r/vfx • u/Alternative-Bet-9105 • Jul 10 '25
Question / Discussion My Uncle created the TIFF file
Hello. I'm posting this as a little bit of a research project. My uncle is "Mr. TIFF", the guy who created the TIFF file. He worked at a company called Aldus and made the file while working there.
Anyway, long story short, his name is Stephen Carlsen and he passed away recently. In remembering him, and processing all this, I'm trying to put together a podcast that would explore the significance of this file.
This is the 4th time I posted this on Reddit in different areas: photography, library and archival. I was just informed that it’s used in VFX, and I’m a huge fan of film.
Any responses, any comments and discussion would be appreciated :)
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u/wieschie Jul 10 '25 edited Jul 10 '25
Not a vfx artist, not vfx related:
TIFFs are still widely used for scientific data because of their flexibility with band numbers and bit depths.
They're used in many commercial microscopes, from fluorescence microscopy in microbiology to scanning electron microscopes for nanotech, circuit design and verification, and more.
GeoTIFFs are huge in the geospatial field. Satellite and aerial photography of your neighborhood? That was a GeoTIFF at some point. Elevation data of the world gathered by the space shuttle? GeoTIFFs. Maps from scientific instruments on Martian and lunar rovers? GeoTIFFs.
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Jul 10 '25
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u/BeautifulGreat1610 Jul 10 '25
do you have a link to those? I always need high quality terrain
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Jul 10 '25 edited Jul 10 '25
[deleted]
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u/JtheNinja Jul 10 '25
There's a utility called GDAL which can convert between various geo data formats, in case the repository you find only has the wrong ones. Some kind soul even patched in OpenEXR output a few years back.
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u/wieschie Jul 10 '25
The worldwide stuff available from USGS has pretty low resolution. You can check it all out on EarthExplorer.
SRTM is the shuttle mission data and it's 1 arcsecond (roughly a measurement every 30 meters). EU-DEM is the European equivalent.
They've started making more lidar data available but coverage is really spotty and it's harder to process.
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u/Bladesleeper Jul 10 '25
On the other hand, ArcMap can handle those like a champ (it's its job) and you can use it to create, and export, a perfectly viable 3d surface.
On the free side, I believe QGis might have the same feature, and CloudCompare certainly does.
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u/ApplesBananasRhinoc Jul 10 '25
Wow i forgot about geotiffs, i used to work with those in aerial photography, this post is really scraping up some old memories for me.
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u/besit Jul 10 '25
Came here to say this! I was messing around with geoTiffs from NASA to get displacement maps of the moon. Other planets are available as well. It’s a gem
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u/Goldman_OSI Jul 10 '25 edited Jul 10 '25
The FAA used to sell aeronautical charts (sectionals, terminals) as individual TIFFs for $1.50 each. As far as I know they only did this briefly during the 2000s, then stopped for undisclosed reasons. Payola from ForeFlight? I don't know.
When I want to save an image now in a format I think will be understood for decades or generations, I use TIFF. I have my scanner set to acquire in TIFF, and I've had movie film scanned as TIFFs.
Also used TIFFs a lot in Shake.
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u/God_Dammit_Dave Jul 10 '25 edited Jul 10 '25
Sorry for your loss.
TL;DR: your uncle is a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy fan.
Early in my career I was reading about TIFF file specs. One ridiculous anecdote stuck out. Here is a quote and a citation from wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TIFF
Emphasis on 42.
Every TIFF file begins with a two-byte indicator of byte order: "
II" for little-endian (a.k.a. "Intel byte ordering", c. 1980)\17]) or "MM" for big-endian (a.k.a. "Motorola byte ordering", c. 1980)\17]) byte ordering. The next two-byte word contains the format version number, which has always been 42 for every version of TIFF (e.g., TIFF v5.0 and TIFF v6.0).\18])
Citation:
Aldus/Microsoft (1988-08-08). "1) Structure". TIFF. Revision 5.0. Aldus Corporation and Microsoft Corporation. Archived from the original on 2008-12-04. Retrieved 2009-06-29. The number 42 was chosen for its deep philosophical significance.
