BitDepth - Revision history

EricChadwick: better

2015-04-09T12:02:25Z

better

EricChadwick: better

2015-02-15T00:27:56Z

better

Caustic: Redirected page to Glossary#Bit Depth

2014-10-10T01:19:26Z

Redirected page to Glossary#Bit Depth

Cheeseplus: 1 revision

2014-07-29T08:36:33Z

1 revision

BrandonPhoenix: added bit-depth

2010-08-11T21:30:12Z

added bit-depth

New page

__NOTOC__
{{:[[OutOfDate]]}}

= Bit Depth =

Bitdepth is used to denote how many colors a game or application needs to function properly, which is the number of colors plus other channels like [[AlphaChannel|alpha]]. The more colors, the smoother the image. 1-bit is two colors-- black and white. 2-bit is four colors, 4-bit is sixteen, 8-bit is 256 colors, etc.
The number of colors at any bit depth = 2bitdepth. For instance, 8-bit = 28 = 2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2 = 256 colors.
If game uses alpha or [[HeightMap|heightmaps]], then they are additional channels that can be added to the bitdepth number. 16-bit is 65536 colors without any additional channels, but if you want to add an alpha channel, then 16 would be divided into [[RGB]] and alpha, which can be done a number of ways. For example, if you use 4 bits each for Red, Green, and Blue, then that leaves 4 bits for the alpha, so you have 16 colors for alpha. Or else 5 bits for each RGB means you have 1-bit for alpha, which is only 2 colors, but gives you more RGB colors to work with. It's a trade-off.
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[[Category:Glossary]]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-Bit depth is used to denote how many colors a game or application needs to function properly, which is the number of colors plus other channels like [[AlphaChannel|alpha]].
+Bit depth is used to control how many colors an image holds. The more colors, the smoother the image.
-The more colors, the smoother the image. 1-bit is two colors-- black and white. 2-bit is four colors, 4-bit is sixteen, 8-bit is 256 colors, etc.
+There are two common measurements: Bits Per Pixel ([[BPP]]) and Bits Per Channel ([[BPC]]). Usually bit depth means BPP.
-The number of colors at any bit depth = 2 to the power of the bitdepth. For instance, 8-bit = 2 to the 8th power = 2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2 = 256 colors.
+-bit is two colors (black and white), 2-bit is four colors, 4-bit is sixteen, 8-bit is 256 colors, 16-bit is 65536 colors, etc.
 If game uses alpha or [[HeightMap|heightmaps]], then they are additional channels that can be added to the bitdepth number.
--bit is 65536 colors without any additional channels, but if you want to add an alpha channel, then 16 would be divided into [[RGB]] and alpha, which can be done a number of ways. For example, if you use 4 bits each for Red, Green, and Blue, then that leaves 4 bits for the alpha, so you have 16 colors for alpha. Or else 5 bits for each RGB means you have 1-bit for alpha, which is only 2 colors, but gives you more RGB colors to work with. It's a trade-off.
+-bit is 65536 colors without any additional channels, but if you want to add an alpha channel, then 16 would be divided into [[RGB]] and alpha, which can be done a number of ways. For example, if you use 4 bits each for Red, Green, and Blue, then that is (4 + 4 + 4) which leaves 4 bits for the alpha, which is 16 grays. Or you can use 5 bits for each RGB which means you get 1-bit for alpha, which is only 2 grays, but this gives you more RGB colors to work with. It's a trade-off.
 ----
 [[Category:Glossary]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:27, 15 February 2015
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−	~~#REDIRECT~~ [[Glossary~~#Bit_Depth~~]]	+	Bit depth is used to denote how many colors a game or application needs to function properly, which is the number of colors plus other channels like [[AlphaChannel\|alpha]].
		+
		+	The more colors, the smoother the image. 1-bit is two colors-- black and white. 2-bit is four colors, 4-bit is sixteen, 8-bit is 256 colors, etc.
		+
		+	The number of colors at any bit depth = 2 to the power of the bitdepth. For instance, 8-bit = 2 to the 8th power = 2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2 = 256 colors.
		+
		+	If game uses alpha or [[HeightMap\|heightmaps]], then they are additional channels that can be added to the bitdepth number.
		+
		+	16-bit is 65536 colors without any additional channels, but if you want to add an alpha channel, then 16 would be divided into [[RGB]] and alpha, which can be done a number of ways. For example, if you use 4 bits each for Red, Green, and Blue, then that leaves 4 bits for the alpha, so you have 16 colors for alpha. Or else 5 bits for each RGB means you have 1-bit for alpha, which is only 2 colors, but gives you more RGB colors to work with. It's a trade-off.
		+	----
		+	[[Category:Glossary]]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-__NOTOC__
+#REDIRECT [[Glossary#Bit_Depth]]
-{{:[[OutOfDate]]}}
-−
-= Bit Depth =
-−
-Bitdepth is used to denote how many colors a game or application needs to function properly, which is the number of colors plus other channels like [[AlphaChannel|alpha]]. The more colors, the smoother the image. 1-bit is two colors-- black and white. 2-bit is four colors, 4-bit is sixteen, 8-bit is 256 colors, etc.
-The number of colors at any bit depth = 2bitdepth. For instance, 8-bit = 28 = 2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2 = 256 colors.
-If game uses alpha or [[HeightMap|heightmaps]], then they are additional channels that can be added to the bitdepth number. 16-bit is 65536 colors without any additional channels, but if you want to add an alpha channel, then 16 would be divided into [[RGB]] and alpha, which can be done a number of ways. For example, if you use 4 bits each for Red, Green, and Blue, then that leaves 4 bits for the alpha, so you have 16 colors for alpha. Or else 5 bits for each RGB means you have 1-bit for alpha, which is only 2 colors, but gives you more RGB colors to work with. It's a trade-off.
-----
-[[Category:Glossary]]

← Older revision	Revision as of 08:36, 29 July 2014
(No difference)