Are all image files converted to 8-bit for materials?

Rhino Rhino for Windows
1

Hi all. I am a bit confused why every time I load an image file that is 16-bit, it always shows it to me as 8-bit in the “bitmap texture settings” panel under “color depth”. Is there a way to change this so i can use full 16 bit images, or is Rhino locked at 8?

THANKS FOR ANY AND ALL REPLIES!

2

Hi Dan,

Rhino should read to at least 24bit so there is something odd going on.
Can you post the image you are using, it might be there is something with the file.

How a bout testing with other images?

-Willem

3

Thanks so much for replying. I apologize I can’t post the image as it is proprietary, but I realized something after you replied… So, I have to use grayscale images because the laser I use ( which interfaces with Rhino) requires grayscale images as input. When I added a 16 bit image file still in RGB, just as a test, it tells me in Rhino it is 24-bit… when I add a 16 bit Grayscale image it always reads as 8 bit. I have yet to see anything read as a 16 bit file, but it seems like it cannot interpret 16 bit grayscales which is what I actually need. If you would like to help resolve this (which I would so love and appreciate), you could try plugging in any 16 bit grayscale you have and let me know if any of them actually read as 16 bit in rhino.

THANKS FOR ANY AND ALL REPLIES

4

I took an 8 bit/channel color image (24 bit) and converted it to 16 bits per channel in Photoshop, then saved it out as both a 16 bit per channel color and single channel grayscale image. All of them seem to work OK here as a picture frame or background bitmap object, as well as applied as a material to a 3D surface.

Or maybe I don’t really know what I’m doing here… --Mitch

Edit: I need to read more carefully… Yes, it seems that the 16bpp image is converted back to 8 bits by Rhino… I think because Rhino only understands 8 bit channels (0-255).