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Comment by throwanem

6 months ago

Yes, he invented* the algorithm. One assumes it must be.

* Corrected from 'discovered;' see below.

Invented the algorithm. The choice and arrangement of weights is a matter of fine-tuning to balance practical concerns - not some natural law of mathematics that could be figured out.

  • I would have thought such a simple combination would have been worked out much earlier. But I checked my 1993 copy of Robert Ulichney's "Digital Halftoning", and it only mentions 4. Floyd and Steinberg (1975), Jarvis, Judice, and Ninke (1976), Stucki (1981), and Stevenson and Arce (1985). Does anybody have a date for Atkinson's?

    • It was used on the Macintosh at release, so it must have predated Stevenson and Arce. I doubt that a description was formally published in the way that the others were. Wikipedia describes Atkinson's approach as a variant on Floyd-Steinberg dithering, and I imagine that he must have been aware of at least some of the prior work.

  • The algorithm, including the precious weights, can exist outside our universe. It doesn’t need matter, it only needs maths.

    Discovered is correct.