Wasn't it SharkD who wrote:
>On 10/20/2009 1:26 PM, Christian Froeschlin wrote:
>> Also, instead of again using a hacked format like it was done
>> with 16-bit TGA, it might be preferrable to use a 32-bit TIFF.
>
>Is TIFF better in some way than PNG?

The TIFF specs allow you to directly specify 24 or 32 bit greyscale. 
Other programs that handle TIFF files will know that it is a greyscale 
image (some may not necessarily be able to render it). It might even be 
possible to find a graphics application that does support that format 
and be able to do useful things like blur the image, thus smoothing the 
heightfield.

The PNG specs only allow 8 or 16 bit greyscale. You can hack the format 
by setting the parameters to say that the image is a normal full colour 
PNG with transparency, and get 8 bits for each of the R, G, B and A 
channels, then use the red channel as the high order 8 bits, etc. Other 
programs that handle PNG files will render it as full colour with 
transparency. It will not be possible to find graphics applications that 
would be able to manipulate the image as if it were greyscale.

-- 
Mike Williams
Gentleman of Leisure

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