Stop using forum_link.cgi and link directly to the site.

Author: dlemstra

README

@@ -53,11 +53,6 @@ Helper Scripts
                        they fails the image compare.  I manually
                        deletes the backup images when satisfied all is
                        okay.
-   forum_link.cgi    - redirect links to the User Forums appropriately.
-                       The user forum moved three times during those 10
-                       years, and I got sick of having to change all the
-                       links in all the index.html, so I have it go thru
-                       this script.
 
 
 The scripts sub-directory is just scripts for processing images using

advanced/index.html

@@ -1387,7 +1387,7 @@ <h2>Radial Flares</h2>Experiments in generating radial flares. Note that the wid
                 <a href="flare_2_color.png"><img src="flare_2_color.png" width="100" height="100" align="middle" vspace="5" hspace="5" border="1" alt="[IM Output]"></a>
               </td>
             </tr>
-          </table>The percentage used for the "<code><a href="../option_link.cgi?tint">-tint</a></code>" operation can also be used to adjust the intensity of the rays and flare ring, though it will not change the white core of the image very much. These examples were taken further in the IM Forum discussion <a href="../forum_link.cgi?t=16004">Using Radial Flare for a Mask</a>.
+          </table>The percentage used for the "<code><a href="../option_link.cgi?tint">-tint</a></code>" operation can also be used to adjust the intensity of the rays and flare ring, though it will not change the white core of the image very much. These examples were taken further in the IM Forum discussion <a href="https://magick.imagemagick.org/viewtopic.php?t=16004">Using Radial Flare for a Mask</a>.
         </div>
         <hr>
         <!-- ---------------------------------------------------------------- -->

anim_basics/index.html

@@ -891,9 +891,9 @@ <h3>Cleared Frame Animations</h3>When an animation only uses just '<a href="#pre
           <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="90%" align="center">
             <tr valign="top">
               <td><img src="../img_www/reminder.gif" width="20" height="16"><img src="../img_www/space.gif" width="20" height="16"></td>
-              <td align="justify" width="100%"><font size="-1"><i>The IM forum member <a href="../forum_link.cgi?u=3499">el_supremo</a>, Pete, has contributed a MagickWand equivelent script, <a href="http://members.shaw.ca/el.supremo/MagickWand/bunny.htm">Cleared Frame onto Background example</a>.<br>
+              <td align="justify" width="100%"><font size="-1"><i>The IM forum member <a href="https://magick.imagemagick.org/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=3499">el_supremo</a>, Pete, has contributed a MagickWand equivelent script, <a href="http://members.shaw.ca/el.supremo/MagickWand/bunny.htm">Cleared Frame onto Background example</a>.<br>
               <br>
-              This example is also discussed in detail in the IM Forum <a href="../forum_link.cgi?f=6&amp;t=20472">Creating a Cleared Frame GIF Animation in the MagickWand</a>.<br>
+              This example is also discussed in detail in the IM Forum <a href="https://magick.imagemagick.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&amp;t=20472">Creating a Cleared Frame GIF Animation in the MagickWand</a>.<br>
