Hi,
I'm creating outer space backgrounds for an upcoming downloadable game. The images are being created in PS7 in 32bit color. When these images are viewed in the game engine, I get severe color banding because it runs in 16 bit color mode.
How do I go about reducing the colors to 32,767 in PS? Seems like all of the color options want to bring me down to 256. Also, is there a way to control the amount of dither when I do this?
Your help is appreciated
Jim
#1
James,
How do I go about reducing the colors to 32,767 in PS? <<
You can't, but running your monitor in 16-bit will at least allow you to see the results. Adding noise (say at 2px) to gradients will reduce the banding considerably
#2
Thanks for the info.
It's hard to belive Photoshop cannot selectivly reduce color. I know that Paint Shot Pro has this capability.
That's ok Adobe, I still love ya.
#3
Photoshop can - when saving files, or using the posterize command.
#4
I'm saving these images as Targas. Bitmaps would be acceptable too. I don't see any options for color depth when saving in either format.
The posterize command works but then I'd need to hand-dither. I was hoping for better automation in doing this.
#5
If the image is in 5-6-5 15 bit format, I recently wrote a filter which does both the reduction and dithering.
You can download it from my site for Mac <
http://www.telegraphics.com.au/sw/files/5_6_5-1.0b2-Mac.sit> and Windows <
http://www.telegraphics.com.au/sw/files/5_6_5-1.0b2-Win.zip>.
If the format is different from 5-6-5, please let me know and I can modify the filter.
#6
I hope you mean BMP (because bitmap is not the same as BMP, and bitmap is 1 bit / pixel).
#7
5-6-5 15 bit format
Of course, I meant 5-6-5 16-bit format (5 bits red, 6 bits green, 5 bits blue). But the filter can be modified to accommodate any layout.
#8