Combining two realities. (Digest).

The image processing demands of military flight simulators are such that, to provide stimulating visuals, it normally takes one computer to generate the foreground and another the background. These signals are then digitised and written to frame buffers, synchronised and combined. RGB Spectrum has introduced its new SynchroMaster 550 image combination system, which offers two alternative combining technologies; the first is a weighted sum of two inputs, the second offers a true linear RGB colour keyer able to blend a range of colours of the two inputs that provides enhanced results, especially when the foreground consists of shaded graphics or photo-realistic renderings. The SynchroMaster 550 features a sophisticated interface that allows the user to select a key colour simply by moving the cursor lines over the foreground image until they are positioned over the desired colour. The weighted sum overlay method is completely independent of the input signals. Either technique can be scaled to fit the desired output format. Other features of the 550 include the synchronisation and combination of RGB signals of different line and frame rates or interlacing formats, an option to accept an NTSC/Pal video signal as either the foreground or background and an optional DVI output.