Abstract

An established practice in microphotography is the introduction of deliberate distortions in the artwork in order to compensate for known distortions in the optical system. The corrections are usually based on experience gained by a process of trial and error. Image synthesis, as defined in this presentation, provides a theoretical foundation for solving this problem. The problem can be regarded as the counterpart to the usual signal/image recovery (reconstruction, or restoration. It may be called signal/image "discovery", “construction", "synthesis", or "design". The problems of image restoration and image synthesis are very similar. In both problems the imaging system is known; the output image is known, and the input is to be found. But the motive is quite different-- discovery versus recovery. One subtle difference has to do with the existence of a solution. In an image restoration problem, the measured output results from an actual, albeit unknown, input. In an image synthesis problem, on the other hand, it is possible that no input image is capable of producing the desired output image. Therefore, in image synthesis, the problem of utmost concern is that of existence of a solution. In an image restoration problem, one is usually concerned with uniqueness and recoverability.

© 1986 Optical Society of America