Computer Graphics World

June 2009 37 Trends & Technologies n n n n New Spaces Medical imaging provided the foothold, and through the promotion of standards and wider market opportunities, film pro- duction has helped push technology and ac- cessibility while driving prices down. With the advent of a wider, more mature, cost- effective base of products and technology, more application spaces are primed to take the plunge into the 10-bit precision waters. Which ones? Well, with fewer limita- tions to accept, and fewer dollars required, the technology has truly become open game for any application that simply cannot com- promise on display precision. Yet, a few can- didates particularly stand out: oil and gas exploration, CAD, collaborative viewing, digital content creators (small to midsize), and surveillance/computer vision. Sharing the medical community's need for fast and accurate image analysis is the oil and gas industry. Collecting 16 bits of data per seismic sample is now the norm, providing the critical precision to allow de- tection and refinement of the subtle gradi- ent changes that might signal a rich find and to more effectively filter out geologic anomalies leading to dead ends. With the interpreter's eye being a critical link in the iterative process of isolating areas of inter- est, refining geometry, tweaking filters, and re-visualizing the display of 16-bit volume data with 10-bit precision represents a logi- cal and valuable progression. In an indus- try where misinterpretation of image data could mean tens of millions in wasted dol- lars, any premium demand- ed by 30-bit color technol- ogy is trivial by comparison. In the CAD realm, design staff shouldn't expect to see an across-the-board transi- tion to 30-bit color. With 24-bit color more than ad- equate for the purposes of engineering, 30-bit won't have a broad impact, at least not anytime soon. But for CAD stylers, those shaping and selling a product's look and feel, the story is different. ere's no compromising on re- alism and fidelity, making 30-bit upgrades for stylers' desks more common, while presentation rooms and auditoriums are a natural fit for the new generation of 4k, 30- bit projectors. And demo rooms are just one example, as digital cinema projectors are finding appeal well beyond the theater. Consider wall and mega-display installations, such as reality centers, simulators, and CAVE environments, in applications like aero- space, geoscience, and academia. For such immersive display applications, one 4k projector can replace several lower-resolu- tion projectors, eliminating the hassle and artifacts of edge blending and refresh syn- chronization. Complementing the 10-bit capable display with 10-bit graphics hard- ware then becomes a very appealing—and affordable—next step. Big-budget Hollywood media produc- tion got the ball rolling. But 30-bit color's appeal in DCC has not been limited by the size of the studio, but by the size of the budget. Image quality and consistency are paramount. Offer smaller and midsize DCC businesses a financially feasible 30- bit option, and they'll make the move, as well. Graphic artists, ad agencies, videog- raphers, small businesses, or sole propri- etors—all are potential 30-bit users, and that prospect hasn't been lost on vendors like HP. Looking beyond Hollywood bor- ders, HP, for one, is seeing the aggressive pricing of its new 30-bit LCD monitor as a game-changer: a "courier killer," eliminat- ing the costly practice of producing and shuttling high-quality prints to clients, or even as a new tool for the weekend wed- ding photographer. Additionally, 10-bit precision has been incorporated into the baseline feature set for most image sensors, A/D converters, and DSPs targeting surveillance, security, and other complex image analysis applications. And as in oil and gas exploration, complex image analysis with 10-bit precision will mean quicker positive identifications and fewer false ones. Next Step While the technology is not for everyone, it is a natural step for demanding profes- sionals. Yet, 10-bit display precision isn't in the foreseeable future for most mainstream applications. After all, 8-bit-per-channel color is pervasive, cheap, and entrenched, and the eye's ability to discern shades isn't getting better. So, there's little doubt that moving from 8-bit to 10-bit in fact offers diminishing returns. But for applications that can't compro- mise on image quality, any return is valu- able, diminishing or not. With historical stumbling blocks withering away, 10-bit technology has moved beyond the radi- ologists' digital light box and into higher- profile spaces, like digital content creation and visualization. Costs are down, and choices and com- patibility are up. Presented with improved technologies, engineered into a wider range of affordable, interoperable hardware, more professionals in more spaces will soon be sampling the benefits of 10-bit precision. n Alex Herrera is a senior analyst with Jon Peddie Research and author of the "JPR Workstation Report" series refer- ence guide for navigating the markets and technologies for today's workstations and professional graphics solu- tions. He can be reached at alex@jonpeddie.com. Effective seismic analysis, using data such as this from Hal- liburton Landmark Software and Services, must detect subtle gradient changes and reiterate analysis in high precision.

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