bit depth question

emene86 · Post by **emene86** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 2:13 am

Sorry guys, I hope I'm not being repetitive but I am not really grasping the bit depth dilemma. From what I understand 16 bit is used in game so even if we make nice looking textures they show up wierd, which sort of defeats the purpose.
Take a look at what happens to this example texture at normal depth

and after I save it at 16 bit :

Looks like a cartoon. Anyways, if we have no solution for that in mind, and we are still using 16 bit, then can anyone tell me how to work with 16 bit from start with photoshop. I don't want to end up with this kind of surprise after the work.

Thanks in advance.

factoid · Post by **factoid** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 4:11 am

I don't know what happens with photoshop, but when I used to develop 16 bit 3D applications, there was an option in DirectX to autodither colours so that you wouldn't get that banding issue.

Perhaps there is some filter you can apply that will attempt to dither your image when you downsample from 32 to 16 bits? That's the only solution I can think of.

Adaven · Post by **Adaven** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 5:20 am

Yeah I've also been trying to find a way to dither my stuff down recently.

ps: I smell bios!

Sushi · Post by **Sushi** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 5:52 am

Downsampling images is something that different programs do with different degrees of success. For the love of pete, never, ever, EVER do it in MS paint. /smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

Try Irfanview. It uses a pretty good algorithm for downsampling, and in my experience I can usually go from 32 to 16 with little to no naked-eye difference.

madpeople · Post by **madpeople** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 9:25 am

i think most people just put 24bit .bmp s into mdlc and they come out fine in allegiance format.

you don't have to save your file in 16 bit.

but if you don't trust mdlc you could try and find something else and do it your self first

colour depth is on my list to bug the dev team about, but they already have plenty of stuff, so i'm saving it for later
(some internal bits only use 16 bit and they would need to re-write whole sections of code i think)

emene86 · Post by **emene86** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 1:20 pm

I think I tried it with 24 bit ( converting the 24 bitmap with the 24 bit conversion tool for yp) but I think it showed up the same in game (or it crashed, i don't remeber). I will give it a try again tonight. I'll search online for how to work with 16 from photoshop and let you guys know. In the end, it's probably better to keep it at 16 bit; Now that we have upscaled the files, making them 24 bit as well will be a bit much for most people.

On another note, in the attemp to please the clientelle, hehe, is the plan here to make faithful resampling of the originals or are there any modifications allowed? I suppose the originals must be done first, then the rest is optional, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

thanks

Grimmwolf_GB · Post by **Grimmwolf_GB** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 2:12 pm

Have a look at the IC bases, the rusty ones add a different style to the original style. I use the rusty ones, even though rust in space is not realistic. /smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />
So, yes, you can add some to the originals. /smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />