Advantages of .PNG compare to .JPS for Stereoscopic Images Table of ContentsBackPreviousNext

Note: The sTER chunk specifications are presently debated in the png-list mailing list. The last update on this page has been done on 2004-Nov-19.
The previous page has been renamed advantages_of_png_over_jps_copy(1).html.

There is a list of the advantages of using .PNG instead of .JPS for stereoscopic images :
 

1- The Alpha Channel able smooth transparency over background images. You can create depth 3D translucent objects floating in front the screen.
2- Stunning animations via the .MNG format. You can create depth 3D animated objects flying in front the screen.
3- Progressive display. Gives quickly a good preview for huge depth 3D images or with slow connection.
4- Compatibility with all existing software that support .PNG format. The way the stereoscopic image is stored in the .PNG file makes all the existing software automatically able to display the stereoscopic image with the Cross Eye Display Mode technique.
5- Possibility to set a custom pixel size ratio to reduce file size with the use of the pHYs chunk.  By example, a ratio of (HzPixel : VtPixel / 2) indicates that the size of right and left images have been re-sampled to Width x (Height / 2), so the resulting file size is divided by two.  This is especially useful when the primary viewing device is always expected to be Liquid Crystal Shuttle Glasses.
6- Lossless format for scientific uses.  The artifacts created by lossy format may void program analysis of stereoscopic images.  By example, when calculating the terrain slope from elevation images taken by satellites.
7- The possibility of 16 bits per channel for scientific uses.  By example, in a stereoscopic image taken from the non visible spectrum of light, each pixel will have a range of 0-65535 instead of 0-255.  This is a huge advantage in computer analysis of such stereoscopic images.  This could also be useful for the NASA stereoscopic images taken by future planet rovers.
 
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