[savannah-help-public] requesting computer time for open-source project

[hiluf]

Dear hackers,

I have been asked to contribute an algorithm which
re-creates Photoshop's "softer outer glow" effect to an
open-source graphics library.  The trouble is that it is
first necessary to know what the desired effect is!  Using
only one out of the two controls apparently gives a (poorly
implemented?) version of Schoenberg's cardinal B-spline of
order 1 (tent filter).  It is less immediately obvious what
the other control does exactly, though some general
properties are apparent.

If someone could tell me the nature of the effect in
question, that would be that, but otherwise I had the idea
to let the computer do the work and essentially
reverse-engineer it via genetic programming.  This would
require large amounts of memory and CPU time to be
effective, on something like a high-performance workstation
or computation cluster.

My request is, therefore, if anyone is willing to donate
access to the appropriate resources, to please let me know.

Please n.b.: I double-checked with the author of the
image-processing code (VFLib), and he is releasing it under
the so-called MIT License, which is apparently OK as far as
open source.  My point of view is that it is important that
the algorithm itself be publically known---algorithms per se
are mathematical objects, and as such are automatically free
to use without worrying about patents or licenses.  Once we
figure out what the algorithm in question is, anyone will
forever be able to use it in any open-source project.
Schoenberg's own work on interpolation via splines was
published in 1973, and has innumerable applications today.

Thanks for your help!


Noam