Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.

Chapter 3

Chapter 3
Graphics and Image Data
Representations
3.1 Graphics/Image Data
Types 3.2 Popular File
Formats

Li, D1rew, & Liu 2

Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3
3.1 Graphics/Image Data
Types
• The number of file formats used in multimedia
continues to proliferate. For example, Table 3.1
shows a list of some file formats used in the popular
product Adobe Premiere.

Link to details on Director file

formats. Li, D2rew, & Liu 2
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

3.1.1 1-Bit
Images
•Each pixel is stored as a single bit (0 or 1),
so also referred to as binary image.
•Suchan image is also called a 1-bit
monochrome
image since it contains no color.
•Fig. 3.1 shows a 1-bit monochrome image
(called “Lena” by multimedia scientists — this
is a standard image used to illustrate many
algorithms).
Li, D3rew, & Liu 2
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

Fig. 3.1: Monochrome 1-bit Lena

image.

Li, D4rew, & Liu 2

Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

3.1.2 8-bit Gray-level

Images
• Each pixel has a gray-value between 0 and 255. Each
pixel is represented by a single byte; e.g., a dark
pixel might have a value of 10, and a bright one
might be 230.

• Bitmap: The two-dimensional array of pixel

values that represents the graphics/image data.

• Image resolution refers to the number of pixels in

a digital image (higher resolution always yields
better quality).

•- Fairly high resolution for such an image might be 1600

x 1200 (1.92M), whereas lower resolution might be 640
Li, D5rew, & Liu
x 480.(0.3M) 2
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed. Chapter 3

• Frame buffer: Hardware used to store bitmap.

-Video card (actually a graphics card) is used for this

purpose.

•- The resolution of the video card does not have to match

the desired resolution of the image, but if not enough
video card memory is available then the data has to be
shifted around in RAM for display.

• An 8-bit image can be thought of as a set of 1-bit bit-

planes, where each plane consists of a 1-bit contribution
to the image : a bit is turned on if the image pixel value
has a nonzero value for that bit. E.g., if a pixel stores 1
byte, then all the pixels with byte value > 127 have the
most significant bit turned on.

• Fig. 3.2 displays the concept of bit-planes graphically.

Li, D6rew, & Liu 2
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

Fig. 3.2: Bit-planes for 8-bit grayscale

image.
Li, D7rew, & Liu 2
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

•Each pixel is usually stored as a byte (a value

between 0 to 255), so a 640 x 480 grayscale
image requires 0.3M of storage (640 x 480 =
307,200 Bytes).
•8 bit Gray Scale 1200 x 1600 image size: 1.92 MB
•Fig. 3.3 shows the Lena image again, but this
time in grayscale.

•When an image is printed, the basic strategy of

dithering is used, which trades intensity
resolution for spatial resolution to provide ability
to print multi-level images on 2-level (1-bit)
printers.
Li, D8rew, & Liu 2
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

Fig. 3.3: Grayscale image of

Lena.

Li, D9rew, & Liu 2

Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

Ditherin
g Dithering
• is used to calculate patterns of dots such
that values from 0 to 255 correspond to patterns that
are more and more filled at darker pixel values, for
printing on a 1-bit printer.

• The main strategy is to replace a pixel value by a

larger pattern, say 2 x 2 or 4 x 4, such that the
number of printed dots approximates the varying-
sized disks of ink used in analog, in halftone
printing (e.g., for newspaper photos).
1. Half-tone printing is an analog process that uses
smaller or larger filled circles of black ink to
represent shading, for newspaper printing.
2. For example, if we use a 2 x 2 dither matrix:

Li, 1D0rew, & 10

Liu
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

we can first re-map (each pixel value in) image values in 0..255
into the new range 0..4 by (integer) dividing by 256/5. Then,
e.g., if the pixel value is 0 we print nothing, in a 2 x 2 area of
printer output. But if the pixel value is 4 we print all four dots.
(so 5 different modes 0 – 4)

• The rule is:

If the intensity is > the dither matrix entry then
print an on dot at that entry location: replace
each pixel by an n x n matrix of dots.

• Note that the image size may be much larger, for a

dithered image, since replacing each pixel by a 4 x 4
array of dots, makes an image 16 times as large.

