On Mon, 02 Oct 2000 10:46:13 -0400, Alexander Enzmann wrote:
>Basically there are two ways typically used to store color +
>alpha/opacity:
>   - color * alpha, alpha
>   - color, alpha
>
>POV-Ray (as well as many other programs) uses the first method.  It
>produces images that look correct in typical image viewers.

I assume you mean "typical image viewers that don't understand alpha
channels."  If your image viewer doesn't understand alpha, don't use it.
If it does, premultiplied alpha is ugly because it carries a bit of the 
background along as a fringe.  Different output options for different usage.

I know that when I load an image generated with +UA into, for example,
MS Image Composer (formerly Altimira Composer) it looks horrible unless I
turn off antialiasing while rendering (which somewhat reduces the usefulness
of +UA, as you can no doubt imagine.)

Perhaps the best solution would be to allow both options.

-- 
Ron Parker   http://www2.fwi.com/~parkerr/traces.html
My opinions.  Mine.  Not anyone else's.
Proudly not helping RIAA and SDMI steal my rights -- 
  http://www.eff.org/Misc/EFF/Newsletters/EFFector/HTML/effect13.08.html

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