adding color after using threshold

[makeitwork101]

Hello, my name's Ben, and GIMP has been essential for more than a decade... I've recently installed version 3.2.4, and it seems as though a change has been made to my favorite tool: threshold.

In the past, color could be easily added to a thresholded layer by simply selecting a color for a bucket, brush, or pencil, then using said tool on the thresholded layer. But now, a layer that has been thresholded remains permanently black & white, i.e., having first used the threshold function to make a layer black & white, the selected color of a bucket, brush, or pencil will only result in the addition of either black or white on the thresholded layer.

I've been able to work around the problem by copying a colored layer, thresholding the copy, then merging the newly thresholded layer down to the (colored) original. But the fix is clunky.

What I'd like to know is whether there's a way to set the threshold function to "one time" or "just this once" so that color can be added to a thresholded layer simply by selecting then using a new tool?

[rich2005]

It is the Gimp 3.x layer effects (fx) which acts as a sort-of non-visible layer.  Look for the fx icon in the layer dock.

see: https://docs.gimp.org/3.2/en/gimp-using-...fects.html

When you apply a filter (threshold / curves ...many others)  look for a Merge filter icon and apply it.
or
Click on the fx icon which pops up options for merging / moving / editing.

   

[makeitwork101]

On my version, the option is "Merge all active filters down." And I've used pink to circle the corresponding icon in the attached image.

Selecting the "Merge all active filters down" option technically works, i.e., once the filter has been merged, I can resume working with the layer in full color. But again, the fix is clunky.

When I use any tool/filter on a layer, that choice is likely to be just one step out of several leading to a finished project. If I want to undo a step, I'd simply use the "undo" option. There are no circumstances under which I'd want to be forbidden from using additional tools/filters on a layer, but that's exactly what the layer effects feature does, unless I take the additional step of merging the active filter down in order to work around it.

Instead of having to work around it (each and every single time), I want to turn it off permanently.

Can anyone tell me how to turn this unwanted feature off permanently?

[CmykStudent_]

It is incredibly funny that we received so many comments about "GIMP is useless because it doesn't have non-destructive editing!", and once we added it, we immediately starting getting the opposite feedback.

makeitwork101: Like rich2005 said, there is a checkbox in the Threshold dialogue that says "Merge filter". If you check that, the filter will merge down automatically like in GIMP 2.10. And GIMP will remember that checkbox setting, so you shouldn't have to choose it each time you use the Threshold filter.

[makeitwork101]

Thank you, CmykStudent_. And yes, with rich2005's help, I found the correct checkbox. You on the other hand are the first to suggest that once checked, GIMP will remember my choice. So I just tried thresholding a new image, then using the bucket tool to add color, and can confirm that at first it appeared as though my preference was remembered.

However, although I was able to use the bucket tool to fill a space with color once, when I tried using the same tool to fill a different space on the same layer, the color I added to the fist space disappeared. And the same thing happened with each click, i.e., every time I clicked on a space to add color, yes, color was added to that space, but for some inexplicable reason it disappeared from the space that was previously filled, and it wasn't until I again checked "Merge all active filters down" that I was able to use the bucket tool (properly) in order to fill multiple spaces.

Which again raises the question, how do I turn this unwanted feature off permanently?

[rich2005]

Many of the filters are now non-destructive and will need Merge filter toggled off individually. It is not a universal action.

Always better if you can provide a full screenshot showing tool options and layers. This a sequence rgb image -> Threshhold -> bucket fill.  What is a your typical workflow ?

   

Edit: Just a thought, If you have in Edit -> Preferences -> Tool Options Save tool options on exit toggled off then you lose any tool settings between Gimp sessions.

[makeitwork101]

The following image shows a simple jpg, after being thresholded...

   

The next image shows that I was able to use the bucket fill tool to add color, i.e., GIMP has remembered my choice after having previously selected "Merge all active filters down" in a different project...

   

The next image shows that after using the same bucket tool to fill a different area, color from the first area inexplicably disappears...

   

And the next image shows that I've selected the pencil tool...

   

And the final image shows that as soon as I've finished drawing a line with the pencil tool, all color disappears...

   

And again, the only way to work around this is to manually select "Merge all active filters down" every time I use the threshold tool.

This has never been the case.

I don't want a work around for the new layer effects feature.

I don't want the new feature at all.

I want to turn it off, permanently, so that what was once an extraordinarily simple and straightforward tool will again function properly (the way it used to).