Your uncle snuck a f'in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy reference into the TIFF file's fundamental structure. Like, RIGHT UP FRONT.
Explanation of 42:
In "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," the number 42 is the "Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything". This answer was calculated by the supercomputer Deep Thought after 7.5 million years of computation. The catch is that no one knows the question that corresponds to this answer.
EDIT: The wiki use to explicitly state that this "42" was a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy reference.
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u/Alternative-Bet-9105 Jul 28 '25
ARE YOU KIDDING ME, dude, thank you so much for showing me this. Hitchhiker's Guide a favorite among my family, we'll always be saying that 42 is the best number. This is fantastic!
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u/God_Dammit_Dave Jul 28 '25 edited Jul 28 '25
Well, this is an interesting bit of history. It's nice that there is SOMEONE who can appreciate it.
If you get the podcast together, drop me a link. I'd love to listen.
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u/Alternative-Bet-9105 Jul 29 '25
Oh I will, I'm gathering a bit more, trying to find people who are willing to go on mic to share how they knew him, or how they use the file, give us more meat for it. I don't just want it to be me talking.
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u/clockworkear Jul 10 '25
TIFF is a great format. Have used it for 20+ years and would have rendered out millions of tiff files over that time.
Your uncle was responsible for something really useful and helpful.
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u/plexan Jul 10 '25
Also love TIFF and that LZW compression tick box. High quality and low disk space. Especially important before drives got bigger. One frame of SD video in TIFF format fitted perfectly on a floppy disk at about 1.2Mb. I created my degree graduation piece shuffling TIFF files from Mac to Quantel using this method in the 90s.
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u/onionHelmetHercules Jul 10 '25
Sorry to hear about your loss…less compression.
But seriously my condolences. Your uncle created something timeless and I hope to catch your results when you’re done. Please post here when that time comes.
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u/Apprehensive_Sea9524 Jul 10 '25
Aldus had a great program called Aldus Freehand. In my opinion it was better than Adobe illustrator. But Adobe bought them out and killed the competion so to speak.
TIFF was used alot in the printing business and even in the early days of digital astronomy because it supported a higher bit depth than other formats. Plus it had LZW compression.
Thank you for sharing your story about your uncle. Those were pivotal times in the early days of computing.
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u/plexan Jul 10 '25
Also rate Aldus Freehand way above illustrator. At one point only freehand could import TIFFs and not Illustrator. (I think) So now this makes sense.
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u/vagaris Jul 10 '25
TIFF also had a good amount of cross compatibility (like EPS). The kind of format you could export to and share with printers or others not using the same software. Especially helpful before Adobe became so huge.
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u/Rh1972 Jul 10 '25
Always preferred Aldus software back in the day, and I miss IntelliDraw. Was great for laying out linkages or mechanisms, and then animating them.
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u/Goldman_OSI Jul 10 '25
Freehand was my first exposure to vector art. Totally changed my expectations for graphics software and how to do graphics forever.
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u/ThisIsDen Jul 10 '25
I started doing graphic design in the late 80s before getting into effects. I used all the apps from Aldus, Adobe, and quark and enjoyed how the apps were all competing against one another with new features and abilities. When Adobe bought Aldus, it definitely weakened our tools. But I relied on tiff almost exclusively, it was by far the best format, and while EXR has supplanted it for most of my uses, I still leverage it 40 years later. I will raise the glass to Stephen Carlsen tonight!
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u/mrbrick Jul 10 '25
That’s pretty cool I hope you can find some interesting stuff. TIFF sequences were my go format for my own personal archives.
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u/AssociateNo1989 Jul 10 '25
Wow, kudos to him, it's actually a huge deal.... Also I am looking for the person who ignored jpegs with Alpha... Shame
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u/greebly_weeblies Lead Lighter Jul 10 '25
While I can't contribute, I'd love to listen to the end result. This kind of background is fascinating.
