# Gigapixel Studio and viewer

Gigapixel photography records the surface of a work in overlapping high-resolution cells and merges them into a single plate of billions of pixels: the whole painting in one image, and in the same image the craquelure, the weave, the single hair of the brush. In the Hub, **Gigapixel Studio** governs the passage from captured cells to finished plate, and the **Gigapixel viewer** opens that plate to anyone you choose, on any device.

## Gigapixel Studio

**Acquisitions > Gigapixel Studio** lists every gigapixel capture of the institution, from freshly delivered (raw cells) to finalized (plate ready). Each capture is tied to its work in the [Catalog](/en/catalog/).

Opening a capture enters the workbench, which proceeds as a conservator would want it to: deliberately, and with color first.

1. **Collect.** Review the delivered cells, the overview shot and the ColorChecker reference of the session.
2. **Calibrate.** The color profile is built from the ColorChecker capture, so the entire plate answers to a measured standard, not to taste.
3. **Align.** Neighbouring cells are aligned automatically; a control-point editor allows fine correction where the surface demands it, with a preview of the adjustment.
4. **Refine.** Capture sharpening is weighed cell by cell; candidates are compared and the best retained.
5. **Preview.** The assembled plate is inspected before anything is committed.
6. **Stitch.** The final merge runs on the [worker network](/en/node-workers/) and produces a **16-bit master TIFF**, the archival plate, together with the tiled version the viewer streams. Publication is automatic.

Where a finished plate was produced elsewhere, it can be deposited directly as a TIFF.

## The Gigapixel viewer

The viewer streams only the tiles for the region and magnification you are looking at, which is why a plate of a hundred gigapixels moves fluidly **on any device**, phones included. You travel continuously from the whole composition to the craquelure, as if walking toward the painting without ever being asked to stop. Freshly stitched plates open in a streamed mode even before their tiles are fully prepared.

The **Gigapixel Gallery** in the sidebar gathers the published plates of the institution, each leading back to its work in the [Catalog](/en/catalog/), beside the 3D form and the spectral layers of the same piece.