From: zmahx11@ic.ac.uk (?/20000)
Subject: Re: C source for Fractal compression ?
Organization: Imperial College Mathematics Department
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 14:10:29 GMT

In article <1992Nov14.173749.1842@ccsvax.sfasu.edu>, z_youngwd@ccsvax.sfasu.edu writes:
|> In article <1992Nov12.013337.9851@athena.mit.edu>, hhc@athena.mit.edu (Hong-Hsiang Chen) writes:
|> > In article <BxIAy0.3Mu@dcs.ed.ac.uk> cdw@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Christopher Walton) writes:
|> >>Has anyone got any C source for fractal compression or are we all
|> >>just crying out in vain? Please send me some if you do!
|> >>
|> > crying out in vain, methinks...
|> >>Thanks - Chris (cdw@dcs.ed.ac.uk)
|> >>         "all in the name of ..."
|> > the only working group doing anything about fractal compression as far as
|> > I know are the originators, Barnsley et. al.... (correct me if I'm wrong)...
|> 
|> OK.  You're wrong.  There are several groups of people worldwide working on
|> this problem. 
|> 
|> > don't think they're up to releasing source code though, heh... they've got
|> > a company (Iterated Systems) to cash in on their research stuff...
|> 
|> Correct.  That's why so many people have been quietly developing _working_
|> algorithms on their own.
|> 
|> > however, don't bet on anything substantial coming up...in the past 5 years,
|> > nothing much has been done, though I've heard here and there about some sort
|> > of compression standard and commercial software based on it...
|>  
|> Iterated Systems has released a commercial product.
|> 
|> > _BUT_ the kicker is that fractal compression is not the holy grail nor panacea
|> > they thought it would be ... even Barnsley's fantastic figures that got
|> > everybody excited in the first place used algorithms that were hand-fudged -
|> > the Collage Theorem doesn't work too well with computers...
|> 
|> I agree with statement about Barnsley's fantastic figures... but, personally
|> the Collage Theorem serves only as motivation.
|> 
|> > anyway, the image quality leaves a lot to be desired... 
|> 
|> Where did you get this info from?  Have you seen any working demos?
|> If not, why not?  There are 2 posted at lyapunov.ucsd.edu 
|> 1) /pub/inls-ucsd/fractal-2.0.tar  <-- Yuval Fisher's, PS paper and code.
|> 2) /pub/young-fractal  <-- mine.  old, but will be updated soon.
|>  
|> > the decompression routines are easy to code...
|>  
|> Correct.
|> 
|> > it's the compression one that's a bitch and a half - i.e. the collage theorem
|> > and buddies... blecch...
|>  
|> Its not that bad... but close. :)
|> 
|> > don't look for any freebies here guys...first person to make it really work
|> > gets all the dough...
|> 
|> I've posted some source that together with the paper in /pub/inls-ucsd
|> will make the algorithm easier to understand. 
|>  
|> > Sean. fractal compression? like beating someone with the mandelbrot set?
|> 
|> Cute.
|> 
|> 
|> I noticed you are at mit.  I imagine X is a BIG thing there huh?  I have
|> some decompression code for X-windows that I'll send you if you wish.
|> 
|> Enjoy.
|> 
|> Wayne Young
|> z_youngwd@ccsvax.sfasu.edu
|> 
|> 

I HAVE a demo di Iterated Systems on their fractal compression program!
It does work, is fast but, obviously there's no source code with it :-)

Arrigo

-- 
Arrigo G.B. Triulzi (a.triulzi@imperial.ac.uk)
Mathematics Dept. - Imperial College of Science and Tech. - London - UK