Tony[B] <ben### [at] panamac-comnet> wrote...
> Unisys idiots. They're diggin' their own grave. No problem. We'll just use
> PNG then.

I'm glad you feel that way and I hope the other users will also understand.
Removing GIF functionality was a difficult decision to make, be we ended up
deciding to play it safe and not risk any lawsuits.

-Nathan

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"Nathan Kopp" <Nat### [at] Koppcom> wrote in message
news:3936d047@news.povray.org...
> MegaPov 0.5a is now available for Windows and Mac (other versions will
> follow from other developers).
>
> PLEASE NOTE: GIF support has been removed due to the Unisys patent on LZW
> decompression.

I have found Perl subroutines to
find out height and width of GIF and JPG.

As soon as I find such a subroutine
also for PNG, I change all my web sites.


--

Clear targets for a confused civilization
http://www.BeingFound.com
web design and seminars
+43 699 17343674

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So PNG rules now ??? ...

--

 ,',    Jan Walzer      \V/  http://wa.lzer.net     ,',
',','   student of      >|<  mailto:jan### [at] lzernet ',','
  '   ComputerScience   /A\  +49-177-7403863         '

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Nathan Kopp wrote:
> 
> Tony[B] <ben### [at] panamac-comnet> wrote...
> > Unisys idiots. They're diggin' their own grave. No problem. We'll just use
> > PNG then.
> 
> I'm glad you feel that way and I hope the other users will also understand.
> Removing GIF functionality was a difficult decision to make, be we ended up
> deciding to play it safe and not risk any lawsuits.

Was this a POV-Team decision or simply that of a patch writer ?

I for one will greatly miss the gif format if it is lost in the
official versions of the program.

-- 
Ken Tyler - 1400+ POV-Ray, Graphics, 3D Rendering, and Raytracing Links:
http://home.pacbell.net/tylereng/index.html http://www.povray.org/links/

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Ken wrote:
> 
> Nathan Kopp wrote:
> >
> > Tony[B] <ben### [at] panamac-comnet> wrote...
> > > Unisys idiots. They're diggin' their own grave. No problem. We'll just use
> > > PNG then.
> >
> > I'm glad you feel that way and I hope the other users will also understand.
> > Removing GIF functionality was a difficult decision to make, be we ended up
> > deciding to play it safe and not risk any lawsuits.
> 
> Was this a POV-Team decision or simply that of a patch writer ?
> 
> I for one will greatly miss the gif format if it is lost in the
> official versions of the program.


Me too.  As it is the only format with which I have been able to make
heightfields with the Gimp.

But even the Gimp only provide GIF support if you have purchased a
license from Unisys.  (Actually, they take your word for it, but you
wouldn't lie would you?)

-- 
Francois Labreque | The surest sign of the existence of extra-
     flabreq      | terrestrial intelligence is that they never
        @         | bothered to come down here and visit us!
  attglobal.net                                  - Calvin

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In povray.general Nathan Kopp <Nat### [at] koppcom> wrote:
: * removed GIF support (potential legal issues regarding the Unisys patent)

  I personally don't mind this.
  Actually that patenting nonsense is so irritating that this kind of
"boicot" feels only good.
  I will not miss gif support. Most programs nowadays support png, which is
better in every way (and AFAIK compresses better than gif).

  Now, some people may want some (still) free utilities to convert gifs to
pngs. Anyone know of any?

  And btw (to someone posting about gimp), gimp supports png. I don't see
the problem.

-- 
main(i,_){for(_?--i,main(i+2,"FhhQHFIJD|FQTITFN]zRFHhhTBFHhhTBFysdB"[i]
):5;i&&_>1;printf("%s",_-70?_&1?"[]":" ":(_=0,"\n")),_/=2);} /*- Warp -*/

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"Warp" <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote in message news:3937753c@news.povray.org...
| In povray.general Nathan Kopp <Nat### [at] koppcom> wrote:
| : * removed GIF support (potential legal issues regarding the Unisys patent)
|
|   I personally don't mind this.
|   Actually that patenting nonsense is so irritating that this kind of
| "boycot" feels only good.
|   I will not miss gif support. Most programs nowadays support png, which is
| better in every way (and AFAIK compresses better than gif).

Only annoyance to me would be the batch converting and then changing every
gif-containing scene file I have.  No small thing, but then if it can't be
helped I can muddle through okay.
I also have to mention that someone I know of was using 16-bit Gif in POV-Ray
but I never have so I don't understand it's format.  Was from a Fractint
output I believe, well actually I have no idea anymore.
Funny thing, I just looked at the Fractint home page and came across this
there:
http://burnallgifs.org/  Apparently all about this stuff being talked of.

|   Now, some people may want some (still) free utilities to convert gifs to
| pngs. Anyone know of any?

IrfanView does great: http://stud1.tuwien.ac.at/~e9227474/english.htm

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Warp <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote...
>
>   Now, some people may want some (still) free utilities to convert gifs to
> pngs. Anyone know of any?

The MegaPov docs have two links (for unix and windows users).

>   And btw (to someone posting about gimp), gimp supports png. I don't see
> the problem.

POV also does support palletes for PNG files, so any of those features (like
"filter <index>") will still work if you use PNG.

-Nathan

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Ken <tyl### [at] pacbellnet> wrote in...
>
> Was this a POV-Team decision or simply that of a patch writer ?

I made the decision myself after reading the Unisys statement very
carefully.  Because I am one of the primary distributers of MegaPov in the
U.S., I felt that this was necessary to protect myself form any negative
legal action.  This decision was also supported by Smellenbergh, since a
patent on LZW is also recognized in many European countries.  I can't speak
for the POV-Team at this moment, but I will say that the topic has been
discussed.

> I for one will greatly miss the gif format if it is lost in the
> official versions of the program.

I understand.  Unfortunately, we may be left with little other choice, given
the current state of LZW licensing.

-Nathan Kopp

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Nathan Kopp wrote:
> 
> Tony[B] <ben### [at] panamac-comnet> wrote...
> > Unisys idiots. They're diggin' their own grave. No problem. We'll just use
> > PNG then.
> 
> I'm glad you feel that way and I hope the other users will also understand.
> Removing GIF functionality was a difficult decision to make, be we ended up
> deciding to play it safe and not risk any lawsuits.
> 
> -Nathan

In the process of making the "french docs project" (which is not a 
simple translation), I decided to ban the use of GIF's for
illustrations,
in favour of PNG, being aware of the unisys issue.

There's much more interesting info at 
 www.burnallgifs.org

Fabien.

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