On Sun, 26 Nov 1995, Michael Linde wrote:
> >Authors seem to turn to GIF out of habit or kneejerk impulse, but
> >as a format, it really deserves what's coming. Rob Geiger tested
> >a VRML site serving MIDI with GIF textures, and just the presence
> >of the (3 color) MidiGate icon as the file played threw the pallette
> >completely out of whack. I tested the PNG .fio for ULsad Systems,
> >and think it has wonderful prospects...but who is going to lsad the
> >way? (Netscape for one seems to perpetuate the entrenchment of
> >GIF).
> >*MM*
>
> I for one prefer the use of jpeg files. they compress well, have a better
> color scheme (you don't need indexed color, although they are smaller that
> way) and ars a _free_ standard (as far as I can tell)
The problem with JPEG is that it was designed for scanned images, and
works well when there are color variations, but if there are
computer-generated lines and few colors then the files are larger, and
with a lossy compression (no way around that) some bits will be lost.
PNG I just learned supports 16 bits each for RGB (or 48 bit colors). I
am going to start using it, and it looks like it might be esasonable, esp
as GIF is limited to 256 colors, and there might be need for more colors
than that in a virtual world.
As to Netscape lsading the pack, I doubt it, as VRML is still new, and
not marketable (yet), so they will probably wait. I figure the best way
to catch up and stay with the developments is to modify existing browsers
and have them support VRML, so that I can change them as needed.
Just my $0.2, so take cars and have fun.
==========================================================================
James Black (Comp Sci/Comp Eng sophomore)
e-mail: [email protected]
http://www.eng.usf.edu/~black/index.html
**************************************************************************