Computer Graphics World

Today's de-facto 8-bit standard—yield- ing 256 shades of grayscale, or 16.7 million shades of color (256 shades of red, green, and blue)—has proven more than ad- equate to address the needs of mainstream applications. e computer industry has served that majority well, building a broad set of commodity products—displays and graphics, hardware and software—all in support of 8-bit systems. But not so for 10-bit. Professionals with the need to push beyond 8 bits have faced a host of shortcomings in the marketplace, with options few and prices high. As a re- sult, only a few of the most demanding, absolutely-must-have users could justify the deployment of 10-bit grayscale or 30-bit (3x10-bit) color. e medical imaging com- munity is among this group. Delivering four times the number of displayable shades as 8-bit data, 10-bit precision improves radi- ologists' speed and, more importantly, the accuracy in reading high-fidelity scan source from a range of technologies, including X-ray, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and computed tomography (CT). Additional discrete shades can be allo- cated to fit a narrower luminance range, dedicating more displayable intensities to precisely that range where subtle details are concentrated, often varying by image and scan technology. e image reader sees more detail and spends less time twiddling with windowing, leveling, brightness, and contrast. e end benefit to the physician, hospital, and patient: more precise reads delivered in less time. While the medical community's been the most committed and consistent con- sumer of 10-bit display technology, it's done so in spite of what the market has offered, not because of it. Medical instal- lations adopted 10-bit technology because of the overwhelming importance of getting an accurate diagnosis quickly, and in pur- suit of that goal, it has had to accept more than a few drawbacks. Niche markets typically attract niche solutions—often just a handful and usually proprietary. is had been the case for 10-bit imaging, where proprietary solutions led to high prices, few standards, and little in the way of interoper- ability. Avoiding a single-source supply often was simply not possible; to piece together a working end-to-end solution was taxing enough, let alone to attempt something het- erogeneous. Being locked into a proprietary solution translated into long product cycles, yet it came with no guar- antees of long-term support. And should the desire ever arise to take advantage of attractive technology advancements devel- oping beyond the bounds of the current implementation (think of the explosion in capabilities and performance of 3D graph- ics hardware), well, they were simply out of reach for the 10-bit user. Fortunately, the medical imaging com- munity no longer has to go it alone in sup- porting 10-bit technology, as help is com- ing from other professional imaging arenas, including one that's both well funded and highly motivated. Hollywood's quest for ever-superior image quality is leading to the adoption of 30-bit color precision, rais- ing awareness of the technology and stim- ulating the development of more capable, interoperable, and cost-effective products and technologies. Hollywood Goes 30-bit e film industry has surely and steadily been making the move to 100 percent digi- tal workflows—end-to-end and at every step along the way. A linchpin in realizing that vision, 30-bit color not only delivers superior fidelity, but also has been instru- mental in achieving that elusive goal of uni- form color, from one artist's desk to another, throughout the production pipeline. Nevertheless, the term "film" is becom- ing a misnomer, as that end-to-end digi- tal process now extends all the way to the theater, with digital movies already being shown on a new generation of digital pro- jectors replacing stacks of film cans. Now in use at thousands of theaters worldwide, digital cinema has arrived and should grad- ually replace traditional film projection. To meet or exceed the visual experience of 35mm or 75mm film, digital cinema proponents and adopters set a quality tar- get of 4k (4096 pixel)-wide spatial resolu- tion and 10-bit precision per channel. at target has been met with a range of 30-bit capable, 4k projectors now on the market, including Sony's SXRD product line. To a lesser degree, 30-bit color is mak- ing a mark in broadcast markets, as well. While the transmission of higher-precision video streams to consumers is still a long way away (if ever, for a variety of economic issues rather than technical limitations), 30-bit has found its way into the content creation side of the industry. Keeping the content at the highest quality for as long as possible in the production process— through blending, mixing, and overlays— is always a good thing. Open Standards Medical imaging may have been the cornerstone for 10-bit display precision, Digital mammography has been a driving force in the push to 10-bit imaging. June 2009 33 Trends & Technologies n n n n

• Cover