With the development version 4.7 there are already 2 examples using the modules “canvas enlargement” and “overlay”:
Greetings!
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Nice, I’ve missed those examples 
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I missed something. Where can I find the changelog for the nightly build? TIA
(Well, we might be highjacking Terry’s thread here, but these new canvas enlargement and overlay features clearly have the potential to become my favorite new dt feature. Perhaps split to have one thread cover these new features?)
The new features obviously will alleviate one of my two needs for transferring images to Gimp: Retouch from something outside of an image.
But reading the PR and the discussion I am still somewhat uncertain whether my other Gimp-need is also met, that of creating diptychs:
Will we be able to expand the canvas somewhat in all directions with white color around the image, with a much larger expansion in one direction wide enough to place an image beside the first image (and with some white canvas in between) - and then export it?
If “yes”, we’re solidly within answering Terry’s question. 
– but it also makes another question arise: Will we be able to create triptychs, also?
EDIT: And whatever the answers are: Thanks a lot to Pascal and the others who have contributed to the new functionality! 
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My favourte features are: diffuse or sharpen, color lookup table, the right-click slider adjustment, and sigmoid. Darktable is awesome!!
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Thanks for the clarification - this is really good news. ¡Gracias!
Yeah, I can see that there is a side here that I haven’t thought about:
When I create dip-/triptychs with gimp, I usually first export from dt finally edited images in lower resolutions before I establish the composite in Gimp. But unless we do something in advance, dt will work with both/all images in full resolution.
Have a look at darktable/RELEASE_NOTES.md at master · darktable-org/darktable · GitHub
first new big one …
Right, this might be going off topic for this thread, but:
Would the overlay feature be useful for dark frame subtraction/hot pixel removal?
Ssensors can have hot pixels in fixed positions, and the best way to remove those is subtraction of a black frame with the same exposure time. But, for best results, the subtraction should be done with the raw images (or at least before demosaicing).
Thanks! This is really good news:
“This new content can be scaled, rotated and shifted horizontally or vertically.”
Combined with a mask, this sounds like we will get an instrument for not only placing images straight besides each other, but also being able to compose a diptych e.g. by adjusting sizes and offset so as to have lines in the two images connect with each other. Very good!
I’ve really missed such functionality, so I suggest that “creating diptychs or triptychs” are included in the release note as examples on what can be achieved.
(Dream On: Using culling mode to identify two images that could possibly play well together for a diptych, and then activating a function in that view so as to open them up in darkroom for further treatment by new modules. Dream Off.)
Not hijacking, this is why I started the thread to get a conversation going about new features. It is interesting that I read the PR and the use described there was so different to the immediate use I saw of combining bracketed exposures. It worked so brilliantly for combining bracketed landscape images using a gradient mask.
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I second that. I never would have thought of adding such a module to a RAW editor, but a brilliant idea and it opens so many possibilities for the future. However, one limitation compared to GIMP for me is that darktable seems unable to handle transparency. If I open an image where I have isolated a bird and have it saved with transparency instead of sky the image opens in DT with a black background so I can’t just superimpose it using the new overlay module (or have I missed something ?).
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That’s such a brilliant feature! I’ve dabbled in many a raw developer, and none reach the simplicity and precision of Darktable’s right-click menu. Genius!
You can use a parametric mask on the output channel.
I too love this module, although it’s not new! My only wish is that it could be updated to be more robust with the scene-referred workflow. I submitted a feature enhancement request but it sounds like it would be very complex and no one wants to tackle it right now. I’m also wondering if the new Color EQ module will replace it in my workflow. But there’s something about the interface I really like - sample a colour, shift click to add it to your palette, make adjustments, repeat as necessary, done. No messing with masks or curve smoothing. Although there are trade-offs for that simplicity because you can’t push the sliders very far at all.
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Although I could nominate some of the modules already mentioned, I’m going to go with the Color Assessment “lightbulb” toggle, which is not very new, but newish in the grand scheme of things. It’s such a simple little tool, but so effective. I always used to struggle with colour casts, specifically not spotting them, and I’d often come back to a photo I’d spent a long time on previously and say “What was I doing there, where did that ugly green cast come from?”.
Now, I just switch on the lightbulb and can immediately see if there’s colour cast and also how well exposed it is. Reducing the size of the image to thumbnail size with the Color Assessment conditions turned on is a great way to get a sense of how good your exposure and colours are.
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Nice thread, @Terry.
I hadn’t heard of the new overlay module - very interesting indeed.
Yesterday, while sitting in my campsite at a motorsport event, editing a bunch of photos on my laptop, I was thinking that I really like the new-ish rgb primaries module.
(I’m home now, btw)
The main hue-shifting functionality is useful, and I’m gradually using it more, but I find the global tint really useful as a ‘creative white balance’ module, so one can leave the color calibration CAT alone apart from it’s arguably intended use of ‘neutralising’ any casts.
Rgb primaries is nice for corrections too.
For example, I was using two cameras (both Nikon) at the event, and realised that although they were both set on auto WB, and both were responding well to the lighting conditions through the day, one had a greenish tint compared to the other.
Obviously, there’s many ways I could have corrected this, but as I was happy otherwise with both camera’s automatic WB, the global tint was a perfect solution to add a set ‘shift’, so as to speak, without ‘overriding’ the ‘as shot’ in color calibration.
I know color balance rgb can be used in the same way, but for simple global shifts the primaries is a lot handier.
Yes! I use it loads… especially if I’m on a laptop in unknown lighting. It really helps a lot.
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I played with the nice overlay feature today on current master, compiled on Windows 11. It looks very promising & thanks for your effort you have put into this module 
May I ask you to help me, as I would like to understand, if it is just related to my not too strong machine, or to the current state of implementation: when I do an overlay, the rendering is completely done on the CPU and not on the GPU (4GB openCL enabled nvidia). Other actions / module typically run fine on my system using the GPU.
Thanks in advance and have a nice Sunday 
I like this little addition. I have always been less than 100% confident about the fidelity of DT exports esp when looking at them zoomed out…this is nice as it will give you a more accurate comparision for previews vs exports…
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I just noticed the module has been renamed about an hour ago to composite… for anyone that looks for it by searching…
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