Using OpenGL for imaging
Randi J. Rost · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 1996
Although OpenGL is not usually thought of as a library for imaging, it was designed to expose the capabilities of modern frame buffer hardware. The emphasis in OpenGL is on 3D graphics (i.e., geometry), but OpenGL also includes a fairly rich set of capabilities for 2D imaging. This paper describes the capabilities of OpenGL for imaging applications, including pixel transfer operations (draw, read, copy); color lookup tables; linear transformation of color values; pixel conversion capabilities; and pixel operations such as blending, masking, and clipping. Several recently proposed extensions to OpenGL add significant capabilities to the core imaging model, including convolution, window level mapping, and image transformation and resampling. These capabilities are discussed in the context of the pixel processing pipeline defined by OpenGL.