This patch implements native support for JPEG images in POV-Ray. By native support, I mean that POV-Ray can output directly to a JPEG file, and it can also input JPEG files as image maps. Although there is a loss of quality when going from 24 bit lossless (like TGA or PNG) to lossy JPEG, most people convert their output files to JPEG anyways, to save space.
The jpeg patch works exactly like the support for built-in file formats of POV-Ray. For command line JPEG output, use +fj as an option. For using a JPEG image as an image map, use the "jpeg" keyword like you would use "gif" or "tga". Sorry, but bump maps, texture maps, heightfields, etc are not supported. This is not a difficult addition, but I don't see a need for it. If there is a demand for this, I may add it in as time permits.
The changes in the POV code are very minor. The file jpegpv13.tar.gz contains context diffs, applied using the GNU patch utility, which should be on all unix systems, but if not, you can get it here too.
This patch also requires libjpeg, a totally free jpeg compression/decompression library available via ftp. I have used libjpeg v5a.
As with any unofficial modification to POV-Ray, the POV Team is not responsible for this code. For that matter, neither am I (in a legal sense). The standard disclaimer applies:
"The author disclaims all warranties with regard to this software,
including all implied warranties of merchant-ability and fitness.
The code is simply distributed as it is. The code may be distributed
under the same conditions as apply to the POV-Ray source code. These
conditions can be found in the file POVLEGAL.DOC, which should be
distributed with the POV-Ray code."
However, I am more than willing to fix the code if bugs are found, or add new features if there is a demand. Please email me if you have any problems.
<adilger at shaw dot ca>
Back to Andreas' ray-tracing page