Shades missing (graphics issue)

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Demus
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Shades missing (graphics issue)

#1 Post by Demus »

'Ello. Been too long since I was here. No worries, I'm working on slow return with art.

Speaking of which, whenever working on or looking at art with my main monitor, there used to be shades "missing". How about an example?

Image
On the left, we see red with a perfect fade-to-black (if you don't, this thread concerns you). On the right, however, is an example of how my monitor used to show the said color fading.

What left me dumbstruck was the fact that whenever my secondary monitor (Cintiq 12) is turned on and set as primary, the problem disappears - until main monitor is set back to primary. So issue was not old hardware :?

Juggling with color and contrast did nothing, but switching resolution a step lower and back did the trick. Beautiful fade is back. But here I am, left wondering: what caused this?

Experiences and insight?
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aj
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Re: Shades missing (graphics issue)

#2 Post by aj »

Only thing I can think of would be that it has something to do with the colour depth - Maybe your monitor is defaulting to 8 bit colour?

For me, the gradient appears perfectly normal in 32 bit colour, but 16 bit gets banding:
Image
Admittedly, not as severe, of course. Which is why I'm thinking 8 bit, not 16 bit.

No idea what OS you're running, but in XP the list of colour depths is underneath the resolution selection slider, and if Vista is like Win7, you have to click on "Advanced Settings" in the resolution panel (Right click > Screen resolution), and switch to the monitor tab:
Image
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Demus
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Re: Shades missing (graphics issue)

#3 Post by Demus »

I didn't think of checking this before I started nudging the resolution bar, but it should've always been 32 by default. Although switching to 8/16-bit seems like fair explanation (I made the example picture by hand, since I couldn't be sure whether screenshots show the difference or not).

*testing*

Now this is interesting. Nothing allows me to go below 8-bit, but 16-bit isn't nearly as bad as it was when the problem still occurred.

(Note: Problem is solved, but I just wish to know what is the possible cause for this spontaneous change)

Also, XP all the way until I have no choice but to upgrade |D
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Re: Shades missing (graphics issue)

#4 Post by aj »

Maybe something is up with your drivers? Considering that changing the resolution 'fixed' the problem (or maybe just the symptom), that could be it...
Especially if it happens every time you start your computer. =\


As for win7 vs XP... well, each to their own. :grin:
Just wish Dell had updated drivers for my motherboard. I'm getting tired of having the CPU speed controlled by whatever's controlling it - Win7 just complains that the "processor's state has been limited by system firmware". >.>
avwolf wrote:"No dating dog-girls, young man, your father is terribly allergic!"
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