Grab service.
* Acquire->Image Capture: scan via Image Capture.


== Limitations ==

Right now you can only paste directly into RGB and grayscale images; you cannot
paste into an indexed-color image (but you can copy from one).

Indexed images will always be copied as RGB; an indexed image won't be associated
with its color palette.

Many classic and Carbon apps (such as Photoshop) will ignore transparency copied
from Gimp; you'll get ugly black backgrounds. Pasting transparency from eg
Photoshop or GraphicConverter *into* Gimp should work, however.

Transparency should work with most Cocoa apps also, but partially transparent
areas may accumulate rounding errors due to conversion between premultiplied and
non-premultipled alpha.

May be slower than necessary and hog memory on large images.

Sometimes the marching ants around the pasted selection show weird patterns
instead of what you'd expect; it clears up when you move the selection.


== Future notes ==

Gimp 2.2 will have support for copying image data on the clipboard built in,
but this isn't currently bridged between X11 and Mac applications. Hopefully
either Gimp, GTK+, or Apple X11 changes will clean this up and the "Paste
from clipboard" and "Copy to clipboard" options can be retired someday.

Grab and Image Capture services are separately useful, providing access to
screen capture and scanning.


== Bugs ==

Probably lots of bugs! Please report any you find at:
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=662137&group_id=112414


== Version history ==

2004-06-13: v0.1
* PICT copy and paste only

2004-07-01: v0.2
* Switched to Cocoa for copying for wider compatibility (TIFF and PICT formats)
* Convert to/from pre-multiplied alpha on copy & paste

2004-07-03: v0.3
* Paste from TIFF source if available
* Aquire grayscale TIFFs as new grayscale images
* Can now paste into grayscale images from both gray and color sources
* Detect empty alpha channel in PICT paste source (Photoshop, GraphicConverter)
* Create alpha-less layer when pasting from alpha-less source
* Extract TIFFs from RTFD paste source (TextEdit, Stickies)

2004-07-05: v0.4
* Added Grab and Import Image services to the Acquire menu
* Copy grayscale as grayscale
* Paste mimics regular paste more closely (floating selection)
* Uses tiles internally

2004-07-24: v0.5
* Fixed interference from X11 clipboard (eg Gimp 2.1)
* Added ellipses, renamed 'Import Image' to 'Image Capture' for clarity.
* Fixed transparent paste from Photoshop, Finder

2004-09-18: v0.6
* Set DPI for images with that info (such as from Image Capture)
* Support pasting new 1-bit monochrome images, for scanning in line art mode.
* Fixed progress bars broken in 0.4

2004-11-30: v0.7
* Added support for loading PICT files
* Fixed disabled undo on 'acquire from clipboard'
