1999-07-27 17:50:26 -04:00
|
|
|
<HTML>
|
|
|
|
|
<HEAD>
|
|
|
|
|
<TITLE>
|
|
|
|
|
Introduction to the TIFF Documentation
|
|
|
|
|
</TITLE>
|
|
|
|
|
</HEAD>
|
1999-08-09 14:38:26 -04:00
|
|
|
<BODY BGCOLOR=white>
|
1999-08-09 16:21:20 -04:00
|
|
|
<FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica, Sans">
|
1999-07-27 17:50:26 -04:00
|
|
|
<H1>
|
|
|
|
|
<IMG SRC=images/strike.gif WIDTH=128 HEIGHT=100 ALIGN=left HSPACE=6>
|
|
|
|
|
Introduction to the TIFF Documentation
|
|
|
|
|
</H1>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
|
The following definitions are used throughout this documentation.
|
|
|
|
|
They are consistent with the terminology used in the TIFF 6.0 specification.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<DL>
|
|
|
|
|
<DT><I>Sample</I>
|
|
|
|
|
<DD>The unit of information stored in an image; often called a
|
|
|
|
|
channel elsewhere. Sample values are numbers, usually unsigned
|
|
|
|
|
integers, but possibly in some other format if the SampleFormat
|
|
|
|
|
tag is specified in a TIFF
|
|
|
|
|
<DT><I>Pixel</I>
|
|
|
|
|
<DD>A collection of one or more samples that go together.
|
|
|
|
|
<DT><I>Row</I>
|
|
|
|
|
<DD>An Nx1 rectangular collection of pixels.
|
|
|
|
|
<DT><I>Tile</I>
|
|
|
|
|
<DD>An NxM rectangular organization of data (or pixels).
|
|
|
|
|
<DT><I>Strip</I>
|
|
|
|
|
<DD>A tile whose width is the full image width.
|
|
|
|
|
<DT><I>Compression</I>
|
|
|
|
|
<DD>A scheme by which pixel or sample data are stored in
|
|
|
|
|
an encoded form, specifically with the intent of reducing the
|
|
|
|
|
storage cost.
|
|
|
|
|
<DT><I>Codec</I>
|
|
|
|
|
<DD>Software that implements the decoding and encoding algorithms
|
|
|
|
|
of a compression scheme.
|
|
|
|
|
</UL>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
|
In order to better understand how TIFF works (and consequently this
|
|
|
|
|
software) it is important to recognize the distinction between the
|
|
|
|
|
physical organization of image data as it is stored in a TIFF and how
|
|
|
|
|
the data is interpreted and manipulated as pixels in an image. TIFF
|
|
|
|
|
supports a wide variety of storage and data compression schemes that
|
|
|
|
|
can be used to optimize retrieval time and/or minimize storage space.
|
|
|
|
|
These on-disk formats are independent of the image characteristics; it
|
|
|
|
|
is the responsibility of the TIFF reader to process the on-disk storage
|
|
|
|
|
into an in-memory format suitable for an application. Furthermore, it
|
|
|
|
|
is the responsibility of the application to properly interpret the
|
|
|
|
|
visual characteristics of the image data. TIFF defines a framework for
|
|
|
|
|
specifying the on-disk storage format and image characteristics with
|
|
|
|
|
few restrictions. This permits significant complexity that can be
|
|
|
|
|
daunting. Good applications that handle TIFF work by handling as wide
|
|
|
|
|
a range of storage formats as possible, while constraining the
|
|
|
|
|
acceptable image characteristics to those that make sense for the
|
|
|
|
|
application.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
|
<HR>
|
|
|
|
|
|
2016-09-25 16:05:44 -04:00
|
|
|
Last updated: $Date: 2016-09-25 20:05:44 $
|
1999-07-27 17:50:26 -04:00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
</BODY>
|
|
|
|
|
</HTML>
|
