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Welcome to a brand of
Mathematical
Services. 2025-02-22 14:12:17 - Paul D. Foy - A new file type I have created a new file type - '. pf4'. I loaded a conventional file from disc and converted it into the format and specification of this file type and saved it to disc. I then loaded it from disc and converted it into a filetype which I could view in a conventional application. So I have a 'reader' for this tile type (it is actually sitting as part of an application at the moment). The file type consumes much less memory than other file types and it is optimised for a small palette of colours (like a . gif). All good fun and what will it lead to - like a licentious look. Thank you. 2025-04-19 09:51:10 - Paul D. Foy - The dll allowing interfacing between a C# GUI and fast C++ library functions has been published and is available at https://mathematicalservices. co. uk/pf4. html. This will allow . pf4 videos to run in real time. A player to do this is also available at the previously mentioned website. 2025-04-16 06:44:14 - Paul D. Foy - I am working on a C++ library with C++/CLI wrapper that will allow videos of this format to run in real time in a C# player. There will be no need to load them a-priori into the player making loading of the video quick (the situation of the currently published player). The proof of concept has been successfully done. I'm working through the details. Anyone want to get involved? :). 2025-03-26 15:39:09 - Paul D. Foy - The limitation on the file size has been removed. Large video files are slow to load, but run in real time in the Player when loaded. 2025-03-26 13:09:01 - Paul D. Foy - It seems like applications such as Zoom have tidied up the streaming process putting attempts such as those like Skype out of business. I appreciate the difficulties here and they are probably the ones faced by my application for handling large video files. There is a reason for things succeeding, which is not just marketing. 2025-03-25 12:43:18 - Paul D. Foy - The . pf4 filetype has been extended and published to include videos as well as static images. It is being made available now (there are a few limitations, in particular the size of the video) so that developers can become familiar with the filetype as new things require practice to get to grips with. 2025-03-19 14:28:41 - Paul D. Foy - Percy Hobart (left) examining fragments of a V2 that landed near his headquarters.  2025-03-19 12:24:17 - Paul D. Foy - I have reduced the storage requirements of my test image . pf4, from about 50kB to about 34kB. I can't beat the . gif of my and Microsoft's API of 6kB. I did this by saving a structure as an array of bits and then decoding it. The technique works with full generality for all images having 256 colours or less. The space saving from a raw bitmap is 6 to 100 fold, depending upon the number of colours. 2025-03-18 14:49:48 - Paul D. Foy - Percy Hobart training the Allies in the use of driving specialised vehicles on the beaches of Southern England. (Source Malindine E G - War Office Photo).  2025-03-15 21:04:32 - Paul D. Foy - I find I am treading a lone furrow, against the headwinds of there's a better way, it's been done before, you're not getting paid. But some day we might not be able to rely on our friends, or they may not value us, and we have to look after ourselves, and this attitude may be important. Image by Tanner, Lt (war office official photograph).  2025-03-13 05:19:54 - Paul D. Foy - I wouldn't let this experience with the SVD put you off from the SVD decomposition. The SVD (more specifically the algorithm which I use) was invented by Gene H. Golub, a Californian professor. It is remarkable how it converges to a solution for a wide number of singular, non-singular and badly determined linear systems. I think there are still some outstanding theoretical issues on its convergence. It remains a very good technique for image reconstruction and in many other areas. In AI. I was trying to do something very specific - that is recreate the index values (not the colours themselves) of the colours in an image, so as to preserve 100% the purity of the colours. 2025-03-12 15:39:02 - Paul D. Foy - The idea of the previous comment (of using a rank 3 approximation) doesn't work. The reconstruction is VERY poor at this level of granularity and below, doubles would have to be saved, and saving many more singular values would be more inefficient of memory than other techniques. Just so you know. 2025-03-09 11:11:47 - Paul D. Foy - These (video) developments have stalled because this (lossless) method is too consumptive of memory for larger videos. 2025-03-07 17:58:35 - Paul D. Foy - It will be almost impossible to improve on the storage of the . gif. The gif uses 6kB for my test image, I use about 50kB. The image is 1280 x 760 pixels. Even If I use a rank 3 approximation from an SVD decomposition of the image that is at least 3 x (1280 + 760) bytes ~ 6kB. I don't know why gifs went out of fashion. For lossless storage they are very efficient. 2025-03-07 14:49:25 - Paul D. Foy - Out done by a $3T Company (3rd biggest in the world). Thank you. 2025-03-07 14:46:24 - Paul D. Foy - I understand . gif to be a lossless compression, and the files can be remarkably small, for a handful of colours. So we can thank Microsoft's API for that. 2025-03-07 14:33:32 - Paul D. Foy - Bad news - I have indeed a new file type but the storage is no more efficient than a . gif. You can use my Giffer application to create and work with gifs (say from a . bmp). 2025-03-06 13:11:21 - Paul D. Foy - This file type is now live and functioning and the initials of my name are now immortalised. It seems to be the case that one can't do something one thinks is good without jealously guarding it with patents, copyrights blah blah. This is basically to stop someone earning money from your idea and not yourself. That is to prevent someone or some entity profiting from your work or other entity's, and not yourself. This applies more so if you are young I think because you have less money so you need it for other things. It seems to be that there can not be some quiet acceptance of entitlement (hopefully through respect or admiration or feeling that it's the right thing to do or some other more noble quality (NOT sexual things for me). I would be happy to let someone else carry on the development, and I do something else (it's quite hard exacting work) content in the knowledge that I have contributed to something better. 2025-03-05 07:17:48 - Paul D. Foy - pf4 file on the left (saved as a . bmp file to view it on any current system!) - 1MB. original . bmp file on the right - 6MB.  2025-03-05 06:52:10 - Paul D. Foy - I have changed the specification of the image format (pf4) so that it now saves an image file with 1/6 - to 1/15 of the size of a bitmap with no loss in quality. I read that this level of lossless compression was not possible! But it is. I am always amazed how the simple does not seem to have been properly appreciated, or missed. So far how I do this is a secret :) - funny eh. My first attempt at video compression, was not successful even though it was a lossfull compression. It worked but I was not satisfied with it, it didn't play in real time and was too blurry. I will try harder. HAVE FUN. 2025-03-03 19:59:26 - Paul D. Foy - Use of this name is Copyright - Paul D. Foy (03-03-2025). 2025-02-23 13:10:15 - Paul D. Foy - The file as a static image is not significant enough to publish or market as a stand alone entity. So I shall continue to develop it as an efficient video format file. I do not believe this format has been published before. 2025-02-23 10:25:27 - Paul D. Foy - The claim of using less memory only applies to other file formats which, on saving to disc, preserves the number and nature of colours exactly. This would be the . bmp file format. Other file formats such as . jpg or . png consume less memory. 2025-02-22 21:29:36 - Paul D. Foy - This file type has been used before by 'SmartWare' a DOS and early Windows application. It is not in any other common use. It seems to be for developer files not exposed to the user, and can only be opened by SmartWare itself. So it hasn't gained traction at least not recently. So I think it is a valid claim to start to use it, for more modern purposes. Post a comment: |