Li, 1D1rew, & 11

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Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3
8 bits to 1 bit
Transformation:
Dithering
•Transform eachwith 2 xwith
pixel value 2 range
0~255 => 0~4
Dither Matrix
(5 level integer division by dropping the
floating points)
•If p(x1, y1) = 127 ==> p’(x1,y1) =
(127/256 * 5 = 2.49) > 2,
then
print 3 black dots on 0,1,2 positions of
Dither Matrix
• If Transformed pixel p’(x1,
y1) = 0, then print nothing
on 2x2 Dither Matrix
•Ifa pixel = 127, 127/256 * 5 = 2.48 > 2
Li, Drew, & Liu 12

=> 2, then print 3 black dots in all 0-2

positions of 2X2 dither matrix
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed. Chapter 3

•A clever trick can get around this problem. Suppose we

wish to use a larger, 4 x 4 dither matrix, such as

• Anordered dither consists of turning on the printer

output bit for a pixel if the intensity level is greater
than the particular matrix element just at that pixel
position.

• Fig.
3.4 (a) shows a grayscale image of “Lena”. The
ordered- dither version is shown as Fig. 3.4 (b), with a
detail of Lena's right eye in Fig. 3.4 (c).
Li, 1D3rew, & 13
Liu
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed. Chapter 3

• An algorithm for ordered dither, with n x n dither matrix,

is as follows:

Li, 1D4rew, & 14

Liu
Ordered Dithering Example
• Transform each pixel intensity byte value 0-255 to 0-15 first to
get I(x,y) value.
• For each pixel of the bitmap image I(x, y) where x1 is a
col position of the pixel,
y1 is a row position of the pixel with nxn dither matrix
/for example, a pixel I(x1, y1) = I(61, 23) = 127/256 *16 = 7.96 or 127/16=

7.96 i = x1 mod 4 = 61 mod 4 = 1

j = y1 mod 4 = 23 mod 4 = 3

If I( 61, 23) = 7.96 > D(1,3) = 6

//so, at the pixel position in printing output file O(61,23) = 1 is printed
out O(61,23) = 1;
Else
O(61, 23) = 0;

• I (61, 23) = 127  7.96 > D(1, 3) = 6 then O(61,23)

=1 Li, Drew, & Liu
15
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 3.4: Dithering of grayscale
images.
(a): 8-bit grey image
“lenagray.bmp”. (b): Dithered
version of the image. (c): Detail
of dithered version.

Li, 1D6rew, & 16

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Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

3.1.3 Image Data

• Types
The most common data types for graphics and
image file formats — 24-bit color and 8-bit color.

• Some formats are restricted to particular hardware /

operating system platforms, while others are “cross-
platform” formats.

• Evenif some formats are not cross-platform, there are

conversion applications that will recognize and translate
formats from one system to another.

• Most image formats incorporate some variation of a

compression technique due to the large storage size
of image files. Compression techniques can be
classified into either lossless or lossy.
Li, 1D7rew, & 17
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Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

3.1.4 24-bit Color

Images
• In a color 24-bit image, each pixel is represented by
three bytes, usually representing RGB.
- This format supports 256 x 256 x 256 possible combined
colors, or a total of 16,777,216 possible colors.
- However such flexibility does result in a storage penalty: A
640 x 480 24-bit color image would require 921.6 kB of
storage without any compression. (640 * 480 = 0.307 MB,
0.307 MB * 3 ~= 0.92 MB)
- 1200 X 1600 24bit RGB Image Size = 5.76 MB
• An important point: many 24-bit color images are
actually stored as 32-bit images, with the extra byte
of data for each pixel used to store an alpha value
representing special effect information (e.g.,
transparency) - RGB Alpha Type
• Fig.3.5 shows the image forestfire.bmp, a 24-bit
image in Microsoft Windows BMP format. Also shown
are the grayscale images for just the Red, Green, and
Blue channels, for this image.
Li, 1D8rew, & 18
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Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

Fig. 3.5: High-resolution color and separate R, G, B color channel

images. (a): Example of 24-bit color image “forestfire.bmp”. (b,
c, d): R, G, and B color channels for this image
Li, 1D9rew, & 19
Liu
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

