Fractal Compression
6 messages in this thread
I receded a flyer from Iterated Systems Inc. describing the benefits
from using fractal compression (up to 100 images on a single floppy,
or so they claim). I've heard that although decompressing a fractal
file is quick, compressing a file can be slow. Does anyone have any
experience with fractal compression? Sounds like fractal compression
could be a very good thing for all those great TGA files that 3DS
cranks out (assuming that compression time is not too painful).
Anyone doing a fractal IPAS? Any comments anyone?
Hi Scott,
Michael Barnsley and company at IFS in Atlanta developed a number of techniques
using "fractal compression". They were to be marketed by a company named TMM
(sorry, forgot what the letters stand for) in California. If memory serves
correctly, then I believe TMM folded within the last few months. Perhaps IFS is
doing its own marketing now.
The technology is very cool, but it's not in wide use. One reason is that this
compression technology is highly asymmetric: it takes much, much longer to
compress than to decompress. For animations, I believe you'd need to send out
your raw files to a service bureau for compression.
Secondly, Barnsley & Co., while innovative, are a little controversial for
patenting virtually everything about the process. There's little room for
third-parties to spring up.
Fractal compression is a "lossy" method… the compressed image does not retain
the full resolution of the original. While useful for some situations it would
rarely meet the needs of professional 3D renderers.
You're right — fractal compression *sounds* good, but unfortunately we haven't
seen a real presence in the marketplace yet. Would be interested in hearing the
experiences of yourself or others.
Regards,
John Dowdell
Macromedia Tech Support
Another nice feature is the ability to scale the playback. Most people that
license this technology also get the hardware tht goes with it – I think it a
Thinking Machines box. This gets the compression to only take days instead of
weeks.
I understand that it does very well on computer generated animations, but lousy
on video-captured animations.
->Jeff
Jeff:
>> Most people that license this technology also get the hardware that goes
with it.
Yea, when I saw that there were boards available, I knew I should start asking
question about the compresssion speed.
Scott.
It's a neat idea – as machines get faster, the hardware will catch up. Check
out Smacker – it our compression product. It may do what you need. Search for
"SMACKER" in the libs.
->Jeff
John:
>> Perhaps IFS is doing its own marketing now.
Anymore info on these guys (phone number maybe) ? At this point it's more of a
curiousity then anything, but I'ld like to see what they have.
Scott.