A Spectral-based High Dynamic Range Image Data Format by Combination of Cosine and Wavelet Basis Functions

Abstract

High dynamic range imaging (HDRI) has become a common practice in computer graphics providing more accurate light measurements, thus allowing more convincing rendering results. Typically HDR data is stored as RGB intensities but this is not suitable to simulate several optical and perceptual phenomena in the real world, such as interference phenomenon and diffraction phenomenon. Such phenomena require spectral light distribution information to be properly simulated. However storing spectral data can be expensive so compact ways to represent such data type are desirable. This work presents a novel HDR image data format to compactly store spectral data by combining two different orthonormal basis functions: cosine function and wavelet function.