RE: 24-bit-per-pixel limit to Gdk RGB ?

["Brian Kaney" <bkaney cablelynx com>]

>> But, on the other hand, I must admit I am a bit confused by this issue.
>>
>> As I understand it, 8 bits per channel will give me 256 levels of
>> colour for each colour. If I were to make a gradient of red, for
>> example, in The Gimp, I would expect to see bands of colour in a
>> red-to-black gradient that is as wide as my monitor (about 1000
>> pixels), which should make each band about 4 pixels wide. I tried it
>> and... er... no bands visible.
>
>Yep.  That's 256 bands of color.  Enough colors, that the break between
>colors isn't going to be that noticable.  The bands are there, but your
>eye can't make them out because they are so small (they blend together).
>
...


Yes, an interesting effect.  If you're not sure about it, you can try doing
a screen grab of your 256 color banded image and then use an image program
that will let you zoom in by a large factor (x16, etc) and the band edges
can be seen again!  You can also check out dithering that way as well.

Brian Kaney
bkaney@cablelynx.com
Tahlequah, OK

...
>
>Anyway, it's all about approximation.
>
>Michael
>
>
>>
>> Thanks for putting up with these questions!
>>
>> Paul
>>