Dicomed

Last updated

Dicomed (or DICOMED) was a computerized graphics technology company founded in 1969 and based in Minneapolis. [1] In the early 1970s it became a leading manufacturer of precision color film recorders such as the D47 and D48.

The company went out of business in 1999. [2]

Products

One of Dicomed's first products was the D30, a digital image display utilizing a dark-trace CRT with a display resolution of 1024x1024, introduced in 1968. Even though it was capable of displaying any digitized image data, it was originally developed for the display of digitized medical X-ray images from x-ray films that were scanned and image-processed digitally (in order to enhance contrast and other parameters) via computer and stored on 9-track computer tape. A tape drive (or a computer itself) could then be interfaced to a D30 in order to display the processed image data.[ citation needed ]

The D30's dark-trace CRT made it possible for it to display an image continuously without the need for frame buffer memory (as that era's solid-state RAM memory devices were quite new and expensive, and the core memories also of the same era were limited in capacity) to refresh the image from periodically as is the case for a standard phosphor-based CRT, for the image would be retained on the CRT's scotophor layer of the screen until cleared by heating it. This type of CRT is very similar in function to the DVBST CRT used by later graphics terminals such as the Tektronix 4010.

Dicomed would later produce several CRT-based film recorders, interfaced to computers to record graphic output from the computer's memory to film. Many of the early government (JPL, NCAR, NSA, CIA, Sandia Laboratories, et al.) computer graphics applications had their imagery in output to a Dicomed. Most of these entities also had CRAY super computers with enough power to compute 4096 X 4096 color imagery.

A major role for the Dicomed D148 color film recorder, in 1984, was to image the work of 26 computer graphic animation specialists on to film for the production of the 15 minute IMAX film; the "Magic Egg". [3] [4] [5]

Later in the 1980s, Dicomed became a producer of color workstations (D38, Producer, Imaginator, etc.) for artists and illustrators to create digital color imagery.

In the mid-1990s, Dicomed was a manufacturer of digital cameras.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graphics card</span> Expansion card which generates a feed of output images to a display device

A graphics card is a computer expansion card that generates a feed of graphics output to a display device such as a monitor. Graphics cards are sometimes called discrete or dedicated graphics cards to emphasize their distinction to integrated graphics processor on the motherboard or the CPU. A graphics processing unit (GPU) that performs the necessary computations is the main component in a graphics card, but the acronym "GPU" is sometimes also used to erroneously refer to the graphics card as a whole.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Framebuffer</span> Portion of random-access memory containing a bitmap that drives a video display

A framebuffer is a portion of random-access memory (RAM) containing a bitmap that drives a video display. It is a memory buffer containing data representing all the pixels in a complete video frame. Modern video cards contain framebuffer circuitry in their cores. This circuitry converts an in-memory bitmap into a video signal that can be displayed on a computer monitor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Film recorder</span> Device that copies content from a computer system to film stock

A film recorder is a graphical output device for transferring images to photographic film from a digital source. In a typical film recorder, an image is passed from a host computer to a mechanism to expose film through a variety of methods, historically by direct photography of a high-resolution cathode ray tube (CRT) display. The exposed film can then be developed using conventional developing techniques, and displayed with a slide or motion picture projector. The use of film recorders predates the current use of digital projectors, which eliminate the time and cost involved in the intermediate step of transferring computer images to film stock, instead directly displaying the image signal from a computer. Motion picture film scanners are the opposite of film recorders, copying content from film stock to a computer system. Film recorders can be thought of as modern versions of Kinescopes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Display resolution</span> Number of distinct pixels in each dimension that can be displayed

The display resolution or display modes of a digital television, computer monitor or display device is the number of distinct pixels in each dimension that can be displayed. It can be an ambiguous term especially as the displayed resolution is controlled by different factors in cathode ray tube (CRT) displays, flat-panel displays and projection displays using fixed picture-element (pixel) arrays.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phototypesetting</span> Photographical analog method for text composition

Phototypesetting is a method of setting type which uses photography to make columns of type on a scroll of photographic paper. It has been made obsolete by the popularity of the personal computer and desktop publishing which gave rise to digital typesetting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital painting</span> Type of art created using computers

Digital painting is an art medium created with computer technologies. It employs pixels which are assigned a color to create imagery. It is also known as raster graphics. It is called digital painting because it initially distinguished itself from vector graphics in its ability to render gradiated or blended colors in imagery which mimicked traditional drawing and painting media.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IBM 2250</span> Vector graphics display system by IBM for the System/360

The IBM 2250 Graphics Display Unit was a vector graphics display system by IBM for the System/360; the Model IV attached to the IBM 1130.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tektronix 4010</span> Text and graphics computer terminals

The Tektronix 4010 series was a family of text-and-graphics computer terminals based on storage-tube technology created by Tektronix. Several members of the family were introduced during the 1970s, the best known being the 11-inch 4010 and 19-inch 4014, along with the less popular 25-inch 4016. They were widely used in the computer-aided design market in the 1970s and early 1980s.

