README

README

//
// OpenEXR
//


OpenEXR is a high dynamic-range (HDR) image file format developed by 
Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) for use in computer imaging applications.  
ILM subsequently released the source code and adjoining material as open 
source software. 
The distribution has evolved to include support for stereoscopic and deep 
images.  Weta Digital, Disney, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Pixar, DreamWorks
Animation and other studios have made contributions to the code base.
The file format has seen wide adoption in a number of industries.

The library, including all contributions, is released under the modified 
BSD license. 


OpenEXR's features include:

    * Higher dynamic range and color precision than existing 8- and 10-bit 
      image file formats.
    * Support for 16-bit floating-point, 32-bit floating-point, and 
      32-bit integer pixels. The 16-bit floating-point format, called "half", 
      is compatible with the half data type in NVIDIA's Cg graphics language 
      and is supported natively on their new GeForce FX and Quadro FX 3D 
      graphics solutions.
    * Multiple image compression algorithms, both lossless and lossy. Some of
      the included codecs can achieve 2:1 lossless compression ratios on images
      with film grain.  The lossy codecs have been tuned for visual quality and
      decoding performance.
    * Extensibility. New compression codecs and image types can easily be added
      by extending the C++ classes included in the OpenEXR software distribution.
      New image attributes (strings, vectors, integers, etc.) can be added to 
      OpenEXR image headers without affecting backward compatibility with 
      existing OpenEXR applications. 
    * Support for sterescopic image workflows and a generalisation to 
      multi-views.

Added Feature highlights for v2 release

    * Flexible support for deep data. Pixels can store a variable-length list of 
      samples and, thus, it is possible to store multiple values at different 
      depths for each pixel. Hard surfaces and volumetric data representations
      are accomodated.
    * Multipart. Ability to encode separate, but related, images in one file. 
      This allows for access to individual parts without the need to read other
      parts in the file.
    * Versioning. OpenEXR source allows for user configurable C++
      namespaces to provide protection when using multiple versions of the
      library in the same process space.
      


The distribution is divided into the following sub-modules:
    * IlmBase
    * OpenEXR
    * OpenEXR_Viewers
    * PyIlmBase
    * Contrib
    
Please see the README files of each of the individual directories for more
information.

A collection of OpenEXR images are available from the adjecent repository:
 openexr-images