[NCLUG] OT: transparent jpg

[dobbster]

> dobbster writes...
> 
> > The GIMP rocks.
> 
> Yes it does. Here's the only serious picture I've done with it,
> 
> http://lackof.org/matt/christmas98/
> 
> I used "layers" for each animal so I could scale and move them around until I
> got it right. I also used the "select by similar color" tool to cut them out
> of the originals, and the "alpha blending" tool to smooth the rough edges.

Cool!  It's so convincing, I believed it was just a photo until I
thought about it a bit.

> 
> [Nice tutorial snipped]
> 
> > (Questions: Is there a better way?  And given the copyright stuff, why
> > does GIMP still support .gifs?)
> 
> If I understand it corrrectly it's only writing compressed GIFs that there's a
> patent on. Reading any GIF and writing uncompressed GIFs is ok. Since Debian
> has restrictions about accepting such patent encumbered stuff into the "main"
> section of their archive they provide two versions of the GIF library. One
> called libungif which goes into "main"(and lacks the "writing compressed"
> code) and one called libgif which goes into "non-free". Then apps that link
> against it also provide two version one in "main" one in "non-free". I don't
> know if other distros go to that much trouble.

Hmm...

I must say that I am a bit stunned at myself for writing such a windy
"tutorial" last night.  I was tired and half-delerious, as I said.  I
think a voice in the back of my mind told me to document it for my own
benefit, with the goal of converting it into a web page.  People
frequently ask me questions about how to do that sort of thing.  Anyway,
sorry about the wasted bandwidth!

Mark (dobbster at dobbster.com)