<s>
VIPS	B-Language
is	O
an	O
open	B-Application
source	I-Application
image	B-Algorithm
processing	I-Algorithm
software	O
package	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
particularly	O
good	O
with	O
large	O
images	O
,	O
works	O
with	O
multi-core	B-Architecture
processors	I-Architecture
,	O
working	O
with	O
colour	O
,	O
scientific	O
analysis	O
and	O
general	O
research	O
&	O
development	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
developed	O
during	O
and	O
is	O
the	O
product	O
of	O
several	O
European	O
research	O
projects	O
(	O
VASARI	O
,	O
MARC	O
,	O
ACOHIR	O
,	O
Viseum	O
)	O
which	O
were	O
primarily	O
about	O
Imaging	O
art	O
,	O
but	O
which	O
demanded	O
a	O
new	O
approach	O
to	O
image	B-Algorithm
processing	I-Algorithm
.	O
</s>
<s>
Compared	O
to	O
most	O
image	B-Algorithm
processing	I-Algorithm
libraries	O
VIPS	B-Language
needs	O
little	O
RAM	B-Architecture
and	O
runs	O
quickly	O
,	O
especially	O
on	O
machines	O
with	O
more	O
than	O
one	O
CPU	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
software	O
has	O
two	O
main	O
parts	O
:	O
libvips	B-Language
is	O
the	O
image-processing	O
library	O
and	O
nip2	B-Language
is	O
the	O
graphical	B-Application
user-interface	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
GUI	B-Application
aims	O
to	O
be	O
about	O
half-way	O
between	O
Photoshop	B-Operating_System
and	O
Excel	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
not	O
designed	O
for	O
tasks	O
such	O
as	O
retouching	O
photographs	O
,	O
but	O
more	O
useful	O
for	O
the	O
many	O
other	O
imaging	O
tasks	O
that	O
programs	O
like	O
Photoshop	B-Operating_System
are	O
used	O
for	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Both	O
work	O
on	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
Unix	B-Application
,	O
Windows	O
and	O
Apple	O
macOS	B-Application
(	O
10.2	O
and	O
later	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
VIPS	B-Language
is	O
a	O
standard	O
package	O
for	O
many	O
Linux	B-Application
distributions	O
,	O
including	O
Debian	O
,	O
Fedora	O
,	O
Mint	B-Application
,	O
and	O
Ubuntu	B-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
Most	O
of	O
libVIPS	B-Language
is	O
written	O
in	O
C	B-Language
.	O
However	O
,	O
there	O
are	O
Python	B-Language
,	O
Ruby	B-Language
,	O
and	O
C++	B-Language
libraries	O
which	O
can	O
use	O
it	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
VIPS	B-Language
processes	O
images	O
in	O
small	O
portions	O
(	O
rectangles	O
or	O
groups	O
of	O
lines	O
)	O
and	O
groups	O
of	O
operations	O
are	O
automatically	O
run	O
by	O
separate	O
threads	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
also	O
means	O
that	O
image	O
intermediates	O
are	O
small	O
and	O
can	O
easily	O
be	O
stored	O
in	O
RAM	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
are	O
many	O
architectural	O
elements	O
which	O
give	O
VIPS	B-Language
its	O
speed	O
including	O
its	O
lack	O
of	O
locks	O
and	O
ability	O
to	O
overlap	O
input	O
and	O
output	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Most	O
images	O
start	O
as	O
three	O
bytes	O
per	O
pixel	O
(	O
RGB	O
)	O
but	O
when	O
processing	O
VIPS	B-Language
will	O
upsize	O
the	O
elements	O
to	O
16	O
,	O
32	O
or	O
64	O
bits	O
each	O
if	O
necessary	O
to	O
avoid	O
clipping/rounding	O
errors	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
also	O
contributes	O
to	O
the	O
speed	O
and	O
low	O
RAM	B-Architecture
use	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Kirk	O
hired	O
Nicos	O
Dessipris	O
,	O
who	O
had	O
been	O
a	O
fellow	O
research	O
student	O
in	O
the	O
Image	B-Algorithm
Processing	I-Algorithm
group	O
of	O
the	O
University	O
of	O
Essex	O
,	O
and	O
David	O
hired	O
John	O
Cupitt	O
,	O
who	O
had	O
just	O
finished	O
a	O
PhD	O
in	O
Theoretical	O
Computer	O
Science	O
at	O
the	O
University	O
of	O
Kent	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
suitable	O
image	B-Algorithm
processing	I-Algorithm
library	O
which	O
could	O
handle	O
the	O
data	O
size	O
needed	O
could	O
not	O
be	O
found	O
,	O
so	O
custom	O
one	O
was	O
developed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Machines	O
of	O
the	O
time	O
were	O
very	O
modest	O
by	O
today	O
's	O
standards	O
:	O
a	O
Sun	B-Device
workstation	I-Device
cost	O
£40	O
,	O
000	O
,	O
had	O
64MB	O
of	O
RAM	B-Architecture
and	O
ran	O
at	O
