[WinMac] Re: Darker PC graphics than Mac graphics?
Walter W. Knapp(wwknapp[at]mindspring.com)
Sun, 21 Feb 1999 01:00:49 -0500
Dan Schwartz wrote:
>About halfway down, there was a paragraph that I'm quoting below; but
the issue
>merits discussion here - Mainly that games created on the
>Mac and ported to the PC appear too dark. The default Mac settings are
for a gamma of >1.8, and a 9300 degree white point.
>What am I missing here?
That's correct as far as it goes. Most people don't get wrapped up in
the gamma problem until they start putting photos on the web.
Well, there's the reverse, games created on a PC and ported to mac will
tend to have too bright graphics for the same reason. Same with any
graphics. PC's are poorly standardized for gamma and may be anywhere
from a gamma of 2.0-2.5 or so. The average PC gamma is considered to be 2.2.
This is a greater deal in photography for the web. Not only will the
gamma vary quite a bit in different PC's, but the color balance may also
be different i.e. the "gamma" for each color differs. Think about
putting up web pages of instructions for lab tests (as my wife does) and
the reading is made by the exact color/brightness found in the test
tube. Best she's found is to specify the gamma and OS on the page.
Even the supposedly safe 216 color "netscape" set looks different at
different gamma's. What was a nice tan background may become playmate
pink or worse.
On the mac side, there is standardization. Although you can set your mac
to 2.2 or so gamma to simulate a average PC, if you are doing graphics
for transfer to the PC. In the case of ported graphics, that's just
sloppy to leave them on the wrong gamma.
I don't know enough about PC's to know if a universal gamma setting is
available. You'd need something like that as I doubt that the game would
have a gamma setting. For macs, this is a easy work around, just set the
gamma to whatever the game was designed at.
If you search the web under gamma, you will find lots of practical discussions.
Walt
wwknapp@mindspring.com
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