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Message-ID: <33A62610.41C6@zeiss.de>
Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 07:52:16 +0200
From: Rainer Wiesenfarth <wiesenfarth@zeiss.de>
Organization: Carl Zeiss, Abt. Phm-A
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To: Ivo Welch <ivo.welch@anderson.ucla.edu>
CC: tiff@sgi.com
Subject: Re: TIFF library
References: <33A57532.4755F0CA@anderson.ucla.edu>
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Ivo Welch wrote:
> 
> Ladies and Gentlemen:
> 
> It is rare that I complain about something that is free, but the fact
> that this TIFF library lacks the ability to do a
>         TiffWriteRGBAImage()
> that corresponds to the ReadRGBAImage() is an unforgivable omission.
>
> [...]
> 
> Now, I understand that this function might be involved (e.g., to write
> BW images from an RGBA image), but do users really have to spend a month
> to do the most simple tasks with this TIFF library?

IMHO it is not the task of libtiff to provide such an interface.
libtiff's main purpose is to handle the thousands (ok, the tens) of
different TIFF images. What you call 'the most simple task' is
very difficult to implement. I think even tiffcp does not support
all kinds of possibly file formats. To give you an idea of how
complicated a WriteRGBAImage() may get, I list the TIFF tags
you have to take care of when writing the file:

- ImageWidth, ImageLength (quite clear)
- BitsPerSample
- Compression
- PhotometricInterpretation
- Orientation
- SamplesPerPixel
- RowsPerStrip
- PlanarConfiguration
- TileWidth
- TileLength
- (and maybe some more)

So, if you need only one month to code a WriteRGBAImage() function,
I think we all would be happy if you give it to Sam for integration
into libtiff ;-)

Greetings Rainer

> 
> /ivo welch
> 
> --
> Ivo Welch               mailto:ivo.welch@anderson.ucla.edu
> --      ----------------------------    --

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