24 Bit RGB Color

Dithering to 3 bit
Print
• How toOut
Transform 24 bit RGB to 3
bit RGB to Print Out with 1 bit
Printer
• 1 bit for each RGB channel for
Output
• Transform Each RGB Channel to 1
Bit with Dithering Technique

Li, Drew, & Liu 20

Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

3.1.5 Higher Bit-depth

Images
More information about the scene being imaged can be
gained by using more accuracy for pixel depth (64 bits, say);
or by using
special cameras that view more than just three colors (i.e.,
RGB).
• could use invisible light (e.g., infra-red, ultraviolet) for
security cameras: “dark flash”  Multispectral
• use higher-dimensional medical images of skin (> 3-D) to
diagnose skin carcinoma.
• in satellite imaging, use high-D to obtain types of crop
growth
 Hyperspectral

Such images are called multispectral (more than 3 colors) or

Li, 2D1rew, &
hyperspectral (a great many image
Liu planes, say 224 colors for
21

satellite imaging).
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

3.1.6 8-Bit Color

Images
• Many systems can make use of 8 bits of color
information (the so-called “256 colors”) in
producing a screen image.

• Such image files use the concept of a lookup table

to store color information.
- Basically, the image stores not color, but instead
just a set of bytes, each of which is actually an
index into a table with 3-byte values that specify
the color for a pixel with that lookup table index.

• Fig.3.6 shows a 3D histogram of the RGB values of

the pixels in “forestfire.bmp”.
Li, 2D2rew, & 22
Liu
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed. Chapter 3

• Fig.
3.7 shows the resulting 8-bit image, in GIF
format.

Fig. 3.7: Example of 8-bit color image.

• Note the great savings in space for 8-bit images, over 24-
bit ones: a 640 x 480 8-bit color image only requires
300KB(0.3M) of storage, compared to 921.6KB (0.92M)
for a color image (again, without any compression
applied).
Li, 2D3rew, & 23
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Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

3.1.7 Color Look-up Tables

(LUTs)
• The idea used in 8-bit color images is to store only the
index, or code value, for each pixel. Then, e.g., if a pixel
stores the value 25, the meaning is to go to row 25 in a
color look-up table (LUT).

Fig. 3.8: Color LUT for 8-bit color

images.

Li, 2D4rew, & 24

Liu
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

•A Color-picker consists of an array of fairly large

blocks of color (or a semi-continuous range of
colors) such that a mouse-click will select the color
indicated.

•- In reality, a color-picker displays the palette

colors associated with index values from 0 to
255.
•- Fig. 3.9 displays the concept of a color-picker: if
the user selects the color block with index value
2, then the color meant is cyan, with RGB values
(0, 255, 255).

•A very simple animation process is possible via

simply changing the color table: this is called
color cycling or palette animation.
Li, D rew, & 2 5 25
Liu
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

Fig. 3.9: Color-picker for 8-bit color: each block of the

color- picker corresponds to one row of the color LUT

Li, 2D6rew, & 26

Liu
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed. Chapter 3

• Fig.3.10 (a) shows a 24-bit color image of “Lena”, and

Fig. 3.10
(b) shows the same image reduced to only 5 bits via
dithering. A detail of the left eye is shown in Fig. 3.10
(c).

(a) (b)
(c)

Fig. 3.10: (a): 24-bit color image “lena.bmp”. (b):

Version with color dithering. (c): Detail of dithered
version.
Li, 2D7rew, & 27
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Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

How to dither 24bit RGB

color to 8bit RGB color
code
• Scale each dimension 0 -255 of 3 dimension cube
RGB into 8 bit Color LUT index indicating 3
dimension RGB as follow:
3bitR + 3bitG + 2bitB
R range : 8bit (0-255) scale to=>
3bit (0-7) + G range : 8bit (0-255)
scale to=> 3bit (0-7) +
B range: 8bit (0-255) scale to =>
2bit (0-3)
=> 8bit codes
Li, Drew, & Liu 28
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

How to Select Best LUT Entries:

Color Histogram
Color Histogram : Count RGB codes in an image file to choose
the most frequently used RGB colors to create Look Up Table
entries.

for i=0..(MAX_Y-1)
for j=0..(MAX_X-1)
R = image[x][y].red;
G = image[x][y].green;
B = image[x][y].blue;
hist[R][G][B]++;

Li, Drew, & Liu 29

Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

Fig. 3.6: 3-dimensional histogram of RGB colors in

“forestfire.bmp”.

