[CF List] png images

[Frank McKenney]

Norbert Irmer <
     
     norbert.irmer at heim9.tu-clausthal.de
     
     > wrote:
>
     
      I think it would do no harm to allow the number of colors to be 
     
     >
     
      unlimited,
     
     >
     
     
     >
     
      Since you can setup a true color palette even on a 8 bit display, for 
     
     >
     
      example
     
     >
     
      by using 3 bits for red, 3 bits for green, and 2 bits for blue.
     
     >
     
     
     >
     
      (I did this a few years ago when using a self written opengl renderer
     
     on 
>
     
      an old
     
     >
     
      sun workstation with 8 bit display, and the results were quite 
     
     >
     
      acceptable)
     
     >
     
     
     >
     
      Then the game would still still be playable on old 8 bit displays, and 
     
     >
     
      the
     
     >
     
      artists have any freedom they want.
     
     
Norbert,

Every freedom brings its own set of restrictions (;-).

I worked with a local graphics company a few years back when reasonably-
priced 8-bit color was a relatively new thing:  I contributed some
technical expertise, and they knew "what looked good".  It was a
definite "learning experience" (;-).

If one's normal working environment is "lotsa colors" (e.g.  24-bit,
8:8:8 color) it can be extremely difficult to create _good_ 256 color or
3:3:2 color images.  It's all to easy to create a stunning 8:8:8 color
image whose impact turns around the use of subtle shadings; when these
are converted ("butchered") to fit a palette (or the fixed palette of
3:3:2 color) those shadings are often lost.  What was an amazing 8:8:8
red robe becomes a blob with perhaps two shades of red.

For what you're suggesting, you'd have to view your images in both
modes, then go back and tweak the high-color images, and repeat this
process until _both_ sets looked good.  The graphics people usually
found it was a lot less work to create their images in 256-color or
3:3:2 color mode to start with.



Frank McKenney, McKenney Associates
Richmond, Virginia / (804) 320-4887
E-mail: 
     
     frank_mckenney at mindspring.com