Todays video cards feature graphics processing units, or GPUs, that process an amazing amount of data more than 6 billion pixels per second. This performance continues to grow at an amazing rate, doubling every six months.
The Power of the GPU
Until now, harnessing the power of the GPU required in-depth knowledge of pixel-level programming. Core Image allows developers to easily leverage these programmable GPUs for blistering-fast image processing that can eliminate rendering time delays. Effects and transitions can be expressed with a few lines of code. Core Image handles the rest, optimizing the path to the GPU. The result is real-time, interactive responsiveness as you select and apply filters.
For computers without a programmable GPU, Core Image dynamically optimizes for the CPU, automatically tuning for Velocity Engine and multiple processors as appropriate.
Extensible Image Units
Core Image provides a plug-in style architecture for accessing filters, transitions and effects packages called Image Units. Image Units provide centralized management for image processing plug-ins that can be shared across all host applications. Developers can spend more time creating new Image Units instead of porting code to work across heterogeneous applications. Image Units achieve unprecedented reliability and stability as well as performance.
Developers can easily create their own Image Units by describing filters and effects in simple expressions compiled at runtime. Or developers can freely access one hundred Image Units bundled in Tiger, including blurs, color adjustments, distortions, edge sharpeners and transitions. (See below.)
Not Just for Still Images
Core Video, joining Core Image in Mac OS X Tiger, delivers a modern foundation for video services, providing a bridge between QuickTime and the GPU for hardware-accelerated video processing. This highly optimized pipeline for video presentation increases performance and reduces CPU load, freeing up resources for other operations.
And Core Video allows developers to apply all the benefits of Core Image to video blazingly-fast performance of filters and effects, per-pixel accuracy and hardware scalability.
Tiger includes the following Image Units:
Blur
- Median Blur
- Gaussian Blur
- Motion Blur
- Zoom Blur
- Noise Reduction
Color Adjustment Filters
- Color Controls
- Color Matrix
- Exposure Adjust
- Gamma Adjust
- Hue Adjust
- White Point Adjust
- Color Cube
Color Filters
- Color Map
- Color Invert
- Color Monochrome
- Color Posterize
- False Color
- Sepia Tone
- Mask to Alpha
Compositing Filters
- Addition
- Maximum
- Minimum
- Multiply
- Source Atop
- Source In
- Source Out
- Source Over
Gradient Filters
- Gaussian Gradient
- Linear Gradient
- Radial Gradient
Sharpen Filters
- Sharpen Luminance
- Unsharp Mask
Distortion Filters
- Pinch Distortion
- Hole Distortion
- Bump Distortion
- Displacement Distortion
- Glass Distortion
- Glass Lozenge
- Torus Lens Distortion
- Twirl Distortion
- Vortex Distortion
- Circle Splash Distortion
- Circular Wrap Distortion
Generator Filters
- Checkerboard
- Constant Color
- Lenticular Halo
- Star Shine
- Stripes
- Sunbeams
- Random Generator
Color Blend Mode
- Color Dodge Blend Mode
- Color Burn Blend Mode
- Darken Blend Mode
- Difference Blend Mode
- Exclusion Blend Mode
- Hard Light Blend Mode
- Hue Blend Mode
- Lighten Blend Mode
- Luminosity Blend Mode
- Multiply Blend Mode
- Overlay Blend Mode
- Saturation Blend Mode
- Screen Blend Mode
- Soft Light Blend Mode
- Color Blend Mode
Geometry Filters
- Affine Transform
- Crop
- Perspective Transform
- Lanczos Scale Transform
Halftone Filters
- CMYK Halftone
- Circular Screen
- Dot Screen
- Hatched Screen
- Line Screen
Stylish Filters
- Blend with Mask
- Edge Work
- Height Field from Mask
- Pointillize
- Shaded Material
- Bloom
- Edges
- Gloom
- Pixellate
- Spot Light
- Crystallize
Tile Filters
- Affine Clamp
- Affine Tile
- Op Tile
- Parallelogram Tile
- Perspective Tile
- Triangle Tile
- Kaleidoscope
Transition Filters
- Page Curl
- Copy Machine
- Dissolve
- Flash
- Mod
- Ripple
- Swipe
- Disintegrate with Mask