Li, 3D0rew, & 30

Liu
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3
How to Transform to 8
How to Select the Best 256 LUT RGB Entries Without
bit RGB
Constructing a Color Histogram
• Transform 3 bytes RGB to 8bit per pixel for 256
selective LUT table index by selecting RGB color
separately

Sort R byte in the original image to select 8 (3bits) most

popular R intensities
Those 8 most popular R byte codes to LUT
Sort G byte to select 8 (3bits) most popular G intensities
Those 8 most popular G byte codes to LUT
Sort B byte to select 4 (2bits) most popular B intensities
Those 4 B byte codes to LUT

• All the combinations of 8R x 8G x 4B becomes 256

LUT RGB entries
• Transformed 3+3+2 bits per pixel is an index to
transformed LUT
• Each pixel value in the original RGB is transformed to
index value of the nearest RGB entries in LUT by
comparing (subtracting the original to RGB LUT
Li, Drew, & Liu 31

entries)
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

How to devise a color look-up

table
• The most straightforward way to make 8-bit look-up color
out of 24-bit color would be to divide the RGB cube into
equal slices in each dimension.
a) The centers of each of the resulting cubes would serve
as the entries in the color LUT, while simply scaling
the RGB ranges 0..255 into the appropriate ranges
would generate the 8-bit codes.

b) Since humans are more sensitive to R and G than to B, we

could shrink the R range and G range 0..255 into the 3-
bit range 0..7 and shrink the B range down to the 2-bit
range 0..3, thus making up a total of 8 bits.

c) To shrink R and G, we could simply divide the R or G

byte value by (256/8)=32 and then truncate. Then each
pixel in the image gets replaced by its 8-bit index and
the color LUT serves to generate 24-bit color.

32
Li, 3D2rew, &
Liu
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

How to Select 256 RGB

Codes for LUT without
Clustering
• Index for each pixel will be 3bit for R + 3bit
for G + 2bit for B:
• 8bit R code  3bit R Code :

256/8 = each 32 R color code block (out

of 256 color codes) remapped to 0 – 7
• 8bit G code  3bit G Code:

256/8 = each 32 G block remapped to 0 -

7
• 8bit B code  2bit B Code:

256/4 = each 64 B block remapped to 0-

3 Li, Drew, & Liu 33
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

• Median-cut algorithm: A simple alternate solution

that does a better job for this color reduction
problem.

a) The idea is to sort the R byte values and find their

median; then values smaller than the median are
labelled with a “0” bit and values larger than the
median are labelled with a “1” bit.

b) This type of scheme will indeed concentrate bits where

they most need to differentiate between high
populations of close colors.

c) One can most easily visualize finding the median by

using a histogram showing counts at position
0..255.

d) Fig. 3.11 shows a histogram of the R byte values

for the forestfire.bmp image along with the
median of these values,Li, 3D4shown
rew, & as a vertical line. 34
Liu
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

Fig. 3.11: Histogram of R bytes for the 24-bit color image “forestfire.bmp”
results in a “0” bit or “1” bit label for every pixel. For the second bit of the
color table index being built, we take R values less than the R median and label
just those pixels as “0” or “1” according as their G value is less than or greater
than the median of the G value, just for the “0” Red bit pixels. Continuing over
R, G, B for 8 bits gives a color LUT 8-bit index.
Li, 3D5rew, & 35
Liu
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

Median-Cut Algorithm to
Select LUT colors
Find the smallest box containing all the colors in the
1.
image
2. Sort the color codes of all the pixels in the longest
dimension (here for example, R dimension)
3. Split the box by median of R: if box < median
R= 0 else R=1
4.For R=0, Split the box by
median of G: if box <
median then 00 else 01
(the bit code is an index
value for each box whose
Centroid is LUT color)
Do the same for R=1
5.Repeat step 1, 2, 3, 4 until
find 256 boxes (regions) (or
through
r
e
c
u
r
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

