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Would be nice to have 16 bit zbuffer export from Mandelbulb 3d....  :dink:

You mean like the Zbuff save on the Save Image Tab

Yes exactly.

The PNG unit i use got only 16 bit loading, no saving!  :sad1:
If someone knows of a unit to be used with Delphi (6) and can also save 16 bit PNG, scream or so.

Would avoid using Tiff because of to much different formats and code blowing up.

 

Would be great to have.
Zbrush can import 16 bit grayscale images to create depht. And the color can be aplied on top. End result is a full color 3d background.

Jesse, what unit are you using? and what specifications about license and functionality would you require if you were to use a different one? I'll gladly take a look and see if I find something helpful.

Thanks for offering help!

I am using Gustavo Daud's pngimage component version 1.5.
But it seems that this unit will not be developed further,
"pngdelphi.sourceforge.net" shows no files.

If you know something that could be used freely for non-commercial purpose, it would be very recommended.
Giving credit as sort of a notice in the program description is no problem.

Features should be:

 - Reading + writing (3x8bit, as common) rgb png files, 4x8 including alpha channel would be fine too.
 - Writing 2 and/or 8 bit indexed color files.
 - Writing 3x16bit rgb files would be nice, 1x16bit for Zbuffer should be.
 - Inserting a comment tag for text parameters: appreciated.

I like units to be included more than extern dll's, but a dll should be also ok if no other way is possible.

You're welcome Jesse! I found a couple of libraries that can read/write the formats you need.

The first is ImageLib, an open-source Delphi component from Image Analyzer's author, Michael Vinther, located at http://www.logicnet.dk/lib/ (http://www.logicnet.dk/lib/), downloadable from http://sourceforge.net/projects/imagefilelib/ (http://sourceforge.net/projects/imagefilelib/). The license allows use in freeware software and license distributions, and only requires a mention. Seems to be well maintained and pretty current. The author mentions that it was tested under Delphi 7, but says it should also work under 6, 5 and 2005. I use Image analyzer regularly and have been able to export PNGs in all required bit depths.

The second is a pascal wrapper for ImageMagick MagickWand and MagickCore APIs located at http://wiki.freepascal.org/PascalMagick (http://wiki.freepascal.org/PascalMagick)(more info at http://www.imagemagick.org/script/formats.php?ImageMagick=bicrv0nkc2rt9cjrl1j2isd2v2 (http://www.imagemagick.org/script/formats.php?ImageMagick=bicrv0nkc2rt9cjrl1j2isd2v2) about supported formats, and at http://www.imagemagick.org/script/magick-wand.php (http://www.imagemagick.org/script/magick-wand.php) and http://www.imagemagick.org/script/magick-core.php (http://www.imagemagick.org/script/magick-core.php) for the APIs specifics). I don't know much about this one's requirements, complexity or Delphi compatibility, but as ImageMagick is widely used, I suppose it should work if the API wrapper is complete. Anyway, have a look at it if and see if it helps.

I'll keep an eye out for more.

PS: the ImageMagick license is at http://www.imagemagick.org/script/license.php (http://www.imagemagick.org/script/license.php)

By the way, thanks a lot for Mandelbulb3D!

Well, I certainly can't save anything in 16bit per channel, not even TIF, with this (cool) program.

And btw TPNG has been acquired by CodeGear/Embarcadero a few years ago so its sourceforge page will remain empty until it disappears.

http://blogs.embarcadero.com/nickhodges/2008/08/13/39100

You have to convert the image to a floating point map in the operations>pixel format conversions menu. Then, go to file menu>save as, open the  lower combo box and select 16-bit Portable Network Graphics as save format instead of Analyzer's own *.map files.

Ah OK, I see you are are an Image Analyzer expert. It's strange though that it doesn't open 16bit image files (PNG or TIF) as 16bit but as 8bit so I assumed it had no 16bit processing and export available.

@Blob: No, I'm no expert, just a curious tinkerer :). I understood that the OP would want to extract a 16 bit zbuffer image from Mandelbulb3D to be used in other apps, and didn't think about the importing part.

Regarding Image Analyzer, I too find odd that 16 to 8 bpp behaviour when opening files, seeing that it can export them as 16 bit and as the image information panel shows the source as 48 bpp, i.e. 16 bit. Knowing that, let's hope the Delphi component allows a full 16 bit read/write workflow. If not, there might be other options.

Thanks to all of you !

I didn't think it was going to be so complicated.

Thank you pedroasecas!

ImageLib seems to be the best one so far, i will test it and hopefully it will be not very difficult to imlpement.
But this needs some time.

I knew Image Analyzer before, did not thought of an open source project, or at least some parts of it.
Thanks to Michael Vinther.

On the politic of embercado i say nothing, i don't think i will ever buy newer products for insane sums of money and the user interface seems mad to me.

And thank you too, Jesse! I only want to help you make Mandelbulb3D even more awesome with what little I may know.

I found yet another free delphi unit for PNgs, a dll wrapper this time: http://freeimage.sourceforge.net/ (http://freeimage.sourceforge.net/) (downloads: http://freeimage.sourceforge.net/download.html (http://freeimage.sourceforge.net/download.html)). It has a dual license, either GPL v2 or a very liberal FreeImage Public License (FIPL), which even allows commercial use of the library, requiring acknowledgement and inclusion of the license. You can check the terms at http://freeimage.sourceforge.net/license.html (http://freeimage.sourceforge.net/license.html). IMHO it looks very capable, if you ever need something besides PNG, BMP and JPG.

I hope this will be of use if ImageLib turns out to be difficult in the end. Options, options... there's no such thing as too many of them... :)