color%20
Context
In this project I wanted to revisit the idea of treating digital images as spatial pseudo-random distributions of color-entities (pixels in 2d, voxels in 3d). As digital color is mostly stored as a triplett of color-channels (red, green and blue), it can easily be mapped into a three-dimensional space. We can further take advantage of the possible perception of true three-dimensionality using a VR-Headset. Having the image represented as a cloud of voxels in digital environment, we can then use the VR-controllers to manipulate the image in this three-dimensional domain using our hands by pushing and pulling parts of the image-cloud and remapping the cloud to the two-dimensional canvas. This technique might provide a more intuitive approach of manipulating images and their colors.
Concept
Approach
For every pixel in the image a colored voxel is spawned. The position of the voxel is than determined by different mapping functions that map the pixel (x, y, r, g, b) to position in space (x, y, z). In the default mapping every voxel is on a plane (z = 0) and the position in the plane is directly determined by the position in the original two-dimensional image.
Since the virtual space is three-dimensional space, the third dimension or depth (z-axis in this case) can be used to convey additional information thus revealing a new perspective on the image. The red channel could for example be mapped to the z-coordinate of every voxel. But we aren't limited to only using the z-axis. Since every digital image represents a subset of the rgb-space (cube), we can also map every pixel to a position in the rgb-space (represented as a cube).
Original Image
Red Color Channel Depth
RGB Color Space
Mapping
Since there are more three-dimensional color-representations of digital color such as HSV (or HSL) and YCbCr that have their own three-dimensional interpretations (HSV a cylinder, YCbCr a cube) and every singel channel can be mapped to the z-axis the following mappings were implemented.
| Name | X-Axis | Y-Axis | Z-Axis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Color Channel Depth | Original | Original | Red |
| Green Color Channel Depth | Original | Original | Green |
| Blue Color Channel Depth | Original | Original | Blue |
| RGB Space | Red | Green | Blue |
| Hue Channel Depth | Original | Original | Hue |
| Saturation Channel Depth | Original | Original | Saturation |
| Value Channel Depth | Original | Original | Value |
| HSV Space (Cylinder) | Hue | Saturation | Value |
| Y Channel Depth | Original | Original | Y (luma component) |
| Cb Channel Depth | Original | Original | Cb |
| Cr Channel Depth | Original | Original | Cr |
| YCbCr Space | Y (luma component) | Cb | Cr |