Warp Datatypes V45 Released

[futaura]

After a long delay, the promised updates to all the Warp picture datatypes for 68k, WarpOS and MorphOS are finally here.  To accompany the new release is the brand new WarpDT portal at http://www.warpdt.co.uk/ where you can keep up to date with the latest versions of the WarpDTs and download them all in one easy place.


Summary of changes since previous versions:

 BMP/JPEG/PNG/TIFF: Minor optimizations and cleanups.
 BMP/JPEG/PNG/TIFF: Bumped version to v45 since a stable release has
 now been reached and to reflect the jump to shareware status

 BMP: Fixed problems with decoding bitfield images

 JPEG: Altered descriptor file to prevent it matching LhA or LZX
       archives containing JPEG files (or anything else that might
       contain a JFIF header, other than Photoshop files)

 PNG: PNG files not containing enough data are no longer treated as a
      fatal error. Now the part of the image that was successfully
      decoded is returned.
 PNG: Updated with libpng 1.2.5

 PNG/TIFF: Updated with zlib 1.1.4

 TIFF: Now correctly converts images using the YCbCr colourspace to RGB
 TIFF: Added support for JPEG decompression
 TIFF: Updated to libtiff 3.6.0-beta2, including a new version of the
       LogLuv decoder, and numerous other bugfixes

 Prefs: Various parts of code rewritten, in preparation for losing the
        currrent reliance on resource.library
 Prefs: Minor bugfixes
 Prefs: Correct Polish and Portuguese documentation now included.

[futaura]

I hope I don't sound too harsh, but a couple of years ago I purchased keyfiles for Andreas Kleinert's datatypes for PowerUp, and

I just hope you didn't fork out for akTIFF, since it's badly broken and you'd have a right to be miffed about that.

also forked over a hefty amount for ImageFX's PowerStation PowerUp loaders and savers. Shortly thereafter OS3.9 was released and I realized that I would almost never use PowerUp again. I smell the same thing happening with these datatypes and OS4. Will they work, or even be necessary when OS4 is released? Please don't take this the wrong way. I'm not at all opposed to paying shareware fees, but having been bitten by PowerUp incompatibilities I'd like to know whether I'll be using these in the not-too-distant future.

Registering is up to you, of course.  I have no plans to cease development of the WarpDTs - this latest release should help confirm that, I hope. Especially since these are the first new versions in 18 months - I could easily have chosen not to develop them any further, but I still want to - and I want to add support for other formats too (PCX and GIF being possible candidates).

If you are going to buy OS4 anyway, then of course, there are less reasons to register, if you are happy with the basic functionality of the WarpDTs, since the datatypes supplied with OS4 will be much the same.  However, if you need the preferences options (the OS4 datatypes will be preset with optimum settings, which cannot be changed), or more frequent updates, then registering the WarpDTs is still an option that needs consideration.

[futaura]

futaura: i havent got my keyfile yet, when will it arrive?.

Sorry - it seems I got caught on the hop. I didn't think anybody would register so soon, but I've obviously been proved wrong by you and others :-)  And the v45.2 bugfix update yesterday took up some of my time, slowing down my response to registrations.

All that said, I intend to mail out the first batch of keyfiles later on today.

anyway i am happy about this update and thats why i support it, but hopefully it wont be the last update , but then heh i regged because i knew i would use it alot and ofcourse to show my interests.

Thanks for your support!  And that goes to everybody else who has registered so far.  I have been pleasantly surprised by the feedback received so far.  And, no, this certainly won't be the last update.  It has taken time to prepare the transition to shareware, but now that part is completed I can now concentrate on improving the datatypes further and adding support for more image formats.