Point optimisation: how to

The ILDA file spec was on the non-member side of their website up to and including the one that contained the proposal for format 3.

Then they came out with formats 4 & 5 and made that available to only members, leaving the expired format 3 proposal in place, with no statement of deprecation (for years).

Eventually they changed the public version of the document back to an earlier version without format 3.

Since the cat has been out of the bag for such a long time about 4 & 5, keeping it in the members-only area means that developers will just get it from some other source..... like me.

Hey, Gary, have you ever been a member of ILDA? Does Spaghetti read or write format 4 & 5?

James.

Most developers who are not shy will call or email ILDA's director and get the latest official copy emailed. As they should per the will of the Board of Directors and articles of incorporation of a non-profit.

After all it is a document of a private entity. One that has a very friendly staff who are Laserists.


Steve

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Originally Posted by mixedgas

Format 3 got dropped for a multitude of reasons.

Steve

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Since you brought it up....

Like what exactly?

If someone goes to the ILDA website and finds the public version of the spec with only 0, 1 & 2 in it they might never know there is a format 4 & 5. I think that was Dean's point about the Chinese SD card readers.

James.

Ah!

I see you have retracted your previous statement.

Probably for the better.

By the way, I am also a "volunteer". All the work I have done making my application and open file format specifications is offered for free. Many laserists have used my work to either make money, gain recognition or both.

And many developers have used my application and writings as a reference standard for their own application development.

James.

Since the subject of "digital scanner amps" was brought up earlier, I'll make a few comments about that.

If they are ever invented and developed, it will most likely be by a well established American company.

The technology will be very expensive to develop and will almost certainly be proprietary.

In the mean time, there might be other ways to control the direction of a static laser beam that do not rely on electromagnetic devices and mirrors.

It is likely that some kind of solid state device similar to a PCAOM crystal will be developed.

If that happens, everything we know about scanner velocity limits will not apply.

There will be much less need for points optimization of any kind as we know it today.

Using mechanical scanners with all of their inherent limitations is a big part of "the art" of the technology.

I don't think you will see any $150 Chinese projectors with digital scanners in them any time soon.

My prediction is that analog scanners will be around for a long time.

James.

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Originally Posted by james

By the way, I am also a "volunteer". All the work I have done making my application and open file format specifications is offered for free. Many laserists have used my work to either make money, gain recognition or both.

And many developers have used my application and writings as a reference standard for their own application development.

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So I can take your code and use it for free in my application? Thanks! I haven't looked at it but since it is free I will take anything that is useful. You're awesome.

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Originally Posted by JohnYayas

So I can take your code and use it for free in my application? Thanks! I haven't looked at it but since it is free I will take anything that is useful. You're awesome.

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Read GPL3 dude.

James.

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Originally Posted by james

Read GPL3 dude.

James.

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Too much trouble. But I guess if you don't mind giving out ILDA File Formats for free you won't mind people taking your IP and giving it away or using it. Right?

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Originally Posted by JohnYayas

Too much trouble. But I guess if you don't mind giving out ILDA File Formats for free you won't mind people taking your IP and giving it away or using it. Right?

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If you had taken the time to read GPL3, then you would know that "giving it away" is the way to go.

Just don't try to sell it without compensating me.

Andrew paid me for it when he used it to make ildSOS.

Also... I got the spec for formats 4 & 5 from a non-ILDA-member for free. So have many other developers.

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Originally Posted by dchammonds

For the benefit of our Chinese PL readers...

ILDA format 4 is much like 3D format 0, only it replaces the single color index byte with 3 bytes containing discrete blue, green, and red values (in that order) for a net
increase of 2 bytes per coordinate point. Format 5 is the 2D version (like format 1) utilizing the same upgraded color scheme. Easy as it gets...

Now I'm off to Spencer Gifts in search of that cheap 24 bit color Chinese laser projector to come...*retardo

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Dean just gave it away in this thread!

James.

Yes, I know all of that. I have no desire to use your code. Just making you admit that you aren't really being the volunteer that you say you are. You want compensation either by recognition or by the way of royalties. And no matter how you obtained the ILDA standard, you don't have the right to give it away to others without the permission from ILDA. Let that sink in awhile.