DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 16 BIT AND 32 BIT COLOUR

[Rampage]

Why do people intend to play games in 32 bit colour, when personally I see no difference between the both in games. I play all my games in 16 bit because 32 bit isn't worth having when your losing alot of performance in games, especially when no image quality difference is seen between the two.

Am I right or can someone prove me wrong. Can someone please post any pics between the two?

[CenturionStrategy]

There are image quality gains to be had, in some games they are quite drastic.

Some people insist on 32-bit colour, which is fair enough if their hardware can support it at adequate speeds.

If you don't notice it, then keep at 16-bit colour, you'll get better speeds.

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...and the 8th and final rule, if this is your first night, you have to fight.

[CenturionStrategy]

Tried to get some Q3 screen shots, they come out too dark tho.

Anyway, I switched between the 2 modes, and to be honest, 32bit seems a bit clearer than 16bit. However, this was at the decrease of speeed. The most significant changes were on items like ammo packs.

In a fast paced game you will hardly notice.

Others will argue, and I respect their opinion, but this is my 2 cents.

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...and the 8th and final rule, if this is your first night, you have to fight.

[USSVoyager]

One game where you can see the difference really easily is Freespace 2, when playing in the nebula. At 16 bit the shading is crappy and everything looks bitty but at 32 bit then it is smooth to look at. Of course there are other games where the difference is negligable.

USSVoyager

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Speed is everything - Warp factor 9, Mr. Sulu!

[CenturionStrategy]

Very true, some games make the difference much clearer than others.

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...and the 8th and final rule, if this is your first night, you have to fight.

[BladeRunner]

I can't prove you wrong as such because I can't see through your eyes, but there is a difference. If you are happy with 16-bit colour then that's cool, and you'll get better performance.

There is a difference however and I can see it in most games, (if not all that support 32C), and also my desktop wallpaper between, 16-bit, (65,536 colours), 24 & 32-bit (16.7+ million colours).

If you imagine your monitor having say a blue screen that was dark on one side and light on the other and it faded from one to the other across the screen. With 32 bit colour it would be a smoother fade as you have many more shades of blue for the transition so making the image appear more realistic and not banded.

Also just because something is running in 32 bit colour doesn't mean it was coded using all available 16.7+ million colours, it means they had 16.7+ million possible shades (some of which we as humans wouldn't be able to perceive as different anyway). I think we can "see" about 12 to 13 million. This shows the potential of 32 bit colour but don't assume all games developed in 32bit Colour use all the possible shades. 32bit colour does give the potential for photo realistic graphics though.




[This message has been edited by BladeRunner (edited 10-07-2001).]

[serb2]

There is difference In some games for example Take Hitman if you play IN 16 bit the smoke from the guns looks green and like has little dots in it its like greenish gray and some Textures look od for instance if a wall has a shadow you will se Like Bladeruner said this lines going trough darker to the lighter side of the shadow, while on the 32 Bit color it will unseeable and smooth out plus the smoke will be real smoke!
Alex D

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WRMMMMM
Excuse Me! What ya said? I can't HEAR YOU

[CenturionStrategy]

yes, gradients definately show up the difference.

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...and the 8th and final rule, if this is your first night, you have to fight.

[Gomez Addams]

Here are two images from this page :

http://www.3dfx.com/3dfxTechnology/32-bittextures.html

32-bit colors -



16-bit colors -



The difference is really only apparent in slow gradients like in skies and water and lighting of smooth shiny surfaces (like in the pictures.) In many mostly indoor games there will be very little difference.

For me, the bottom line is if 32-bit color is supported and I can get decent performance in it then I will use it.


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If pro is the opposite of con,
What is the opposite of progress ?

[This message has been edited by Gomez Addams (edited 01-06-2001).]

[smokingbear]

Read somewhere human eyes can only distinguish 12 million colors.

[Gomez Addams]

What is called 32-bit color is really 24-bits of displayable colors which translates to 16.7 million colors.


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If pro is the opposite of con,
What is the opposite of progress ?

[Darkterritory3]

A good game too test with 16 and 32 bit is Nocturne.

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Two things are infinite in life, the univers and human stupidity. Am not sure about the univers.

[Izomorph]

distinguishing isn't the point... blending is. If a game has a texture that is capable ie. 10 colors, and you bring it down to 5, the pixels will have to double up on presenting the texture, thus bring out blocky images.