25MHz	O
,	O
so	O
this	O
was	O
quite	O
a	O
challenge	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Kirk	O
had	O
developed	O
simple	O
but	O
fast	O
C	B-Language
libraries	O
during	O
his	O
PhD	O
which	O
worked	O
on	O
memory-mapped	O
"	O
framestores	O
"	O
for	O
video	O
processing	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
So	O
VIPS	B-Language
was	O
based	O
on	O
their	O
experience	O
with	O
that	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
early	O
Unix	B-Application
image	B-Algorithm
processing	I-Algorithm
software	O
they	O
developed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Early	O
VIPS	B-Language
code	O
used	O
memory-mapped	O
files	O
for	O
input	O
(	O
back	O
then	O
an	O
exciting	O
novelty	O
which	O
was	O
faster	O
than	O
file	O
I/O	O
)	O
and	O
wrote	O
data	O
a	O
scanline	O
at	O
a	O
time	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
the	O
National	O
Gallery	O
,	O
John	O
Cupitt	O
wrote	O
a	O
GUI	B-Application
called	O
"	O
vf	O
"	O
in	O
SunView	O
,	O
Sun	O
's	O
graphical	B-Application
environment	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
renamed	O
"	O
ip	O
"	O
,	O
for	O
image	B-Algorithm
processing	I-Algorithm
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
through	O
these	O
early	O
experiments	O
that	O
the	O
basics	O
of	O
libVIPS	B-Language
were	O
created	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Nicos	O
left	O
and	O
John	O
took	O
over	O
the	O
development	O
of	O
the	O
VIPS	B-Language
library	O
,	O
the	O
GUI	B-Application
and	O
the	O
camera	O
software	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Sun	O
had	O
just	O
produced	O
their	O
first	O
two-CPU	O
workstation	O
,	O
so	O
VIPS	B-Language
gained	O
SMP	O
support	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1997	O
Kirk	O
Martinez	O
moved	O
to	O
the	O
University	O
of	O
Southampton	O
so	O
development	O
and	O
use	O
continued	O
in	O
more	O
projects	O
(	O
including	O
Viseum	O
,	O
ACOHIR	O
and	O
Artiste	O
)	O
and	O
VIPS	B-Language
and	O
ip	O
developed	O
in	O
response	O
to	O
their	O
needs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
software	O
was	O
moved	O
from	O
Sun	O
to	O
Linux	B-Application
in	O
the	O
late	O
90s	O
and	O
ip	O
moved	O
from	O
Motif	O
to	O
GTK+	B-Application
,	O
becoming	O
nip	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
VIPS	B-Language
gained	O
support	O
for	O
files	O
larger	O
than	O
2GB	O
,	O
and	O
for	O
up	O
to	O
64	O
CPUs	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
nip	O
was	O
rewritten	O
again	O
for	O
GTK+	B-Application
-2.0	I-Application
and	O
became	O
the	O
nip2	B-Language
we	O
know	O
today	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2005	O
,	O
John	O
Cupitt	O
moved	O
from	O
the	O
National	O
Gallery	O
to	O
Imperial	O
College	O
to	O
work	O
on	O
medical	O
imaging	O
and	O
VIPS	B-Language
and	O
nip2	B-Language
are	O
now	O
maintained	O
there	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Recent	O
additions	O
have	O
been	O
support	O
for	O
Analyze	O
,	O
DICOM3	O
,	O
FITS	O
,	O
Matlab	B-Language
and	O
Radiance	O
images	O
,	O
run-time	O
code	O
generation	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
start	O
of	O
a	O
move	O
to	O
a	O
GObject	B-Language
foundation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
John	O
's	O
ingenuity	O
and	O
programming	O
skills	O
which	O
have	O
made	O
libVips	B-Language
so	O
successful	O
today	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
libVIPS	B-Language
is	O
currently	O
used	O
in	O
MediaWiki	O
and	O
hence	O
by	O
Wikipedia	O
itself	O
in	O
the	O
VipsScaler	O
extension	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
popular	O
Sharp	O
Node.js	O
module	O
and	O
Gatsby	O
use	O
libVIPS	B-Language
so	O
web	O
sites	O
using	O
them	O
rely	O
on	O
libVIPS	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Amazon	B-Application
Web	I-Application
Services	I-Application
recommend	O
Sharp/VIPS	O
in	O
their	O
guidelines	O
Many	O
image	O
archives	O
use	O
IIPimage	O
to	O
allow	O
browsing	O
of	O
very	O
high	O
resolution	O
images	O
online	O
-	O
and	O
these	O
are	O
normally	O
prepared	O
using	O
libVIPS	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
libvips	B-Language
is	O
licensed	O
under	O
the	O
LGPL	B-Application
and	O
nip2	B-Language
is	O
licensed	O
under	O
the	O
GPL	B-License
.	O
</s>