An output device is any piece of computer hardware that converts information/DATA into a human-perceptible form or, historically, into a physical machine-readable form for use with other non-computerized equipment. It can be text, graphics, tactile, audio, or video. Examples include monitors, printers, speakers, headphones, projectors, GPS devices, optical mark readers, and braille readers.

Film-out is the process in the computer graphics, video production and filmmaking disciplines of transferring images or animation from videotape or digital files to a traditional film print. Film-out is a broad term that encompasses the conversion of frame rates, color correction, as well as the actual printing, also called scannior recording.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Active shutter 3D system</span> Method of displaying stereoscopic 3D images

An active shutter 3D system is a technique of displaying stereoscopic 3D images. It works by only presenting the image intended for the left eye while blocking the right eye's view, then presenting the right-eye image while blocking the left eye, and repeating this so rapidly that the interruptions do not interfere with the perceived fusion of the two images into a single 3D image.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Motion picture film scanner</span> Device that digitises film stock

A motion picture film scanner is a device used in digital filmmaking to scan original film for storage as high-resolution digital intermediate files.

Information International, Inc., commonly referred to as Triple-I or III, was an early computer technology company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ZX Spectrum graphic modes</span> Graphic modes of the ZX Spectrum computer

The original ZX Spectrum computer produces a one bit per pixel, bitmapped colour graphics video output. A composite video signal is generated through an RF modulator, and was designed for use with contemporary 1980s television sets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tektronix 4050</span>

The Tektronix 4050 is a series of three desktop computers produced by Tektronix in the late 1970s through the early 1980s. The display technology is similar to the Tektronix 4010 terminal, using a storage tube display to avoid the need for video RAM. They are all-in-one designs with the display, keyboard, CPU and DC300 tape drive in a single desktop case. They also include a GPIB parallel bus interface for controlling lab and test equipment as well as connecting to external peripherals. A simple operating system and BASIC interpreter are included in ROM.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monochrome monitor</span> Type of CRT computer monitor

A monochrome monitor is a type of computer monitor in which computer text and images are displayed in varying tones of only one color, as opposed to a color monitor that can display text and images in multiple colors. They were very common in the early days of computing, from the 1960s through the 1980s, before color monitors became widely commercially available. They are still widely used in applications such as computerized cash register systems, owing to the age of many registers. Green screen was the common name for a monochrome monitor using a green "P1" phosphor screen; the term is often misused to refer to any block mode display terminal, regardless of color, e.g., IBM 3279, 3290.

Compugraphic Corporation, commonly called cg, was an American producer of typesetting systems and phototypesetting equipment, based in Wilmington, Massachusetts, just a few miles from where it was founded. This company is distinct from Compugraphics, a British company founded 1967 in Aldershot, UK that specializes in the production of photomasks used in the production of integrated circuits. In 1981, it was acquired by European competitor Agfa-Gevaert, and its products and processes merged into those of Agfa. By 1988, the merger was complete and the Compugraphic brand was removed from the market.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Computer graphics</span> Graphics created using computers

Computer graphics deals with generating images and art with the aid of computers. Today, computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, digital art, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. A great deal of specialized hardware and software has been developed, with the displays of most devices being driven by computer graphics hardware. It is a vast and recently developed area of computer science. The phrase was coined in 1960 by computer graphics researchers Verne Hudson and William Fetter of Boeing. It is often abbreviated as CG, or typically in the context of film as computer generated imagery (CGI). The non-artistic aspects of computer graphics are the subject of computer science research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cromemco Dazzler</span>

The Cromemco Dazzler was a graphics card for S-100 bus computers introduced in a Popular Electronics cover story in 1976. It was the first color graphics card available for microcomputers. The Dazzler was the first of a succession of increasingly capable graphics products from Cromemco which, by 1984, were in use at 80% of all television stations in the U.S. for the display of weather, news, and sports graphics.

References

  1. "The Computing Industry in Minnesota: Dicomed, Inc". Charles Babbage Institute. Archived from the original on August 26, 2002. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
  2. "Better Light Company History". Better Light.com.
  3. "IMAX". www.imax.com. Archived from the original on December 11, 2006.
  4. Heckbert, Paul. "The Magic Egg - A Personal Account". design.osu.edu. Archived from the original on 2006-09-06.
  5. "The Magic Egg". Big Movie Zone.com. 28 April 2023.
  1. Charles Babbage Institute
  2. Dicomed Nostalginator
  3. Print ad (ca. 1970) for the Dicomed D30 display