Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!udel!mmdf
From: byrne@muppet.dnet.ge.com
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: 24/32 Bit Color
Message-ID: <33786@nigel.ee.udel.edu>
Date: 17 Oct 90 20:52:50 GMT
Sender: mmdf@ee.udel.edu
Lines: 13


I think I need some education.  I was under the (false?) assumption that the
human eye could not distinguish 16 million colors (24 bit).  I assumed 24 bits
was decided as number because it was an even multiple of a byte given the 3
color components (RGB).  Since most displays don't have 16 million pixels, this
gives you a great big palette.  But why 32 bit?  Is 32 bit color used because
it is the word size of most of the popular high performance microprocessors
(i.e 68020+)?  I don't see it buying you anything from a color stand point
because who could distinguish adjacent colors from either 24 or 32 bit
palettes?  Does it help in shading or is it just for data movement speed?
Seems like overkill.  Thanks,

                        -FB