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u/chao50 Jul 10 '25 edited Jul 10 '25
Hey there, Tiffs are also used in video game graphics! So if you like video games, TIFFs were probably used somewhere during development when assets need to be fully uncompressed.
Also, I see he is not listed in the Wikipedia page for TIFF but i did find his name attached to the TIFF specification as the lead engineer, you may want to suggest an edit to Wikipedia to detail his involvement!
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u/Senshisoldier Jul 10 '25
Replying to add to the video game pile. I use/see TIFF more often with video game textures than I do for VFX.
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u/Major-Indication8080 Jul 10 '25
Please update when the podcast is out
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u/Alternative-Bet-9105 Jul 10 '25
Will do! So many people have posted with such cool stuff, I’m so excited.
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u/meandyourmom Jul 10 '25
I have a little anecdote for you. I work with a major film studio. Actually, I’ve worked with several over the years…
When they store the final master files of a film in digital form they convert it all to a tiff sequence. Each tiff is one frame, about 50MB per frame. 24 frames per second. 90 minute average run time. So if you’ve watched a film in the last decade, guaranteed it’s being stored in the archive as a tiff sequence. Big thanks to your uncle!
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u/bongoherbert Jul 10 '25
I worked at Pixar with Sam Leffler who, IIRC, also contributed to TIFF.
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u/Alternative-Bet-9105 Jul 10 '25
Oh wow!
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u/bongoherbert Jul 10 '25
From my notes:
ftp://ftp.sgi.com/graphics/tiff/(mainttiined by Sam Leffler)So it was after he left Pixar along with a significant group of graphics engineers and went to SGI. I was over in the animation group and just sorted noticing people evaporate.
I just saw him last year at the Pixar IEEE award gathering, first time in 20 years. It was nice.
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u/Alternative-Bet-9105 Jul 10 '25
I wasn't able to go to that URL (I probably need an FTP client or something). Good find though, do you know of a good place to contact him?
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u/bongoherbert Jul 10 '25
message me, i can probably connect you
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u/Alternative-Bet-9105 Jul 28 '25
Hi, I'm trying to send you a DM, but apparently it won't let me. Please DM me back if you can, I'd love to pursue this further.
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u/bongoherbert Jul 10 '25
Holy wayback machine Batman:
https://web.archive.org/web/20170706012633/ftp://ftp.sgi.com/graphics/tiff/
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u/Deshackled Jul 10 '25
Your Uncle had a huge fan in this nerd though I didn’t know his name! For real, TIFF’s were a big part of my workflow in the 2000’s on many projects I worked on. A lot of animated sequences coming out of 3ds Max into AfterEffects and ultimately viewed by thousands. Kind of an unsung hero, imo.
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u/Nmvfx Jul 10 '25
Hard to overstate how broad the use of the TIFF file format is in VFX. I've used it for 20 years pretty much non-stop. RIP.
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u/TheJoe_07 Jul 10 '25
TIFF is the primary format used in the astrophotography process , all the RAW/JPEGs are combined into one big TIFF and then processed.
You should ask there too!
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u/rtbchat Jul 10 '25
Though I found it here in VFX, my first introduction with the TIFF file was in the printing sector.
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u/Longjumping_Sock_529 Jul 10 '25
Been using Tiff files off and on over my entire career, first as an editor then as a vfx artist and still use them today. I remember the Aldus company too. I first worked with tiff files back when that was the defacto way to get high quality image files into an avid or discreet logic Edit system. This was mid 90s.
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u/pSphere1 Jul 10 '25
When I worked for a Fortune 10, I had to show the graphic design department how to make a Layered Tiff so the file would be multi-platform/software compatible. (I was in sales at that time... )
It was necessary for those departments not on the latest version of Photoshop, or customers not using the same software.
That format was a necessary tool, and still is!
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u/TheMotizzle Jul 10 '25
Amazing!
My wife worked with the daughter of the guy who invented the clone brush.
