Lookup tables (LUTs) are collections of memory locations that are used to map data to pre-calculated values. They can easily reduce a multi-step or complex operation to a single-step LUT mapping.
| Original 8-bit image | LUT index LUT values | Resulting 8-bit image | |||||||||
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 84 | 170 | 84 | ||
| 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 84 | 0 | 170 | 255 | 170 | ||
| 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 170 | 0 | 84 | 84 | 84 | ||
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 255 | 84 | 84 | 0 | 0 | ||
You can map an image buffer through a LUT, using MimLutMap(). If the hardware system permits, you can also use LUTs to precondition input data at acquisition time, before it is stored in an image buffer. LUTs can also be used (hardware system permitting) to adjust the color contrast and intensity of an image upon display, without affecting the actual data.