The main purpose of the Color Reduction tool is to maximize the contrast in the color channels of an image. This can improve the input for color segmentation tools as well as the results of color to grayscale conversions. We implemented two different algorithms in order to determine color space transformations that optimize the contrast: Principle Component Analysis (PCA) and Locality Preserving Projections (LPP).

Both methods can be applied to transform or reduce 2-4 input channels to 1-4 output channels, for a single image or a range of images. A secondary image input can be used to supply a weighting mask that determines the influence of each pixel during the color reduction algorithm. Afterwards, the output channels can be normalized and optionally, the color transformation can be encoded in a Fusion 3D LUT.

Download Color Reduction 1.0

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Download RGBtoLAB 1.03

Ok, this Fuse started off as a really tiny one.  Fusion already has a CSConvert() that does Lab.  So all I have to do is…

if mode == 0 then

out:CSConvert("RGB", "LAB")

else

out:CSConvert("LAB", "RGB")

end

Simple and fast.  But the results were a bit… unexpected. So we added a little tweak which has no basis in known color science, it just makes is so that a linear RGB input returns what I think is a linear L output.

So why doesn’t ColorSpace have an Lab button?  I don’t know.  You can see LAB color in action in the Wand tool, though.

Other options include output a LUT Image only, as if it were a Source tool.  Same as the new option on ColorMatrixTransform.  You can also choose whether to affect the canvas color or not.

Eyeon released Fusion 6.3 last week, and we’ve had a chance to look at some of the new tools and how they would fit in with our tools.

VolumeFog now includes a Schlick single-scattering lighting model.

Download Particle Voxelization for VolumeFog A01

You can render in OpenCL, or fallback to CPU if you need to render a larger volume dataset than you have memory on your OpenCL device.   It works nicely, but definitely shows the interface issues with representing 4D data as X,Y,Time,Time.  We use Quilt for 4D data, but we’ll have to see if there’s an easy way to get that translated over to VolumeFog.  Of course, getting a proper 3D fog texture can be handled nicely by Simbiont.

AlphaDivide and AlphaMultiply provide dead simple color operations, but they’re no faster than our own tool.  And unlike the new built-in tools, AlphaDivideMultiply allows you to affect the canvas color, too.

LUT Fuses allow you to analyze and apply LUT images to your footage to simplify various color operations, as well as provide simple interoperability with other applications.  They’re also operate in OpenCL if available.  We’ve updated ColorMatrixTransform to produce these images.  Just 8 pixels can represent all of the possible corrections you can apply with a Color Matrix.  We’ll be adding this to more tools soon.

This new version of Fusion also fixes some annoying bugs.  It’s now possible to create an interactive LUT macro.  Previously, interactivity was limited, you just set the LUT up once and left it.  Polylines are now able to evaluate properly at multiple image sizes without randomly evaluating the wrong reference.  And a longstanding issue with spline view redraw has apparently been fixed, making it much easier to use in real-world comps.

A lot of images we make are data passes, and having the color premultiplied by alpha is “wrong” for processing, but allows you to see the alpha contribution more effectively, especially when the alpha is really just a 4th vector component and not opacity.  We've got a Fuse for doing this for actual image processing in the flow, but if all you wanted was a quick way of checking it in the viewer, it was extra work.

Daniel Koch made a ViewShader a while back that does a proper checker underlay for images with straight color, but with this ViewShader, you can go back to using the standard checker underlay if you so choose.

Download AlphaMultiplyDivideVS 1.0

Once again, Ben and I are headed off to SIGGRAPH, this time in sunny Vancouver BC.  Same as before, we’ll send back reports on anything we find interesting.  This time, however, Ben has the shiny new blogging phone.  If you’re going (or you’re a Vancouveran) and would like to meet up, let us know.  I’ll be the one with the SIGGRAPH t-shirt and a laptop.

This week, we present six interactive turntables for you to spin. Each one was rendered from a volumetric dataset and can be blended between two views by dragging the mouse vertically. MRI, CT, 3D microscopy and cryomacrotome imaging modalities are all represented here. Check out the bottom right corner for an aptly rendered Bruce Gooch brain.

Each turntable is defined in an XML file that is parsed at run-time to determine the render properties and image asset paths. These assets are streamed in and displayed as needed so the initial download is only about 100KB.

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There has been quite some discussion on WebGL recently. Here is a demo that will show you why we think it is a great technology. It contains an interactive volume renderer that makes use of the new canvas element in HTML 5. A ray marching algorithm applies your transfer function to a texture and renders the volume dataset interactively. Before trying this out, please read the following notes on the limitations concerning different web browsers and graphics cards.

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Download XML Node Delete 0.5

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We have uploaded a new version of SimbiontFusion that includes the long-awaited 64-bit support. This plugin allows you to render DarkTree procedural textures directly in Fusion. Please note that the plugin was compiled with the Fusion 6.2 SDK and that installation steps have changed for this release, so consult the readme.txt file.

Download Simbiont Fusion 1.05

This is a quick post to show another aspect of the Lazy Susan project: physics based rotation of shaded geometry. This Susan features a clamp that we modeled for a recent surgical simulation. It opens and closes when clicked (with sound!) and uses a tinted reflection map shader to add realism. As usual, click and drag with the mouse to rotate the model. Since this version is geometry-based and not a collection of pre-rendered images like earlier posts, the model can rotated about both the horizontal and vertical axes. Right click and select Go Fullscreen for a close-up view.

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