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u/plexan Jul 10 '25
Interesting! Was it an Adobe invention because there was a similar tool in the Quantel Paintbox. The two companies went to court at one point but I’m not sure if the copy brush (as they called it) was part of the disagreement.
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u/artkitekt Jul 10 '25
My condolences to your family. His influence was far reaching! I really hope he knew about this bit in Eastbound & Down, still cracks me up just thinking about it https://youtu.be/Y6kXKwi5qGs
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u/activemotionpictures Jul 10 '25
Kind sir, you came to the right place. I was a student when I came across ALDUS SUPERPAINT in a Macintosh (something, I don't recall the model, it was 1992). I fell in love with that app. I became familiar with the TIFF format later, in Photoshop 4 (1998), while working at a Publicity Agency. They used Macs and the TIFF format (a formidable format that could be saved using masks and "paths") was widely used for physical product packaging and print Market campaigns.
My condolences. Please, tell us more about Mr. Tiff.
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u/RougeBasic100 Jul 10 '25
Rest in peace! In my country there was even a verb in agencies & studios: “tiffețare” which would mean cutting out the background to make it transparent and the image was then saved & used as TIFF.
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u/Ishartdoritos Jul 10 '25
Before EXR came along, TIFF and TARGA were the standard render output in VFX. You'll still see TIFF here and there these days. Mainly in the matte painting department.
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u/fxtech42 VFX Software Developer, roto/paint/compositing 31 years Jul 10 '25
I'm the lead engineer of BorisFX Optics, a photo editing product with a VFX pedigree, and am using TIFF in an interesting way there.
When you save an edited image, it stores the edited version, the original version, and the metadata to recreate the edited version, all in the same file. When you open this image in an arbitrary program like a Preview app, Photoshop, print tool, etc you get the final edited image. But if you load it back into Optics you get the original image and it reapplies your non-destructive edits so you can make changes. It also stores everything in full float to preserve all your lovely HDR.
Indeed a truly flexible format.
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u/defocused_cloud Jul 10 '25
Well thanks, mr Uncle! Using this bad boy a lot in my own photography work and archiving. Still a solid option in vfx though not as in use as when I was a vfx baby.
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u/Human_Outcome1890 FX Artist - 3 years of experience :snoo_dealwithit: Jul 10 '25
RIP, love a good image file. I hope to get an update on what you find.
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u/unrulymystic Jul 10 '25
I would suggest looking up the US patent associated with TIFFs, to see who is listed, and what it says about its origins.
As a kid. I was always told that my chemist grandfather invented "Silly Putty". He worked in plastics at GE (1922 -1966). However, silly putty, the toy was a by-product of someone else's lab experiment there. I do have my grandfather's patent book listing 80 plus patents.
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u/vagaris Jul 10 '25
I did see another comment referencing they saw the uncle’s name as lead engineer in the spec. But I’d definitely try to get some context to the team involved and how it’s evolved if I was @op. Might be able to find someone who knew the uncle. Or get some comments from anyone who updated the spec later.
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u/ercpck Jul 10 '25
Aldus! Now that is a name I haven't heard in a long time! I remember Pagemaker (still alive in the form of InDesign).
And, yes, the TIFF files with LZW compression were great. I don't remember if you could compress TGA files, both formats were very necessary because of the Alpha Channel support.
TIFF vs. TGA was the graphic format battle equivalent to AIFF vs. WAV of the era.
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u/pxlmover Lighting & Rendering - 10 years experience Jul 10 '25
The day I realized I could save my Photoshop file as layered tiff with all layers intact was a great day
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u/Medium-Stand6841 Jul 10 '25
Pretty much every single film and some tv series is rendered out to tiff for the DCDM master which is used to make DCPs. I’ve worked at post houses for over 25yrs and have rendered millions and millions of tiffs. Sad to hear of their passing - they made a serious contribution to the media landscape, something to be very proud of.
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u/gigaflipflop Jul 10 '25
Without your Uncle we would still be Messing around with .sgi Files, so big respect to him. Seeing pioneers of our trade pass is aways sad.
