Question(s) about dithering

[Reo]

This is it I think

[Gil]

Yes, that's it exactly.

[Helm]

The exact same principle is applied in Rawsushi's example so I don't know where you get your 'not at all' Gil.

[Joe]

At the risk of being completely wrong, was it something like this?

This is it I think

Oh, wow, I didn't know anything like this existed.  Is there any writing on this?

[Gil]

The exact same principle is applied in Rawsushi's example so I don't know where you get your 'not at all' Gil.

In Rawsushi's the yellow doesn't change at all. The thing that Pep called interlaced dithering is a specific form of gradient dithering that makes colors come back in the gradient multiple times. It's a very specific effect that tends to eliminate banding, while letting two dither regions hug each other.

[Helm]

huh I've used this interlace dithering since forever and I've never seen it that way, as far as I can tell the idea is PRIMARILY to blend on the dither instead of off of it really. But I'm sure you have some reason to disagree

[Gil]

As Jad mentions, this is part of the whole "inventing techniques" era of pixel art. I'm not defending its use or anything, just trying to place it historically.

It's comparable to selout as being a useless technique that anyone who does some examining picks up on his/her own anyway.


See, I don't ALWAYS disagree with you

[Helm]

Here's some things one can do with working on top of the dither as much as they do outside it.

I don't mind the invention of technique names as much as I used to and I'd like to see this sort of dithering used more so if the name helps popularize it that's great. The problem with selout was not the name, it was the concept behind it being considered prescriptive for a period: (without wanting to turn this into another selout thread) I mean 'if you want to be a pro pixel artist, put these broken outlines around your sprite!'.

The whole premise that this helps readability of a sprite against a background color of any type was a mistake in my opinion. Usually used in Capcom sprites, most of them very big sprites, nobody's eyes will stop tracking chun li if she passes in front of a blue background exactly her color even very fast, really.

[Gil]

St0ven had this cool way of positioning his shading diagonally, so the dither turned into almost paint streaks at the edges. I liked that too.

I have to admit though, I'm finding less and less use for dither unless it's for for example chainmail on a sprite.

[Helm]

I find dithering extremely useful personally and every time I decide to go without for some reason or another I feel like someone's taken half of my pixelling skills away. Without it pixel art is almost like low grade cg painting, what's left is just the manual anti-alias and palette control.