3.2 Popular File

Formats
• 8-bit GIF: one of the most important formats because of its
historical connection to the WWW and HTML markup
language as the first image type recognized by net
browsers.
• JPEG: currently the most important common file format.
• PNG: most popular lossless image format.
• TIFF: flexible file format due to the addition of tags.
• EXIF: allows the addition of image metadata.
• PS and PDF: vector based language, popular in
publishing and academia

Li, 3D7rew, & 37

Liu
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

3.2.1 GIF (Graphic Interchange

Format)
• GIF standard: (We examine GIF standard because it is
so simple! yet contains many common elements.)
Limited to 8-bit (256) color images only, which, while
producing acceptable color images, is best suited for
images with few distinctive colors (e.g., graphics or
drawing).
• GIFstandard supports interlacing — successive display
of pixels in widely-spaced rows by a 4-pass display
process.
• GIF actually comes in two
flavors:
1.GIF87a: The original
specification.
2.GIF89a: The later version. Supports simple animation via a
Graphics Control Extension block in the data, provides
simple control over delay time, a &transparency index, etc.
Li, 3D8rew, 38
Liu
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

GIF8
• For the standard specification, the general file
7format of a GIF87 file is as in Fig. 3.12.

Fig. 3.12: GIF file

format.
Li, 3D9rew, & 39
Liu
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed. Chapter 3

• Screen Descriptor comprises a set of attributes that

belong to every image in the file. According to the
GIF87 standard, it is defined as in Fig. 3.13.

Fig. 3.13: GIF screen

descriptor Li, D rew, &
3 9 40
Liu
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed. Chapter 3

• Color Map is set up in a very simple fashion as in Fig.

3.14. However, the actual length of the table equals
2(pixel+1) as given in the Screen Descriptor.

Fig. 3.14: GIF color

map.
Li, 3D9rew, & 41
Liu
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed. Chapter 3

• Eachimage in the file has its own Image Descriptor,

defined as in Fig. 3.15.

Fig. 3.15: GIF image

descriptor.
Li, 3D9rew, & 42
Liu
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed. Chapter 3

• If
the “interlace” bit is set in the local Image
Descriptor, then the rows of the image are displayed
in a four-pass sequence (Fig.3.16).

Fig. 3.16: GIF 4-pass interlace display row

order.
Li, 3D9rew, & 43
Liu
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

• Wecan investigate how the file header works in practice

by having a look at a particular GIF image. Fig. 3.7 on
page is an 8- bit color GIF image, in UNIX, issue the
command:
od -c forestfire.gif | head -2

and we see the first 32 bytes interpreted as characters:

G I F 8 7 a \208 \2 \188 \1 \247 \0 \0 \6 \3 \5
J \132 \24 | ) \7 \198 \195 \ \128 U \27 \196 \166 &
T

• To
decipher the remainder of the file header (after
“GIF87a”), we use hexadecimal:
od -x forestfire.gif | head -2

with the result

4749 4638 3761 d002 bc01 f700 0006 0305 ae84 187c 2907 c6c3 5c80
551b c4a6 2654 Li, 3D9rew, & 44
Liu
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

3.2.2
JPEG
• JPEG: The most important current standard for image
compression.

• The human vision system has some specific limitations

and JPEG takes advantage of these to achieve high rates
of compression.

• JPEG allows the user to set a desired level of

quality, or compression ratio (input divided by
output).

• As an example, Fig. 3.17 shows our forestfire image, with a

quality factor Q=10.
- This image is a mere 1.5% of the original size. In
comparison, a JPEG image with Q=75 yields an image
size 5.6% of the original, whereas a GIF version of this
image compresses down to 23.0% of uncompressed
image size.
Li, 3D9rew, & 45
Liu
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

Fig. 3.17: JPEG image with low quality specified

by user.
Li, 3D9rew, & 46
Liu
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

PN
G
• PNG format: standing for Portable Network
Graphics — meant to supersede the GIF standard, and
extends it in important ways.

