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Technical Papers and Publications

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I am occasionally asked about some of the more technical details in my work with color imaging devices. Here is some of the material I have published or presented over the years, listed in reverse chronological order.

The Colors of the Deep Sky (pdf, 1.5MB). Tenth Color Imaging Conference, Scottsdale AZ, 2002.

Poster session (pdf, 1.2MB). A more graphic presentation of this material, formatted for print on four 11"x17" pages.

How to make "true color" renderings of popular astrophoto targets, especially emission nebulas.

Smooth Ramps: Walking the Straight and Narrow Path through Color Space (pdf, 1.5MB). Seventh Color Imaging Conference, Scottsdale AZ, 1999.

Some color engineering concepts behind what is needed to do smooth (artifact-free) shading in color printers.

The Colors of the Stars (pdf, 780K). Sixth Color Imaging Conference, Scottsdale AZ, November 1998.

Borrowing David Malin's great book title, here is the basis behind my color star maps.

SIGGRAPH 97 Course 27: Scanning and Recording of Motion Picture Film (pdf, 1.3MB)

A second course that includes the above and more.

Color Film Exposure in CRT Image Recorders (pdf, 300K)
January, 1996

The process of exposing color film by a CRT recorder is described. In particular, the spectral relationships between the CRT light source, its color separation filters, and film characteristics are presented and discussed.

SIGGRAPH 96 Course 23: Digital Color (pdf, 1.3MB)

Basic concepts and issues with film recording and digital color

Behind Gamma's Disguise (pdf, 300K)
136th SMPTE Technical Conference, also SMPTE Journal vol 104, n 7, July 1995.

More than you ever wanted to know about the value of gamma in a cathode ray tube.

Digital Film 2: Good Grays and Continuous Colors (pdf, 360K)
134th SMPTE Technical Conference
Toronto Canada, November 1992

In which the number of bits required to represent a black to white ramp is established (it's more than 8).

Digital Film: Hiding the Raster (pdf, 250K)
133rd SMPTE Technical Conference
Los Angeles CA.
October, 1991

Don't confuse sharpness with resolution. This paper illustrates the requirements for pixel size and spacing in digital images.

 

Copyright 2002-Nov-17

Thor Olson