Aphelion

Overview

Aphelion is a full-featured image editor built for Linux that rivals commercial alternatives. With 48 built-in effects, 21 editing tools, and a Cairo-powered rendering engine, it handles everything from quick photo adjustments to complex digital art workflows.

Key Features

• 48 Image Effects: Blur, sharpen, color adjustments, artistic filters, distortions, and more.
• 21 Editing Tools: Brush, eraser, clone stamp, selection tools, text, shapes, gradients, and specialized retouching tools.
• Layer System: Full layer support with blend modes, opacity, and grouping.
• Non-Destructive Editing: Effect stacks that can be modified or removed at any time.
• Plugin Architecture: Extend functionality with Python plugins for custom tools and effects.
• Format Support: PNG, JPEG, TIFF, WebP, PSD import, and raw format support.

Technical Architecture

Aphelion uses a document-based architecture where each image is a stack of layers with associated effect chains. The Cairo rendering engine provides hardware-accelerated compositing while maintaining color accuracy.

Core systems:

• Render Pipeline: Cairo-based compositor with GPU acceleration where available.
• Tool System: Abstract tool interface allowing consistent behavior across all editing tools.
• Effect Chain: Non-destructive effect processing with lazy evaluation.
• Undo System: Unlimited undo with memory-efficient delta storage.

Technology Stack

• UI Framework: PySide6 with custom widgets for tools, layers, and color pickers
• Rendering: Cairo for 2D graphics with NumPy for fast pixel operations
• Image I/O: Pillow and rawpy for comprehensive format support
• Color Management: LittleCMS for ICC profile support
• Plugins: Python-based plugin system with hot-reload support

Current Status

Active development with all core tools and effects implemented. The layer system and non-destructive editing are fully functional. Currently improving performance for large images and adding batch processing capabilities.