Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!wuarchive!udel!mmdf
From: TSA91@ccvax.iastate.edu (Marc Barrett)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Better Amiga Graphics
Message-ID: <24825@snow-white.udel.EDU>
Date: 17 Jul 90 11:33:49 GMT
Sender: mmdf@udel.EDU
Lines: 37


   In the discussion about improving the Amiga's graphics, it has 
become apparent that some people want to turn the Amiga into a MAC II
clone.  Commodore should not do this.  If Commodore just turns the Amiga
into a clone of the MAC II, people will just buy genuine MAC II systems.

   The discussion about improving the Amiga has centered around the idea
of adding 24 (or even 32) bitplane graphics modes to the Amiga.  I, for
one, do not think this should be done.  To add such resolution modes
would just turn the Amiga into a clone of the MAC II, and sacrifice any
edge that the Amiga has in animation capabilities.
 
   IMHO, what Commodore should do is improve the Amiga's color capability
without sacrificing in any way the Amiga's edge in animation capability.
The best way to do this is not with 24 or 32-bitplanes, but with 10
bitplanes.  Yes, *10* bitplanes.  By adding a 10-bitplane HAM mode
with a resolution of at least 1024x768, the Amiga will have color
capabilities the equal of the MAC II, and animation capabilities that
nobody could even match, let alone beat.
 
   The HAM mode, as it is now, has one main disadvantage: the color
'fringing'that results from the HAM mode's inability to make sharp
color transitions.  This can be allevaited substantially by increasing
the number of registers and the horizontal resolution.  A 10-bitplane
HAM mode would have 256 registers, enough to alleviate the color
fringing substantially.  Increasing the horizontal resolution of the
HAM mode would also cause the fringing to be far less noticeable.
 
   Having a 10-bitplane HAM mode would prove to be an enourmous
tactical advantage for the Amiga.  Apple and IBM could match it
in color capability, but the could never beat it in animation.  For
them to match its color capability would require 24-bitplanes on 
those systems, requiring almost three times the memory per frame
and more than three times the processor power to do animation.
 
 
                                -MB-