Gauge and Panel Bitmap "Banding" Problem

[Guest Tyme]

I'm having problems with gauges and the background panel bitmap.No matter what I do, I can't get a smooth gradual shadow(or gradient).Fs bands the colours. The "Banding" gets even worse at dusk dawn and night. I'm working in 24 bit, should I be working in 8 or 16 bit?Heres a Pic...The background bitmap was just a test to see if the banding would happen. My airspeed and clock are fine during the day, however the alpha higlights become extremely banded at dusk , dawn, and night.-Thanks-

[Varmint007 2]

I'm afraid working with 8 or 16 bit dithers is the only way to get a predictable gradient. Try both and compare the results. If using a 16-bit dither, convert back to 24-bit for FS. If using an 8-bit dither, try 8 and 24-bit exports. FS seems to internally convert individual images to palletized formats regardless of the color depth. The posterization is obviously very noticeable with gradients:(--Jon

[Guest Tyme]

I'm afraid I don't understand what your saying(my bad...). If I convert my 24 bits, to 8 bits, FS still bands them): Take the de Haviland Comet for example. The background panel bitmap has plenty of shadows, and details. No banding whatsoever. Its 8 bit to. So how does one achieve a detailed gauge or panel bitmap in FS without any problems? (I'm using photoshop 7 by the way)-Thanks-

[Varmint007 2]

OK, in Photoshop convert to an indexed (8-bit) image. In the dialog for the conversion select a "Local" (adaptive) pallet, and under options on the lower half of the dialog select "Diffusion" as the dither option. Diffusion will eliminate the banding.Another thing you can try is applying a motion blur to the area that's banding. In fact, try that before settling for 8-bit.--Jon

[Guest Tyme]

You are my saviour! Although, I had to give my gauge a little bit of noise(1.55 gaussian did the trick), before converting to 8 bit. Also, if you want to test the bitmap to see if it will band, you convert back to 24 bit, then save as a 16 bit.Then open the 16 bit to see if there is any banding.Once again, Thanks!

[Guest eddie124]

Hi.I`m also getting this problem.I use Photoshop if this helps.Eddie

[Guest iholrf]

I cheatmy panel bmp is 2048... (2x1024 vc), 24 bit (8bit RGB), when scaled down to sim size by the sim, graduations seem to stay nice. Maybe I just got lucky. Dusk is problematic on everything. I also used PSP. I wonder if its the dithering algorythm that is causing such issues with people who use PS.Remember that 8 and 16 bit RGB do not relate to color pallets but pixel bit depth. 8bit pixel x 3 color channels (red green blue) equals 24 bit color depth (32 is a misnomer... its still 24 bit (8bit rgb) with an extra alpha channel of 8 bits for transparency). If you use 16bit RGB your color depth is 64. CheersShad