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This reminded me of a weird idea that I had several years ago (which is kind of opposite of this): What if there was a format that doesn't encode pixels but ge

This reminded me of a weird idea that I had several years ago (which is kind of opposite of this): What if there was a format that doesn't encode pixels but generates a "description" of the images using AI, of simple shapes to higher-level objects, and saves that in its own format, with a "decoder" that takes this input description format and constructs an image similar to the original, at least to some extent. Of course this would have many drawbacks like encoding micro details and expressions of people, but still, I'd love to see how far the idea can go.

magicalhippo 5y ago
Not entirely unlike fractal compression[1]. Was a lot of hype around it way back, but clearly it didn't quite pan out. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractal_compression https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractal_compression
steanne 5y ago
that's like heraldry, rebuilding an image from a precise/regimented verbal description
ausbah 5y ago
sounds like vector graphics?
- can16358p 5y ago
  Nope. But vector graphics can be of great utility when rasterizing the description into a bitmap.
pavlov 5y ago
This could be useful to reduce Disney’s bandwidth costs. Marvel and Star Wars productions are highly repetitive anyway, so maybe they could ship a preloaded Marvel neural network in the player app and design new movies to take maximum advantage of the clichés already encoded there.
- forgotusername6 5y ago
  They used to literally reuse the animation in older Disney films, just with different characters on top. You could send that information, the scene and the characters, in significantly fewer bits than it would take as video
gjvnq 5y ago
It's called SVG :)
- can16358p 5y ago
  Not really. But vectorized shapes might definitely help rasterizing the descriptions.
sbierwagen 5y ago
Venor Vinge, A Fire Upon The Deep (1992): >Fleet Central refused the full video link coming from the Out of Band … Kjet had to settle for a combat link: The screen showed a color image with high resolution. Looking at it carefully, one realized the thing was a poor evocation…. Kjet recognized Owner Limmende and Jan Skrits, her chief of staff, but they looked several years out of style: old video matched with the transmitted animation cues. The actual communication channel was less than four thousand bits per second >The picture was crisp and clear, but when the figures moved it was with cartoonlike awkwardness. And some of the faces belonged to people Kjet knew had been transferred before the fall of Sjandra Kei. The processors here on the Ølvira were taking the narrowband signal from Fleet Central, fleshing it out with detailed (and out of date) background and evoking the image shown.
gfody 5y ago
that's roughly the idea for gan-based image compression, check out: https://data.vision.ee.ethz.ch/aeirikur/extremecompression https://data.vision.ee.ethz.ch/aeirikur/extremecompression

magicalhippo 5y ago

Not entirely unlike fractal compression[1]. Was a lot of hype around it way back, but clearly it didn't quite pan out. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractal_compression https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractal_compression

steanne 5y ago

that's like heraldry, rebuilding an image from a precise/regimented verbal description

ausbah 5y ago

sounds like vector graphics?

can16358p 5y ago
Nope. But vector graphics can be of great utility when rasterizing the description into a bitmap.

pavlov 5y ago

This could be useful to reduce Disney’s bandwidth costs. Marvel and Star Wars productions are highly repetitive anyway, so maybe they could ship a preloaded Marvel neural network in the player app and design new movies to take maximum advantage of the clichés already encoded there.

forgotusername6 5y ago
They used to literally reuse the animation in older Disney films, just with different characters on top. You could send that information, the scene and the characters, in significantly fewer bits than it would take as video

gjvnq 5y ago

It's called SVG :)

can16358p 5y ago
Not really. But vectorized shapes might definitely help rasterizing the descriptions.

sbierwagen 5y ago

Venor Vinge, A Fire Upon The Deep (1992): >Fleet Central refused the full video link coming from the Out of Band … Kjet had to settle for a combat link: The screen showed a color image with high resolution. Looking at it carefully, one realized the thing was a poor evocation…. Kjet recognized Owner Limmende and Jan Skrits, her chief of staff, but they looked several years out of style: old video matched with the transmitted animation cues. The actual communication channel was less than four thousand bits per second >The picture was crisp and clear, but when the figures moved it was with cartoonlike awkwardness. And some of the faces belonged to people Kjet knew had been transferred before the fall of Sjandra Kei. The processors here on the Ølvira were taking the narrowband signal from Fleet Central, fleshing it out with detailed (and out of date) background and evoking the image shown.

gfody 5y ago

that's roughly the idea for gan-based image compression, check out: https://data.vision.ee.ethz.ch/aeirikur/extremecompression https://data.vision.ee.ethz.ch/aeirikur/extremecompression