A GPU-friendly method for high dynamic range texture compression using inverse tone mapping

In recent years, High Dynamic Range Textures (HDRTs) have been frequently used in real-time applications and video-games to enhance realism. Unfortunately, HDRTs consume a considerable amount of memory, and efficient compression methods are not straightforward to implement on modern GPUs. We propose a framework for efficient HDRT compression using tone mapping and its dual, inverse tone mapping. In our method, encoding is performed by compressing the dynamic range using a tone mapping operator followed by a traditional encoding method for low dynamic range imaging. Our decoding method, decodes the low dynamic range image and expands its range with the inverse tone mapping operator. We present results using the Photographic Tone Reproduction tone mapping operator and its inverse encoded with S3TC running in real-time on current programmable GPUhardware resulting in compressed HDRTs at 4 - 8 bits per pixel (bpp), using a fast shader program for decoding. We show how our approach is favo...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2008
• Where: GRAPHICSINTERFACE
• Authors: Francesco Banterle, Kurt Debattista, Patrick Ledda, Alan Chalmers
• Keywords: Computer Graphics, Dynamic Range, GRAPHICSINTERFACE 2008, Tone Mapping, Tone Mapping Operator