gif sprite support

[OddChild]

how about allowing different kinds of sprite options...

For example... allowing Gif sprites... or individual image = frame

so that way ppl can use different resources they find on the net, without having to go through the hastle of making them brutus friendly by aligning them etc... set sprite type

Just an idea.

[Guilect]

I don't believe that Microsoft's DirectX supports .gif.
Brutus2D supports all the image formats that DirectX supports.
(bmp, dds, dib, hdr, jpg, pfm, png, ppm, and tga)

I am always looking into new commands to extend Brutus2d's abilities and the copyrect command is one that allows you to pick a rectangular image off of an image and place it on a created image. This might help in grabbing images off of a sheet of images.

[OddChild]

what about being able to use individual images as frames? (not sure if you answered that one in your response about copyrect)

[Guilect]

I see, I think.
You might have a series of images that make up a animated movement. They might be image1.jpg, image2.jpg, image3.jpg, etc.
You would like to go:
frame1 = image1.jpg
frame2 = image2.jpg
etc.

There currently is no built in way to handle this.
Instead there are several ways to code your own routines to address this.
An array comes to mind.
Something like:
Dim images(2)
images(0) = graphics.loadimage "image1.jpg"
images(1) = graphics.loadimage "image2.jpg"
images(2) = graphics.loadimage "image3.jpg"

then display the images in sequence in a for-next loop, for example.

I will see if something can be done for this type of images.

[hartnell]

The net is turning against .gif and going .png. A few years back, the company that owns the patent for .gif decided to collect royalties, causing a backlash of non-support.

From Wikipedia

"Many software developers were surprised when it was revealed that the compression algorithm used by the GIF format had been patented by Unisys, and that they would have to pay royalties for writing programs that generated GIF files. The desire for a comparable format with fewer legal restrictions (as well as fewer technical restrictions such as the number of colours) led to the development of the PNG (Portable Network Graphics) standard.

The Software Freedom Law Center had stated that after 1 October 2006, there will be no significant patent claims interfering with employment of the GIF format. [1]"

Until I read this, I was under the impression that you still had to pay royalties to use .gif.

Also, because of this, don't be surprised if Guilect gets stumped by an information vaccuum about the format.

-hartnell

-hartnell

[OddChild]

Ah that explains why "Microsoft Gif Animator" is hard to find...I have a copy if anyone wants it (freeware). hehe

[matthew]

I use JASC Animation Shop 3 to animate my Gif's.

In fact, I used it to create my Animated Avatar.

[OddChild]

How can PNG's ever replace GIF's?

Wasnt Gif's at onetime owned by "compusurf" or was that compuserv? Anyhow, I remember, back in 98, or 95 window's calling them Compuserv Gif.

[hartnell]

.png is awesome. Better compression, more features, open format.

-hartnell

[OddChild]

yeah.. but the good news is...

the GIF patent has expired!

We were able to search the patent databases of the USA, Canada, Japan, and the European Union. The Unisys patent expired on 20 June 2003 in the USA, in Europe it expired on 18 June 2004, in Japan the patent expired on 20 June 2004 and in Canada it expired on 7 July 2004. The U.S. IBM patent expired 11 August 2006, The Software Freedom Law Center says that after 1 October 2006, there will be no significant patent claims interfering with employment of the GIF format.

i got that in an email from open office... hehe (fun to say that)

[u9]

It is often difficult to explain it oneself, so here's a cite from www.ou.edu/class/digitalmedia/articles/CompressionMethods_Gif_Jpeg_PNG.html

PNG matches all of GIF's features except animation. PNG has better compression and interlacing than GIF and adds new features of its own, such as gamma storage, full alpha channel, true color support, and error detection. PNG supports two methods of transparency, one-color masking and the other alpha channel.

So there is just a SINGLE reason for using GIFs. Animation! ... well that, and the fact that there might be many resources available in GIF. But anyone should be able to convert the available images to other formats if need be.

That said, the more file formats that are supported, the better.