I keep seeing this around: 3, 3, 2 color cube and 5,5,6 set up in connection with the term "pixel formats" and I have a question: WTF? I dont understand what the heck these are... what they refer to.. although I have some notion that maybe my problem with fading the color palette emnates from my lack of understanding of these two...... can anyone explay me??? to Code, or Not To Code

They refer to the number of bits used for each component of the color. 3,3,2 refers to an 8-bit color where 3 bits are for red, 3 bits for green and 2 bits for blue.

5,5,6 (usually 5,6,5) would be a 16-bit color with 5 bits of red, 5 bits of green, and 6 bits of blue...

so are these numbers what is referred to as pixel formats ??????


how do we know which component receives the different number? liek for instance the

565
556
655 how do we know where the 6 goes? or does that depend on each video card.. is that what the pixel format enumeration functions in OpenGL and DIrectX are used for????


THanks again!!!

to Code, or Not To Code

You won''t see 556 or 655 pixel formats -- the only 16-bit pixel format that utilizes all 16 bits is 565. This is five bits for red, six for green, five for blue. The other one you might come across is 555, which is five bits for each of red, green, and blue; and the high bit is unused.

-Ironblayde
Aeon Software