               <br></i></font></td>
             </tr>
           </table><a name="mixed" id="mixed"></a>
@@ -923,7 +923,7 @@ <h2>The End of the Loop <font size="-1">- when an animation stops</font></h2>It
           <hr>
           <!-- ---------------------------------------------------------------- -->
           <a name="zero" id="zero"></a>
-          <h2>Zero Delay Intermediate Frames</h2>We have already seen use of a frame that has a 'zero delay', with regard to a <a href="#cleared">Cleared Frame Animations</a>. I also used them to explain <a href="#previous">Previous and Background Disposals</a>. These special frames are actually a lot more common then people would probably think. They represent not only methods to prepend a background 'canvas' to an animation (such as I have used them for above). But they are also a must for some of the more complex <a href="../anim_opt/#opt_frame">Frame Optimization</a> techniques, such as <a href="../anim_opt/#doubling">Frame Doubling</a> and <a href="../anim_opt/#splitting">Splitting Frame Updates</a>. Another (very old pre-PNG format) usage was to allow you to create static GIF images that contained more than the 256 color limit! That is, each frame provides 256 colors, and the next frame the next set of 256 colors, all with zero delay and no looping at the end. Thanks to <a href="../forum_link.cgi?u=23894">TLUL</a> in the discussion <a href="../forum_link.cgi?f=1&amp;t=22855">Creating unquantized GIFs</a> for pointing this out. These '<i>zero delay intermediate frames</i>' are not meant to be displayed to an user. They are just used to create special effects in GIF images that are otherwise not posible or better optimized than you would get without them. In summary...
+          <h2>Zero Delay Intermediate Frames</h2>We have already seen use of a frame that has a 'zero delay', with regard to a <a href="#cleared">Cleared Frame Animations</a>. I also used them to explain <a href="#previous">Previous and Background Disposals</a>. These special frames are actually a lot more common then people would probably think. They represent not only methods to prepend a background 'canvas' to an animation (such as I have used them for above). But they are also a must for some of the more complex <a href="../anim_opt/#opt_frame">Frame Optimization</a> techniques, such as <a href="../anim_opt/#doubling">Frame Doubling</a> and <a href="../anim_opt/#splitting">Splitting Frame Updates</a>. Another (very old pre-PNG format) usage was to allow you to create static GIF images that contained more than the 256 color limit! That is, each frame provides 256 colors, and the next frame the next set of 256 colors, all with zero delay and no looping at the end. Thanks to <a href="https://magick.imagemagick.org/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=23894">TLUL</a> in the discussion <a href="https://magick.imagemagick.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&amp;t=22855">Creating unquantized GIFs</a> for pointing this out. These '<i>zero delay intermediate frames</i>' are not meant to be displayed to an user. They are just used to create special effects in GIF images that are otherwise not posible or better optimized than you would get without them. In summary...
           <div align="center">
             <b>Zero Delay Frames are Intermediate Frames,<br>
             They are not meant to be visible to users.</b>

