Word: pixel
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...form suitable for computer analysis. In this procedure, a video camera is used to feed an electronic representation of each black-and-white photo to a special circuit board that can be placed inside an IBM-compatible personal computer. The circuitry divides each picture into tiny dots called pixels, much like the process by which old Hollywood black-and- white movies are colorized. But instead of assigning colors to each pixel, the computer assigns each dot a number according to how light or dark it is. Thus on a scale of one to ten, a dark smudge or scratch might...
...most computer images, each dot, or pixel, on the screen must be mathematically specified. One frame of 35-mm film can require more than 6 million pixels; a 60-second sequence can cost $300,000 and take months to complete. To speed up the process, Catmull and Smith built a special-purpose machine -- the Pixar -- that divides the computational task among four parallel processors: three to control the red, blue or green washed onto each pixel; one to control the pixel's transparency...