Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!crdgw1!uunet!rosie!elvis From: sstreep@elvis (Sam Streeper) Newsgroups: comp.sys.next Subject: Re: Colour Palette on a ColorStation Message-ID: <495@rosie.NeXT.COM> Date: 13 Apr 91 19:55:37 GMT References: Sender: news@NeXT.COM Lines: 34 Nntp-Posting-Host: elvis.next.com In article spinner@wpi.WPI.EDU (Bevan R S Wang) writes: > > I need to know how many colours (the colour palette) is on the > NeXT ColorSystem. I have called NeXT five times already and > I get a different answer every time.... so far I NeXT says: > > (blah blah blah)... The display hardware is 12 bits (4 each of red, green, and blue) meaning any pixel can be any of 4096 colors. You are actually pretty well insulated from the hardware, though; Using postscript, you can set any color you desire, and things will be drawn using a dither pattern that most closely approximates the set color. The result is that you "apparently" get a lot more than the actual 4096 colors, and the display is not grossly different from a 24 bit display (where any pixel can be one of 16 million colors) ----- Begin wayward color lookup table discussion -------------- By the way, NeXTstation hardware does NOT utilize color lookup tables. In other words, every pixel has a specified color rather than an index into a table that specifies the color. If a system has 256 colors onscreen from a pallette of 4096, that means every pixel has 8 bits specifying an index into a color table with 256 entries, each of which is a 12 bit color specification. Color lookup tables have a few keen features, but they can also be a big pain in the rear. -sam -- Opinions are not those of my employer. They're not even mine. They're probably wrong besides. How did they get in here, anyway?