anim_mods/index.html

@@ -1146,7 +1146,7 @@ <h3>Glitter Animations</h3>The above <a href="#composite">Layers Composition</a>
               <td align="justify" width="100%"><font size="-1"><i>While I may have used GIF format images in the above to allow me to magick display individual steps of the process, in practice you would either combine all the steps into a single command, or use a better intermediate image file format such as MIFF. That is, done to avoid the inherent problems of the GIF format, until we have finished.</i></font></td>
             </tr>
           </table><a name="glitter_tiles" id="glitter_tiles"></a>
-          <h3>Glitter Tiles <font size="-1">- 'hole in the image' underlays</font></h3>As mentioned there are a lot of pre-prepared animated glitter tile images available on the WWW (do a search for "glitter tiles"). One source is a <a href="https://imagemagick.org/MagickStudio/scripts/MagickStudio.cgi">IM Studio</a> user, <i><a href="forum_link.cgi?u=143">scri8e</a></i> and his web site <a href="http://www.scri8e.com/stars">Moons Stars</a>. Be warned however that I find most glitter tiles to be rather horrible looking, or too fast.<a href="../images/glitter_blue.gif"><img src="../images/glitter_blue.gif" align="right" height="48" width="48"></a> For this example I found and modified a blue glitter tile with some small star patterns in it. I thought it would be useful for giving the IM wizard a glittering clothing, making him look really magical. Probably the easiest ways to glitter an existing image is to cut holes in the image rather than trying to mask out the glitter pattern. This however only works for images that do not contain transparency to start with. Alternatively, you could remove the transparency from an image, and when finished, re-add the original transparency. So lets take the IM Examples logo, and use <a href="../color_basics/#replace">Color Replacement</a> to cut out all the blue parts of the image. Sort of giving our wizard a cloak of invisibility ;-)
+          <h3>Glitter Tiles <font size="-1">- 'hole in the image' underlays</font></h3>As mentioned there are a lot of pre-prepared animated glitter tile images available on the WWW (do a search for "glitter tiles"). One source is a <a href="https://imagemagick.org/MagickStudio/scripts/MagickStudio.cgi">IM Studio</a> user, <i><a href="https://magick.imagemagick.org/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=143">scri8e</a></i> and his web site <a href="http://www.scri8e.com/stars">Moons Stars</a>. Be warned however that I find most glitter tiles to be rather horrible looking, or too fast.<a href="../images/glitter_blue.gif"><img src="../images/glitter_blue.gif" align="right" height="48" width="48"></a> For this example I found and modified a blue glitter tile with some small star patterns in it. I thought it would be useful for giving the IM wizard a glittering clothing, making him look really magical. Probably the easiest ways to glitter an existing image is to cut holes in the image rather than trying to mask out the glitter pattern. This however only works for images that do not contain transparency to start with. Alternatively, you could remove the transparency from an image, and when finished, re-add the original transparency. So lets take the IM Examples logo, and use <a href="../color_basics/#replace">Color Replacement</a> to cut out all the blue parts of the image. Sort of giving our wizard a cloak of invisibility ;-)
           <div align="center">
             <table class="table table-sm table-hover table-striped" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" width="90%" bgcolor="#F8F8F8">
               <tr>
@@ -1500,7 +1500,7 @@ <h3>Side by Side Appending (time synced)</h3>Suppose you want both animations to
                 <a href="../images/bag_right.gif"><img src="../images/bag_right.gif" align="middle" vspace="5" hspace="5" border="0" alt="[right]"></a>
               </td>
             </tr>
-          </table>If you look at the information summaries you will see that the two animations have the exact same number of frames, and almost exactly the same time sequence. It is the similarity of the timing that is important here, and you can say the animations are already 'time synchronised'. However while the timings may be correct, the animations are frame optimized, rather than fully-coalesced. But the canvas area height are the same, making appending the two frames side-by-side practical. Actually this animation was badly 'split' (see <a href="#split">splitting animation</a> in the next example set) so that the 'cat' animation was cut in two, and the original lost. Other modifications resulted in a very slight timing difference, which only made the division more obvious. This was a problem that was presented to me by <i><a href="../forum_link.cgi?u=8005">gmabrys</a></i> in a discussion on <a href="../forum_link.cgi?f=7&amp;t=8068">IM Forums</a>, though the actual problem he gave was far, far, worse. <img src="../images/bag_right.gif" align="right" vspace="0" hspace="0" border="0" alt="[left]"><img src="../images/bag_left.gif" align="right" vspace="0" hspace="0" border="0" alt="[right]"> Now browsers usually animate each of the separate GIF images, without any synchronization. As such the two animations may become out-of-sync with each other, producing a 'cat' that appears to have been part of a chainsaw massacre. You may be able to see this effect to the right where I placed two animations side-by-side on the browser's page, especially if you are on a distant server via slow links. Now lets attempt to append them together into one, properly synchronized animated image.
