[Gimp-docs] Glossary - visual class (again)

[Sven Neumann]

Hi,

On Wed, 2006-08-30 at 14:00 -0400, Sally C. Barry wrote:

> ... which basically means (if I understand you correctly) that the entire
> GIMP rendering pipeline and I/O to and from files, etc. is done with the
> advertized 24-bit color depth, but the actual display may actually use
> only 16-bit color, without the user knowing about it (other than by
> looking at the image).  Interesting.

Of course GIMP doesn't care about the visual. After all you are not
editing your image for a particular visual. If your visual is 16 bit,
the conversion to 16 bit happens in GDK, or actually a part of it called
GdkRGB. Since GdkRGB does color dithering, the user cannot even tell
that the display is 16bit by looking at it. Well, perhaps if she is
using a magnifying glass...


Sven