[Feature Request] Merging The Ecosystem Of FFXIV Loose Texture Compiler Into Penumbra

[Sebane1]

I've been dwelling on this for a while.
Loose Texture Compiler has become an automation powerhouse for generating mods with little to no effort required by the end user.
Its also effectively very much tied to and reliant on Penumbra. So much so that it makes more sense for it to just be part of Penumbra.

However, there's a conversation to be had about how much of its workflow can be carried over, and backwards compatibility for existing Loose Texture Compiler users to transition to a Loose Texture Compiler that's been merged with Penumbra.

I would even almost propose that Loose Texture Compiler be a potential front facing ecosystem, while the existing Penumbra ecosystem be more of a manual oriented ecosystem. Possibly even let the user choose if they want to build a mod with automation, or do it all themselves.

Of course, there's a ton of semantics that need to be worked out. This would be a fairly invasive addition if I wanted to have 100% parity with the standalone application. And I'm aware of semantics that will require some kind of compromise or workarounds.

The current features of Loose Texture Compiler that don't already overlap with Penumbra are the following:

- Near instant visual feedback thanks to using penumbra
- Drag and drop texture assignment
- Automatic path generation
- Automatic penumbra options, and ability to customize generated groups for exports to penumbra
- Ability to add custom texture paths to auto generation if this tool doesn't already auto generate them
- Automatic redraw/reload on mod generation
- Can automatically generate normal maps if only a diffuse is provided, or alternatively merge the generated normal data with existing normal maps.
- Can generate a simple multi map, if no multi map is provided.
- Can be used to convert one body texture to other body textures layouts with automated use of XNormal
- Can generate valid eye maps (Normal, Multi, Catchlight, Glow) based on any singular picture.
- Automatic underlay support when providing transparent overlays.
- Atramentum Luminis support.
- Share your authored mods directly to other users via Mod Share. Edit each others characters after exchanging temporary pairing codes, and help debug mod issues.
- Low learning curve.

This will likely be a couple month project if I commit to making a PR for this.
Loose Texture Compiler has effectively automated everything it can think of for texture edits at the moment and so the scope of what the tool does is already known and functional. People who use the tool also seem to praise the workflow.

The question now becomes whether its feasible to get the same, or similar experience into Penumbra and I think overall have one ecosystem, instead of two fractured ecosystems.

If I can get 100% of the same features into Penumbra over time I would be able to fully retire the standalone application.