+          </table>If you look at the information summaries you will see that the two animations have the exact same number of frames, and almost exactly the same time sequence. It is the similarity of the timing that is important here, and you can say the animations are already 'time synchronised'. However while the timings may be correct, the animations are frame optimized, rather than fully-coalesced. But the canvas area height are the same, making appending the two frames side-by-side practical. Actually this animation was badly 'split' (see <a href="#split">splitting animation</a> in the next example set) so that the 'cat' animation was cut in two, and the original lost. Other modifications resulted in a very slight timing difference, which only made the division more obvious. This was a problem that was presented to me by <i><a href="https://magick.imagemagick.org/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=8005">gmabrys</a></i> in a discussion on <a href="https://magick.imagemagick.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&amp;t=8068">IM Forums</a>, though the actual problem he gave was far, far, worse. <img src="../images/bag_right.gif" align="right" vspace="0" hspace="0" border="0" alt="[left]"><img src="../images/bag_left.gif" align="right" vspace="0" hspace="0" border="0" alt="[right]"> Now browsers usually animate each of the separate GIF images, without any synchronization. As such the two animations may become out-of-sync with each other, producing a 'cat' that appears to have been part of a chainsaw massacre. You may be able to see this effect to the right where I placed two animations side-by-side on the browser's page, especially if you are on a distant server via slow links. Now lets attempt to append them together into one, properly synchronized animated image.
           <h4>Appending separate files</h4>The simplest way is to just coalesce the two animations and separate them into separate image files, one frame per image. The separate images can then be append together (or otherwise modify the frames) as appropriate. When done the new frames can then be used to re-build the animation. This however requires you to save a lot of extra information about the animation that could very easily be lost during this processing.
           <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
             <tr>
@@ -1733,7 +1733,7 @@ <h3>Distant Change Frame Splitting</h3>
           <div align="center">
             <font size="+2"><b><img src="../img_www/const_barrier.gif" width="39" height="35" align="top"> Under Construction <img src="../img_www/const_hole.gif" width="144" height="50" align="middle"></b></font>
           </div>Example of splitting up frame updates of 'two changing objects that are far apart', without involving transparency (fixed background), but preserving the timing syncronization between the parts. Then repeat with a transparency background, (needing 'OptimizePlus' to generate the 'cleared' pixels. See <a href="../anim_opt/#splitting">Splitting Frame Actions</a> for the general example. <a name="merge" id="merge"></a>
-          <h3>Merging Time Disjoint Animations</h3>Before any two animations can be merged together to run synchronously, you need to make all animations use the same number of frames, and use the same set of time delays. How difficult the merger is really depends on how disjoint the timings of the animation is. If the time delays are basically constant, you can simply ignore them and fix the timings latter. An example where time could be ignored in merging a 2 frame animation with a 6 frame animation was given in a <a href="../forum_link.cgi?t=12573">IM Forum Discussion</a>. Also if the total cycle time is very different, you may need to adjust things so that one animation loops 2 or 3 times so as to fill the cycle time of the other animation. Basically timing is what matters.
+          <h3>Merging Time Disjoint Animations</h3>Before any two animations can be merged together to run synchronously, you need to make all animations use the same number of frames, and use the same set of time delays. How difficult the merger is really depends on how disjoint the timings of the animation is. If the time delays are basically constant, you can simply ignore them and fix the timings latter. An example where time could be ignored in merging a 2 frame animation with a 6 frame animation was given in a <a href="https://magick.imagemagick.org/viewtopic.php?t=12573">IM Forum Discussion</a>. Also if the total cycle time is very different, you may need to adjust things so that one animation loops 2 or 3 times so as to fill the cycle time of the other animation. Basically timing is what matters.
           <ul>
             Probably something like...
             <li>+ Figure out and adjust animations to a common total loop cycle time</li>
@@ -1808,7 +1808,7 @@ <h3>Merging Time Disjoint Animations</h3>Before any two animations can be merged
 
 <b>Simplified Solution</b>
 
-A simplified limited solution has been <a href="../forum_link.cgi?p=50325">Discussed on IM Forums</a>, for use with fast changing animations (similes).
+A simplified limited solution has been <a href="https://magick.imagemagick.org/viewtopic.php?p=50325">Discussed on IM Forums</a>, for use with fast changing animations (similes).
 
 The solution takes each animation and expand it so that the animation has
 a fixed frame rate.  That is, all frames are duplicated so that each frame is
@@ -1840,7 +1840,7 @@ <h3>Merging Time Disjoint Animations</h3>Before any two animations can be merged
     (displace animation linearly with time)
 
   * Overlay two animations with different numbers of frames but constant time
-    delays (see <a href="../forum_link.cgi?t=12573">IM Forum Discussion</a>).
+    delays (see <a href="https://magick.imagemagick.org/viewtopic.php?t=12573">IM Forum Discussion</a>).
 
   * Oveylay two time disjoint animations (as outlined above)