I think this is an awsome idea...

    In the way of image formats, png is one of my favorates, but i will
say that i like jpg for my (tiny) archive of images. I usually convert
my images to jpg after they are rendered. I must say though, that i have
had troubles in the past because my Xwindows was down and all my
conversion software is there. Also, zgv, my favorite viewer for the
linux console, doesn't read png format in all of it's color, it displays
it with 256 colors on my computer, jpg displays in 16 bit however,
making some of my test renders much easier to see problems or pitfalls
with. it's realy anoying when you spend a week rendering something, then
can't even view it because A. it's too big to fit on a disk or send by
internet, B. it only is viewable in 8bpp, C. the software on the closest
non-linux computer(my mom's... when i was at home) doesn't support png,
tga, ppm, uh, what other formats... it realy got anoying when this
happened, and it happened alot.
    Heightfields are not all that accurate to begin with, unless you are
using a program dedicated to building them(which i must say, i have not
found for linux(and i'm not sure if i want to, since i have the GIMP and
that does a fine job on them)). Unless you are making a map of a city
with accuracy to 1m, you shouldn't ever need the high accuracy. I've
also found in the past where i have had to erase 20 megs of usful stuff
on my computer to get the heightfield for a large scene to fit(i must
admit to using targa format at that time though)... but even now i've
found my large maps take up a huge chunk of my project-space.
    I do see the problems with newbi povray users selecting bad
values... but most newbi's use small scenes, i don't know any new users
that make scenes that take two weeks to render... it took me about half
a year before i started making things that would take any large amount
of time...
    IMO jpg input/output would be extreamly useful, i certainly would
use it, and i'm not sure why anyone would be bothered if it was added to
povray.

hope it is added myself, but even if it isn't, have fun all
     the Loial Raven

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