Where can I find Core Image?

monke

macrumors 65816

Original poster

• Oct 23, 2005

• #1

Where do I go to open up Core Image on my iMac? I can't seem to find it in the applications window.

 

E

Eric5h5

macrumors 68030

• Oct 23, 2005

• #2

iNeedtoSwitch said:

Where do I go to open up Core Image on my iMac? I can't seem to find it in the applications window.

Click to expand...

That's because it's not an application; it's part of the operating system. Therefore, you don't "open" it...it runs as needed by programs that use it.

--Eric

 

alex_ant

macrumors 68020

• Oct 23, 2005

• #3

Core Image is built into the OS. It's not an application, it's an infrastructural part of Mac OS X that some applications (almost none at the moment) take advantage of.

 

monke

macrumors 65816

Original poster

• Oct 23, 2005

• #4

So what programs 'need' it?

 

L

lopresmb

macrumors 6502

• Oct 23, 2005

• #5

as before stated there is no way to "open" coreimage, but you can check to see if its supported on your machine, by going to your system profiler and looking at the specs on your video card, where it should tell you supported or not

 

L

lopresmb

macrumors 6502

• Oct 23, 2005

• #6

iNeedtoSwitch said:

So what programs 'need' it?

Click to expand...

none "need" it to work currently but most notably right now the "ripple effect" when you open a new widget in the dashboard is one effect that is a result of coreImage

 

O

osprey76

macrumors 6502

• Oct 23, 2005

• #7

It looks like Aperture uses it, too.

 

tjwett

macrumors 68000

• Oct 24, 2005

• #8

if you install the Developer Tools that came with your Mac you will find a little app called "Core Image Fun House" that demonstrates some of what Core Image is capable of.

 

iGary

Guest

• Oct 24, 2005

• #9

osprey76 said:

It looks like Aperture uses it, too.

Click to expand...

Aperture uses it HEAVILY.

 

stoid

macrumors 601

• Oct 24, 2005

• #10

I would look to iLife '06 for dramatic utilization of CoreImage.

 

robbieduncan

Moderator emeritus

• Oct 24, 2005

• #11

People mis-understand CoreImage so much! CoreImage is available on Macs that do not have full GPU support for it. In this case CoreImage falls back to the CPU. This can happen on Macs with full GPU support if CoreImage thinks that this will give higher performance.

It is possible for the calling app to ask CoreImage if a particular effect will run on the GPU or CPU. This enables apps (like Dashboard) to not display an unnecessary effect (say the ripple) if it will run on the CPU.

You can get a slightly technical overview of CoreImage here.

If you want to play around with CoreImage install the Developer Tools and play with Quartz Composer. You can even save any nice compositions as new screen savers 🙂