Re: [Wvware-devel] libwmf vs ImageMagick

[Martin V. <mar...@hu...>]

On Wed, Dec 27, 2000 at 12:52:07PM -0600, Bob Friesenhahn wrote:
> From: Bob Friesenhahn <bfr...@si...>

...
 
> For a while now I have been interested in seeing an integration of
> libwmf with ImageMagick (http://www.imagemagick.org).  Initially I am
> thinking of using libwmf to implement a WMF coder module so that
> ImageMagick can read WMF files directly (rather than invoking wmftopng
> as an external program).  Ultimately I think that libwmf itself could
> benefit substantially by depending on ImageMagick's libMagick.
> 
> Reasons for libwmf to depend on libMagick include:
> 
>  o TrueColor drawing model (no color allocation required).
>  o All drawing is antialiased (no ugly jaggies).
>  o Can write to gobs of output image formats (not just PNG).
>  o Supports XPM & BMP (i.e. DIB) internally (no more dependence on
>    libXpm and libdib).  Compressed BMPs are supported.
>  o Provides excellent image resize capabilities (no more dependence on
>    netpbm).
>  o Drawing features are very similar to, or compatible with, those in
>    SVG (work on an ImageMagick driver would benefit the creation of
>    a SVG driver).
>  o Fonts are rendered with the latest FreeType 2.0.
>  o Rendering with X11 & Postscript fonts is also supported.
>  o ImageMagick already renders many SVG files (SVG support is being
>    added to ImageMagick with the assistance of SVG experts).
>  o ImageMagick is ported to Unix/Linux, Windows, Mac, and VMS.
>  o ImageMagick is available as part of all popular Linux distributions
>    and FreeBSD.
>  o The usage license is not restrictive.
> 
> In summary, you can elminate use of libdib, libgdwmf, libxgd, and
> netpbm, and eliminate source-level dependence on libttf (or
> libfreetype) and libpng. The function of the libraries eliminated
> would be replaced by libMagick.
> 
> Thoughts and opinions?
> 
> Bob

I would say ... go for it! All the things you list for replacement
look a bit like being held together with duct tape... what is your
estimate for a time frame?

On the other hand, it is important to do it in such a way, that libwmf
remains functional all the time. So let's not take out any existing
functionality until the new stuff can replace it. That may get a bit
tricky with the build system, but in the end it will simplify it.

Martin

-- 
Martin Vermeer  mar...@hu...
Helsinki University of Technology 
Department of Surveying
P.O. Box 1200, FIN-02015 HUT, Finland
:wq