Who needs 24 bit colors

[Gary Tarolli]

> But......
> with dithering, you are giving up spatial resolution to get the colors
> smoother.  If you need lots of spatial resolution AND smooth colors more bits
> is better.
> 
agreed, but I still think you can make a pretty good argument for dithering.
Lets face it, 30 bit RGB with 10 bit DACs etc is not free (today).  Dithering
is just about free if done in hardware. and when done using 8 bits each of
red,green,blue, I don't think you really lose much spatial resolution.
Theoretically you do, but since the colors you are modulating between
are so close together, I don't think edges will look any less sharp or 
images any more grainy.

> In one of my lives I do ray tracing, and building lighting functions for 
> realistic images.  It is entirely possible to have 24 bits per pixel and
> still detect the changes at neighboring pixels.
> 
agreed, I assume you mean if you have a very smooth object with a gradual
change in color.  In this case, dithering should remove any bands.  
I am going to try this on an image, and will try to post the results.

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	Gary Tarolli