Does anyone have a function to save as a GIF?

Blitz3D Forums/Blitz3D Programming/Does anyone have a function to save as a GIF?

Darth Testine(Posted 2004) [#1]
Hi folks,

I've working on a little custom avatar icon program for an online forum I'm a part of. But I need to save them as GIF files, not BMPs.

I couldn't find any routines for this in the code archives. Did I miss one?

Does anyone have a GIF saving routine I could use?


jfk EO-11110(Posted 2004) [#2]
At least the US patent for the LZW Compression that is used with GIF expired in June 20. 2003. So you'll be able to use it legally.

There are several solutions to convert BMP to GIF, so you could save a buffer and then convert it. Unfortunately most of them don't use LZW Compression yet since they were started while the patent was still active. So they use uncompressed GIF or RLE-compressed GIF.

this DLL is for free:
http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Web_Authoring/Misc__Programming_Tools/otf_GIF_Maker_BMP2GIF_Converter.html
But I have no idea how easy it will be to use it with Blitz.

Then here's a Power Basic Source (public domain):
http://www.powerbasic.com/support/forums/Forum7/HTML/001762.html
So it may be realitvely easy to convert it to Blitz.

Then here's a tiny commandline tool that may be the easist solution for you:
http://www.simtel.net/product.php[id]8215[sekid]0[SiteID]simtel.net


Darth Testine(Posted 2004) [#3]
jfk,

Your help is greatly appreciated!
You are a lifesaver!

Thank you!