Re: Defining 'preferred form for making modifications'
On Sun, Jun 15, 2003 at 10:41:24PM -0700, Thomas Bushnell, BSG wrote:
> Richard Braakman <dark@xs4all.nl> writes:
>
> > On Sun, Jun 15, 2003 at 05:15:14PM -0400, Sam Hartman wrote:
> > > Why? What real-world problem does this solve? Have we actually run
> > > into situations where it was not obvious in a particular instance what
> > > the preferred form for modifications was?
> >
> > I know of one thorny problem in this area: many graphics are distributed
> > as .png or .jpg files, even though their creator probably used a richer
> > format like .xcf.
>
> Is it not obvious that the preferred form is .xcf?
It is preferred, but does that make the other formats non-free?
Often the .xcf is simply not available anymore, not even to the
creator. The strength of the preference for it depends on the
complexity of the image and on the exact format (lossy jpeg?
blurred png? reduced palette?). It's an area where reasonable
people might disagree.
There are also variations in usefulness of a .xcf file. Does it have
all the layers still separate, or have some of them been merged and
smoothed? Combining those layers into the final image is often part
of the creative process and is usually not automated. At least, not
the way I do it :)
Richard Braakman
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