....to me is a game changer. I can't even think of another program that does this. Rob's Shellout plugin really needs to be integrated as part of GIMP itself imo. So many possibilities. Maybe even create a completely new open source program that is extremely basic but can call other utilities and also have layer capabilities. Might be a cool project. Not sure who gets the patent for this idea nor do I want it to have one since it should be open source and used for all. This whole concept sort of reminds me of the strengths the Amiga computer had. It delegated the work to the devices that it called instead of the CPU doing all the work. A parallel program instead of a single all encompassing one. Your workflow may seem tricky at first, but the possibilities of a modular graphics editor are infinite imo. When you want to add capabilities to your graphics editor, it would be just a simple matter of adding another module (program) instead of having to request a plugin author or make a program update itself (why duplicate something that already exists). Just wanted an excuse to ramble and maybe others might want to chide in.

Often there is something which just clicks with you. I had similar experience when 2.7.2 introduced Cairo vectors. They're just so... elegant solution. I often just play with them without any purpose, because I just enjoy using them.

Also, what you said somehow reminds me Unix motto: small is beautiful. You can modularize everything so you can always find new ways to combine modules. New thought causes new creativity.

That would integrate Gimp and Inkscape, which in itself would be wonderful. Or if it could start fotosketcher (sp?), that would be neat too. I agree that it would be a real blessing.

Someone here (forgot where I recently read this) said that FotoSketcher can be called within GIMP. I typically just copy paste and then back again. Still, if that person is correct, even FotoSketcher can be called from within GIMP using Shellout.

Yes it can

Learn something new every day.