Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!apple!fernwood!c3.PLA.CA.US!niall
From: niall@c3.PLA.CA.US (Neal Bedard)
Newsgroups: comp.graphics
Subject: Re: How do you start a new group
Message-ID: <1991Mar3.203541.17061@c3.PLA.CA.US>
Date: 3 Mar 91 20:35:41 GMT
References: <1991Jan29.073924.23331@siesoft.co.uk> <1991Jan29.211234.7561@lavaca.uh.edu>
Organization: Cathode Ray Mission, San Jose
Lines: 32

In article <1991Jan29.211234.7561@lavaca.uh.edu> jet@karazm.math.uh.edu ("J. Eric Townsend") writes:
>In article <1991Jan29.073924.23331@siesoft.co.uk> crs@siesoft.co.uk (Chris Smith) writes:
>>I think that it is about time that there was a comp.graphics.pictures.
>
>I think you'll find that this group is about *generating* images,
>not about trading them...

Image processing isn't about "generating" images (by definition), yet wouldn't
it be foolish (or at least, blatantly chauvinistic) to eliminate that topic
from comp.graphics? What about storage media? Compression? Display gamma
correction? Color space conversion? Computer graphics is a _process_, of which
image "generation" is but a part. To assert that comp.graphics is about 
"generating" images is like saying that the discipline of audio science is
about making sounds.

In the specific cases of image processing and compression, one needs test
images - of both the natural (scanned) and synthetic variety - to serve as
"standards" in evaluating the effectiveness of image processing algorithms and
their applications. Further, the results of processing images are also of
interest, particularly if doing so at local sites is impractical because of
non-portable software or extreme compute time.

Thus far, image interchange has been done by ftp, e-mail, or by posting the
images in alt.sex.pictures; all of these methods have limitations. A group
devoted to propagating images of interest to graphics developers would ease
the exchange process, and would result in more-robust image processing
applications. It is an idea whose time has come.



-Neal
[niall@c3.com]