Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mcsun!cernvax!chx400!fatcat!acadch!impch!sosaria!wizard
From: wizard@sosaria.imp.com (Chris Brand)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Better Amiga Graphics
Message-ID: <3400.AA3400@sosaria>
Date: 20 Jul 90 18:05:11 GMT
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga
Distribution: comp
Organization: Sosaria Realm Berne, Switzerland
Lines: 81

In article <24825@snow-white.udel.EDU> TSA91@ccvax.iastate.edu (Marc Barrett) says:
> 
>    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.

I didn't see anybody requesting this.

> 
>    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.

Not at all. Just because two computer systems can display the same amount
of colors they are not identical. And WHAT animation capabilities are you
referring to? Try to make an animation that is a bit more complex that a
word of text using 1/8 of the screen with 1 bitplane rotating around an
axis and you'll very soon see that all this real time stuff is not THAT
good, for professional looking, complex animations you can't use it anyway.
Just one example: Have you seen the Warner logo? The Text floating in from
behind the observer? I've tried to do that with Sculpt 4D. To get a real
good display you have to go to hires and then it's all finished with great
animation capabilities (this was on a 2620-equipped Amiga).

>    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.

This would be another strange graphic mode that nobody except Commodore has
and supports (er, should support). No, the Amiga needs the STANDARD of
graphics, and the standard for a so called graphics machine is 24bit,
nothing less. But I agree that such a resolution would already be a great
improvement. 

>  
>    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.

Yes. HAM mode is so far no good at all, except for fast moving Raytracing
animations where you don't have the time to see the fringes.

>    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

And how do you want to do this? If you want this resolution, you need a new
graphics card, the the standard blitter is never fast enough to move such
graphics. And if we need a new graphics card I'd very much prefer to see a
cheap transputer board such as the SANG board WITH 24 bit.

> 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-

Yes, but people who need this are not concerned by this. Forget realtime
animation for professional looking results. Sooner or later you just will
need a single frame recorder, and then it's not very much important anymore
if a frame uses 100 K more or less.


--
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Chris Brand - wizard@sosaria.imp.com
"Justice is the possession and doing 
of what one is entitled to" - Platon
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