GPU processing
A GPU is a digital processor optimized to perform the mathematical operations associated with generating and rendering graphical images for display on a computer screen. The primary applications for GPUs are playing video recordings and creating synthetic images of three-dimensional scenes.
The performance of a GPU is measured in terms of screen resolution (the pixel width and height of the image) and the image update rate in frames per second. Video playback and scene generation are hard real-time processes in which any deviation from smooth, regularly time-spaced image updates is likely to be perceived by users as unacceptable graphical stuttering.
As with the video cameras described earlier in this chapter, GPUs generally represent each pixel using three 8-bit color values, which indicate the intensities of red, green, and blue. Any perceptible color can be produced by combining appropriate values for each of these three colors. Within each color channel...
