[Openexr-announce] OpenEXR 1.1.0 released

[Drew Hess]

Hi all,

We're pleased to announce the release of OpenEXR 1.1.0.


Summary:
--------

Download the new release, along with a new set of OpenEXR sample images,
at:

   http://openexr.com.

The new release supports tiled and multi-resolution images ("mipmaps" and
"ripmaps"), and environment maps.  Older versions of OpenEXR cannot read
tiled/multi-res images, but they can read scanline images produced by the
new release.  No source code changes are required to your existing code in
order to read tile-based images; just recompile your code against the 
1.1.0 release.

The tile-based file format has been tested, but has not been extensively
used in production.  Consider the tile-based API to be a beta release.  
Please test it and give us feedback.  In approximately 6 weeks, we'll 
release a stable 1.2 version of the tile-based code.

The scanline-based code in this release is production-tested and is 
considered stable.

The new release also supports abstracted file I/O; you can supply your own
wrappers for reading and writing streams of data as long as the underlying
type supports seeking.

There are 4 new utilities included in this release: exrmaketiled,
exrmakepreview, exrenvmap, and exrstdattr.


What's new:
-----------

* Support for tiled and multiresolution images:

  - Tiled images support random access to rectangular subregions of
    an image; multiresolution images ("mipmaps" and "ripmaps") support
    efficient filtered texture map lookups (and similar operations).

  - Two C++ APIs for reading and writing tiled and multiresolution
    images are provided: a fully general interface, with support
    for arbitrary sets of channels, and a convenience interface 
    for 16-bit RGBA channels.

  - Compatibility:

    Version 1.1 of IlmImf can read tiled files via the scanline API.
    Existing software doesn't have to be re-written; after recompiling
    and linking with 1.1, both scanline-based and tiled files can
    be read.

    Scanline-based files are backwards-compatible; pre-1.1 versions
    of IlmImf can read scanline-based files written by version 1.1
    and later.

* Low-level file I/O for image files is performed using abstract
  IStream and Ostream classes.  The default implementation uses
  standard C++ iostreams, but alternative user-supplied versions
  allow reading from, and writing to, arbitrary objects that support
  read, write and seek operations.

  - Useful for writing plugins for programs that pass open,
    possibly platform-specific file-descriptors to plugins

  - Possibly useful for writing (uncompressed) images directly to
    fast I/O devices, bypassing the operating system's file system.

* IlmImf now supports image files larger than 2 GBytes (file offsets
  are 64 bits).

* exrdisplay:

  - exrdisplay takes the display window and the pixel aspect
    ratio into account.  Images are clipped or padded according
    to the relative locations of the display and data window.
    Images with non-square pixels are scaled so that what is
    shown on the screen has the correct aspect ratio.

  - exrdisplay can display any level of a multiresolution image.

* New exrmaketiled program:  Converts images to tiled format;
  optionally generates multiresolution (mipmap or ripmap) files.

* New standard "envmap" attribute, and associated utility functions:
  Standardizes the layout of latitude-longitude and cube-face
  environment maps.

* New exrmakepreview program: Automatically generates preview images
  (i.e. "thumbnails") for OpenEXR files.

* New exrstdattr program: Adds standard attributes to OpenEXR files.

* New exrenvmap program: Converts between latitude-longitude and cube-face 
  OpenEXR environment maps.