Support for 32-bit image thumbnails in the file explorer (.exr, .hdr, etc)

Hexbob6 commented 2 years ago

Description of the new feature / enhancement

Similarly to how opening a folder containing images of other formats (.jpg, .png, etc) auto-generates image thumbnail icons for quick previewing, it would be useful to have this feature available for 32-bit image formats such as .exr or .hdr. Currently, either no previews are generated, or basic icons are used based on the default application selected for opening the file format. Adding support for these filetypes in the explorer preview pane would also be very welcome as part of this request! I'm not clear as to whether this lack of prior support in windows is due to the bit-depth of the image, perceived lack of interest for the need of such a feature, or the need to support individual file formats separately.

Scenario when this would be used?

Working in the VFX and CGI field, 32-bit .exr and .hdr image formats are used frequently by 3D applications and renderers (such as Cinema4D and Blender) as they can store greater amounts of exposure data per-pixel, and thus allow for image-based lighting of virtual scenes. Although some 3D packages offer in-software file explorers and support for previewing these files prior to import, many don't, and the current workflow either involves recalling the name of the desired file, or opening it first in a third-party software, which is often unnecessarily time consuming.

Supporting information

This feature has been desired and requested for many years (found a CGSociety post from 2007, here, and a more recent Reddit post discussing the feature here), however the only options previously have been hacky or third-party workarounds that involve installing custom .dll's or computationally expensive applications to generate the thumbnails, for example listed in this stackexchange discussion here.

As mentioned, some 3D applications have internal file-browsers that allow for thumbnail previewing. Attached below is a screenshot of Blender's built-in file explorer showing a folder of .hdr files:

Blender File View

Something to note is that many of these images are saved in the linear-sRGB colourspace, or custom OCIO spaces (for example, ACES), so there may be some need for identification of the correct space (which may be embedded in the file itself) and subsequent tonemapping for correct thumbnail generation.