Here are the highlights of the new version of RIOT (0.5) which is still in development:
1. Automatic Optimization Mode
RIOT revolutionizes the way images are optimized by combining the simplicity of automatic optimizations with the power of manual control. The Automatic Mode will select the most suitable format and parameters, still allowing the freedom of manual tweaking compression parameters, for even higher compression.
You will achieve the best compression ratio easier than ever !
2. Superior PNG compression
The internal PNG compression has been substantially improved, and if often beats it’s rivals in terms of speed and filesize.
3. Enhanced transparency handling
You will be able to save palletized PNG images with a full alpha chanell. Also, support for storing variable transparency inside the palette will be added. Smart reductions apply – so, if the image has less than 256 colors and transparency levels you will save space by storing transparency in a transparency table, instead of storing the entire alpha channel.
Single color transparency in PNG24 will be also automatically used when necessary.
4. Progress monitoring
Even if RIOT is very fast, considering the amount of operations it does at each preview update, there are situations where you’ll wait for a longer period of time, especially when dealing with large images. For a better user experience, RIOT 0.5 integrates progress monitoring for individual tasks like save, load, rotate, flip, resize.
A beta is planned for official release in a few months. Currently 0.5 is in alpha stage.
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