High dynamic range imaging pipeline on the GPU

Use of high dynamic range (HDR) images and video in image processing and computer graphics applications is rapidly gaining popularity. However, creating and displaying high resolution HDR content on CPUs is a time consuming task. Although some previous work focused on real-time tone mapping, implementation of a full HDR imaging (HDRI) pipeline on the GPU has not been detailed. In this article we aim to fill this gap by providing a detailed description of how the HDRI pipeline, from HDR image assembly to tone mapping, can be implemented exclusively on the GPU. We also explain the trade-offs that need to be made for improving efficiency and show timing comparisons for CPU versus GPU implementations of the HDRI pipeline.