Displaying GIFs or TIFFs

[Braddock John Hathaway]

Hi!

I'm creating a database for a class that I'd like to make really
polished ... I'd like part of this polish to include the display
of a picture while the files are loading.  The database package
that I'm using in Clarion on a 33MHz 386 Northgate (IBM clone).
The display is VGA.

What I'm looking for is ANY information about how to display
a GIF or a TIFF (or even a PICT) file on the screen.  I have
some knowledge of C ... enough that I could probably take
something written to display one of these formats on another
system and change it to be DOS-VGA compatible.  Even the specs
that any of these formats uses to encode information would be
good.

I know that this may be more work than it is worth, but I'm also
interested in it as a programming exercise as well.  If you have
a recommendation as to which file format be a) most easy to deal
with (re: smallest size), and b) quickest to display (re: will "pop"
up onto the screen instead of taking 20 seconds), please let me
know.

As a final note, please respond by either email or take note
of "alt.graphics.pixutils" in the Followups-To header line

Thank you very much for your help (in advance, of course),

Brad

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There's a fine line between fishing and standing on the shore looking
like an idiot.

Brad Hathaway
work phone: (412) 268-8454
email:bh11 at andrew.cmu.edu
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