Quantization Techniques for Visualization of High Dynamic Range Pictures

Abstract

This paper proposes several techniques that enable to display high dynamic range pictures (created by a global illumination rendering program, for instance) on a low dynamic range device. The methods described here are based on some basic knowledge about human vision and are intended to provide "realistic looking" images on the visualization device, even with critical lighting conditions in the rendered scene. The main features of the new techniques are speed (only a handful of floating point operations per pixel are needed) and simplicity (only one single parameter, which can be empirically evaluated has to be provided by the user). The goal of this paper is not to propose a psychovisual or neurological model for subjective perception, but only to described some experimental results and propose some possible research directions.