• Special features of PNG files include:

1. Support for up to 48 bits of color information — a
large increase.

2. Files may contain gamma-correction information

for correct display of color images, as well as
alpha-channel information for such uses as
control of transparency.

3. The display progressively displays pixels in a 2-

dimensional fashion by showing a few pixels at a
time over seven passes through each 8 x 8 block of
an image.
Li, 3D9rew, & 47
Liu
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

TIF
F
• TIFF: stands for Tagged Image File Format.

• The support for attachment of additional information

(referred to as “tags”) provides a great deal of
flexibility.

1. The most important tag is a format signifier: what

type of compression etc. is in use in the stored
image.

2. TIFF can store many different types of image:

1-bit, grayscale, 8-bit color, 24-bit RGB, etc.

3. TIFF was originally a lossless format but now a

JPEG tag allows one to opt for JPEG compression.

4. The TIFF format was developed

Li, 3D9rew, &
by the Aldus
48
Corporation in the 1980's
Liu and was later
supported by Microsoft.
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

EXI
F
• EXIF (Exchange Image File) is an image format for
digital cameras:
• 1. Compressed EXIF files use the baseline JPEG
format.

• 2. A variety of tags (many more than in TIFF) are

available to facilitate higher quality printing, since
information about the camera and picture-taking
conditions (flash, exposure, light source, white
balance, type of scene, etc.) can be stored and used
by printers for possible color correction algorithms.

• 3. The EXIF standard also includes specification of file

format for audio that accompanies digital images. As
well, it also supports tags for information needed for
conversion to FlashPix (initially
Li, D rew, &
developed by Kodak).
3 9 49
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PS and
PDF
• Postscript is an important language for typesetting,
and many high-end printers have a Postscript
interpreter built into them.

• Postscript
is a vector-based picture language, rather than
pixel- based: page element definitions are essentially in
terms of vectors.
1. Postscript includes text as well as
vector/structured graphics.

2. Bit-mapped images can be included in output

files.

3. Encapsulated Postscript files (.EPS) add some

additional information for inclusion of Postscript
files in another document.
Li, 3D9rew, & 50
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Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

4. Postscript page description language itself does

not provide compression; in fact, Postscript
files are just stored as ASCII.

• Another text + figures language has superseded or at

least paralleled Postscript: Adobe Systems Inc. includes
LZW compression in its Portable Document Format
(PDF) file format.
•- PDF files that do not include images have about the same
compression ratio, 2:1 or 3:1, as do files compressed with
other LZW- based compression tools.

Li, 3D9rew, & 51

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Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

Some Other Image

Formats

• Microsoft Windows: WMF: the native vector file

format for the Microsoft Windows operating
environment:
1. Consist of a collection of GDI (Graphics Device
Interface) function calls, also native to the
Windows environment.
2. When a WMF file is “played” (typically using the
Windows PlayMetaFile() function) the described
graphics is rendered.
3. WMF files are ostensibly device-independent
and are unlimited in size.

Li, 3D9rew, & 52

Liu
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

• Microsoft Windows: BMP: the major system standard

graphics file format for Microsoft Windows, recognized by
many programs. Watch it!: there are many sub-variants
within the BMP standard.

• Netpbm Format: PPM (Portable PixMap), PGM (Portable

GrayMap), and PBM (Portable BitMap) belong to a family
of open source Netpbm formats. These formats are
mostly common in the linux/unix environments.

Li, 3D9rew, & 53

Liu
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

PT
M
• PTM (Polynomial Texture Mapping) is a technique for
storing a representation of a camera scene that
contains information about a set of images taken under
a set of lights that each have the same spectrum (say, a
xenon flash), but with each light placed at a different
direction from the scene. PTM was
invented at Hewlett-Packard.

Li, 3D9rew, & 54

Liu
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

Fig. 3.18: (a) 50 input images for PTM: lights

individually from 50 different directions ei,
i=1..50;
(b) interpolated imageLi, under
Drew, & Liu new light e. 55
Fundamentals of Multimedia, 2nd ed.
Chapter 3

Fig.
3.18:
(a)50 input images for PTM:
lights individually from 50
different directions ei,
i=1..50;
(b) interpolated image
under
new light e

Li, Drew, & Liu 56