Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!rochester!pt.cs.cmu.edu!spice.cs.cmu.edu!jwz
From: jwz@spice.cs.cmu.edu (Jamie Zawinski)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech
Subject: Re: DeluxePaint III and IFF
Message-ID: <5234@pt.cs.cmu.edu>
Date: 17 Jun 89 20:52:59 GMT
Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, CS/RI
Lines: 41


(I tried to send this in mail, but it bounced.)

> From: fullmer@dover.sps.mot.com (Glen Fullmer)
> 
> I am having a problem with IFF files written by DeluxePaint III. I edit
> a good IFF file (lo-res or hi-res) by filling the background color to white,  
> transfer it to a Sun4 with Kermit (binary mode), run a program iff2sun to convert
> it to a Sun raster file and it aborts with a core dump.
>
> Also, I wrote a program that converts IFF files to Apollo bitmap files.  It uses
> the PD ifflib stuff and I get the message:
> 
>  No BODY data.

I'd bet that it is the IFF conversion programs that are not conforming,
rather than DPIII.  There are a lot of programs that imporperly use the
IFF standard; you cannot assume anything about the order or contents of
an IFF ILBM file except that there will be a BMHD chunk, and a BODY
chunk, and the BMHD chunk will preceed the body (though there may be
intervening chunks).  I started DPIII, cleared to white, and saved, and
the file had these chunks:

	BMHD	-- manditory header info, but not necessarily first
	CMAP	-- optional color map, but almost always there
	DPPS	-- private data to DPaint
	CRNG	-- color cycling info (there were seven of these)
	BODY	-- manditory bitmap data

So I'd guess that DPII and DPIII have slightly different, but still
conforming, IFF formats, and the programs you are using can't cope with
the newer format.

Besides, the IFFLib stuff is definately nonconforming.  Try running the
supplied "show" program on an 8x8 brush, like the "bobsled" brush that comes
with DPaint - you get static, though other show programs work on it.

Also consider: DPaint is from Electronic Arts, who developed the IFF
standard.  It's unlikely they would violate it :-).

		-- Jamie
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