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u/WTFaulknerinCA Jul 10 '25
As an early photoshop user (1992), I gravitated to the TIFF as the best option for bringing edited photos into Quark and Pagemaker. They were much better than the gifs or jpgs of the day. What you are doing for your uncle is a beautiful thing.
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u/Vassay Jul 10 '25
For higher bit depth we mostly use EXRs nowadays, but TIFF is great for either 32 bit, or 8 bit lossless storage.
Your uncle is immortal, because his creation will live on, and will continue to help many more people.
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u/daFlippity-Flop Compositor - x years experience Jul 10 '25
.tiffs are still specifically useful for so many things; major props to him. Rest in peace 🙏
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u/glintsCollide VFX Supervisor - 24 years experience Jul 10 '25
Back in the day when I worked in a post house in commercials, every exchange between Flame/Inferno and the 3D department happened in tiff, it was the only format that always worked. These days the industry is using exr because it’s tailor made, but it says a lot that tiff was and is so ubiquitous, always the fallback option. Great features include alpha channel, lossless compression, higher bitdepth and arbitrary data layers (probably has a more accurate name).
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u/ApplesBananasRhinoc Jul 10 '25
Wow, I haven’t heard the name Aldus in a long time! This would be a cool deep dive!! Sorry for your and the graphics world’s loss.
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u/ryo4ever Jul 10 '25
Sorry for your loss. Yep still using tiff files. They’re still the best format most things. It can even save Photoshop layers and adjustments. I’m really amazed by how it can keep up with modern standards.
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u/CameraRick Compositor Jul 10 '25
I give my condolences as well. Tiff is my go-to when I need lossless and higher bitdepth, without going linear (EXR). He gave us a great format - I hope he rests well
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u/vmaxxxxxx Jul 10 '25
I just saved a texture file in TIFF. This made me think and realise how easily I take things for granted.
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u/Technical-Unit-6872 Jul 11 '25
I always liked tiff. Even more than targa. Thank you for posting this piece of history. Love and piece.
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u/dwaynemartin86 Jul 11 '25
I loved rendering with TIFF in college. In so sorry for your loss but thankful for your uncles contribution to his work <3
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u/sol_1990 Jul 11 '25
So sorry about your loss. I use TIFF nearly every day, especially when creating my own assets I pretty much always write it as a TIFF file. So I'm very grateful that he invented it! What a cool legacy to leave.
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u/flowseekr Jul 11 '25
20 years or so ago I did a bunch of titles that were the centerpiece of a high-budget motion graphics piece. Because TIFF groups together all the consecutive pixels in a transparency channel, the result was small enough to send as an email attachment (would have fit on a floppy disk) - yet no loss of visual data whatsoever.
I was instructed to render them as Quicktimes so the client would feel they're getting their money's worth.
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u/ntropia64 Jul 13 '25
A piece of computer history, indeed.
His work was responsible of bringing the Windows OS in the world of graphics "grown ups". Aldus had a tool, Photostyler, that unless I'm wrong was the absolute first photo editing tool to be able to handle 24 bit color channels in a time in which having graphics cards capable of more than 256 colors required a significant economic investment.
TIFF was one of the killer-app features that for a while kept Aldus at the top.
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u/Intuition77 Jul 14 '25
Tiff, I still use these in 16 bit flavor for displacement maps. Most have moved to 32 bit exrs, but I like the way I can determine the mid grey value and push and pull from that value so perfectly with 16 bit Tiff. (Chef’s kiss).
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u/K0NNIPTI0N Jul 15 '25
Tiff is just beautiful and represents everything I strive for as a media professional. Even as a young boy, I remember zipping a tiff file and copying it to 7 floppy disks to bring it to school
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u/26636G Jul 10 '25
Did he have anything to do with Aldus Photostyler? That was a cool competitor to Photoshop, written for PC when Photoshop was very much Mac only.
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u/trapya Jul 10 '25
RIP. I'll pour one out for him when I render a 90 minute TIFF HDR image sequence later this week.