Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mcsun!ukc!icdoc!syma!jonm
From: jonm@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Jonathan Meyer)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Animated images under X11
Keywords: screenload, X server, images, bitmaps
Message-ID: <2169@syma.sussex.ac.uk>
Date: 13 Feb 90 18:01:42 GMT
Organization: University of Sussex
Lines: 20


We have a program that runs on Sunview, using multiple screenloads to
dump images directlty from disc to screen. This produces real-time animation.

The X facilities for loading images onto the screen are limited to ones
that operate accross a network, or use file formats that are portable but
very inefficient.

For a real-time operation such as this, we need to be able to tell the X
server to load an image directly from the local disc to the screen, in the
same way that fonts are loaded into the server.

Would this require an extension to the X server, or could I use the font
support or another technique that is already in the server? I am sure that
others have already thought of this. Do you have a good solution?

I think this is a general problem with X - the image manipulation facilities
are necessarily limited by the (otherwise excellent) architecture.

jon