A bug & note on using .png graphics....

[Art Campbell]

I recently ran into a problem using .png graphics in files and after
kicking it around a
lot, think I may have found a bug either in FM's memory managment
(surprise!) or the
way it's handling graphics files.

* FM 7.2 / 158
* Windows XP SP2 with all patches
* Two machines, one with 2 M RAM, one with 3
* FM files and graphics on a network server

The symptoms were:
* Importing .png files by reference
* FM would occasionally display the "Gray Box" warning message
* It would always crash

It turned out the graphics I was using were big files that started
life on Nikon DSLRs, were massaged in Photoshop CS2, interpolated to
size, and were saved out as 300 dpi .png files for import.

The details are important, it turns out, because the files retained a
16-bit color depth
throughout. And that seems to be the thing that tripped FM up.

On a hunch, I knocked the .PNG files down to 8-bit depth in Photoshop
and resaved them and voila -- no crashes, no gray boxes, nothing at
all untoward.

I haven't tested this with other formats to see if the bit-depth is an
issue with other file formats, but I wouldn't be surprised if it were.

Cheers,
Art

--
Art Campbell                                             art.campbell at gmail.com
  "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent
               and a redheaded girl." -- Richard Thompson
                             No disclaimers apply.
                                     DoD 358