@Paranoidfactoid Trust me, I'm well aware the UX can be a lot better - I'm the person who implemented initial non-destructive filters for GIMP 3.0. :)
I'm just saying that it can be done in GIMP right now, and I linked a plug-in that makes it easier (it adds a menu option that does all I said in a single step). I'm happy to hear feedback from people who use GIMP on how to improve it further.
@Paranoidfactoid @monica_b1998 We actually do have masking on Adjustment Layer Groups. Basically, make a layer group in passthrough mode, put whatever combination of filters you want on it, then add a layer mask.
Someone even made a plug-in to simplify that process while we continue to work on the UX: https://github.com/yousei3/GIMP3-Aseudo-Adjustment-Layers/releases/tag/Ver1.0
@Blue_Morpho @mech We actually welcome user feedback and try to make improvements as we're able. We have a dedicated UX site now (https://gitlab.gnome.org/Teams/GIMP/Design/gimp-ux/-/issues) and we encourage people to share designs and discuss proposals for implementation.
@anticurrent @webdoodle We have non-destructive filters now, so you can apply pretty much any filter as a "layer style". Like, you can add a Drop Shadow, Outer Glow, etc to any layer and it will be adjustable afterwards (unless you choose to merge down).
We have vector layers in 3.2, so it's just a matter of designing a tool to make "preset" vector layers in certain shapes. We have it as GSoC project for this summer, so hopefully someone will take it up soon!
@grue We'll see! Might be kept for historic reasons.
@Paranoidfactoid No worries! I think I misunderstood what you meant by "mask". Technically, each filter has an associated mask (set to the active selection when applying the filter) - we just don't have the UI yet to edit it after the fact. It's on the TODO list.
I have a pending merge request for exporting Inkscape SVGs that didn't quite make it into 3.2. I'd like to add better SVG import (as vector not raster) integration as well - Inkscape is awesome.