"Edward Coffey" <eco### [at] alphalinkcomau> wrote in message
news:3E9### [at] alphalinkcomau...
> Will W wrote:
> > Thanks very much, Gena! By jumping back and forth between what you've
> > written and the POV-Ray docs, I've learned a bit.
> >
> > I've got my display_gamma set to 1.8, which is appropriate for my
system,
> > which means that I've got POV's equivalent of an artist's studio with
large
> > north-facing windows: a neutral environment for selecting colors and
> > brightness levels. When I use assumed_gamma 1, POV will use my
display_gamma
> > without any further adjustment to correct the pixels it writes to the
image
> > file. The result will be the best I can hope for in terms of viewabiltiy
on
> > other systems. If I want to tune my jpgs to look their best on PC
systems,
> > then I should set the assumed_gamma to 2.2 (and accept that fact that
Mac
> > users will see a poorer image).
>
> Did you mean "set the display_gamma to 2.2" in that last sentance?
>

No, I meant what I said.

display_gamma only affects what POV sends to the screen. It's important to
have it right so you get the right feedback when you're developing textures.
Otherwise it would be like painting with watercolors under one of those
bright bluish streetlights. Your end product would only look good under the
same streetlight-- it would look garish and ugly in daylight or in a home.

Of course you won't notice anything is wrong unless you can see your work on
somebody else's monitor (that has a different gamma).

Once display_gamma is set, if assumed_gamma is 1 then POV knows how to
adjust the the colors in the jpgs and other images it produces for a
"neutral" appearance. But if you *assume* that your audience is using only
PCs (like, maybe you're sending your portfolio to Microsoft) then you can
adjust assumed_gamma to the best value for that audience.

I think that's right. I'm pretty sure, and others seem to be agreeing with
this.


--
Will Woodhull
Thornhenge, SW Oregon, USA
willl.at.thornhenge.net

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