- #1
Whipley Snidelash
- 66
- 19
- TL;DR Summary
- Where do I fit in the history of digital image data compression (if at all)? Anybody do it before I did?
In 1982 I was given a ZX Spectrum by a Timex employee. It was one of only three English units that had been converted to NTSC from PAL. They worked for Timex but had their own company on the side to write software for the Timex computer and for the spectrum They hired me to do the title screen artwork for 3 pieces of their software.
This computer was limited. It couldn’t address each pixel separately. It had 4 x 8 pixel character positions that were restricted to two colors each, paper and ink. I had to draw the artwork and then transfer it to a large piece of graph paper coloring every single pixel individually within the constraints. I had to address every pixel position. The file would’ve been huge because the way the computer drew the image on the screen was left to right top to bottom, one pixel at a time.
If I recall correctly the file was a series of one or two numbers separated by commas for each pixel position. To say this was unwieldy is an understatement. It didn’t take me long to figure out going left to right there were consecutive series of numbers where the color and thus the numbers stayed the same because of the artwork. It was then I realized that I didn’t have to address each pixel position for a series of pixels where the color stayed the same I just needed to put in the color and the number of consecutive pixels that had it.
This resulted in compressing the graphic file tremendously. I basically invented a method of digital image data compression. Did anyone do it before I did?
This computer was limited. It couldn’t address each pixel separately. It had 4 x 8 pixel character positions that were restricted to two colors each, paper and ink. I had to draw the artwork and then transfer it to a large piece of graph paper coloring every single pixel individually within the constraints. I had to address every pixel position. The file would’ve been huge because the way the computer drew the image on the screen was left to right top to bottom, one pixel at a time.
If I recall correctly the file was a series of one or two numbers separated by commas for each pixel position. To say this was unwieldy is an understatement. It didn’t take me long to figure out going left to right there were consecutive series of numbers where the color and thus the numbers stayed the same because of the artwork. It was then I realized that I didn’t have to address each pixel position for a series of pixels where the color stayed the same I just needed to put in the color and the number of consecutive pixels that had it.
This resulted in compressing the graphic file tremendously. I basically invented a method of digital image data compression. Did anyone do it before I did?
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