Posterization and color banding...

[Rhezuss]

I don't really know how to explain this and i'm not sure if it's a graphics card or monitor "phenomenon". I can't tell when I started noticing this, maybe it was always like that or it just appeared out of the blue like that, can't really tell.

I don't have access to a screenshot for now but i'll try to get a few to show you what I mean...if it's not a monitor "problem" you should be able to see it.

I noticed this mostly with Deus Ex: HR. The loading screen for instance, the yellowish background. The outer image is of a darker yellow and when it blends towards the lighter center of the image, instead of smoothly blending, each tint is abruptely cut and it just look like multiple yellow circles of different tints.

Same thing with the skies in some games. Deus Ex sky must be the uglier sky i've seen so far in a game. The clouds look like oil patch on the surface of the water, it's plain ugly.

I hope you can understand what I mean (even me I have troubles pwaahaha) and I hope I can find a solution to this...or maybe it's "in the game" or "a driver thing"...

Anyways, thanks all!

 

[brandonb]

It's a 3d tech limitation.

I remember John Carmack a few years ago (maybe closer to 10 now) was going on a rampage about integer type graphics in video games. Even if you are running 32 bit, if you do a set of complex operations on those integer, you lose image quality because the formulas will create basically the banding you are seeing. He was going on about how the video card/API's should start including floating point depth buffers so the banding would not appear from these math operations.

HDR lighting if an option might help eliminate the banding, as I believe HDR mode is floating point. Not sure if Deus Ex has an option for that.

 

[Rhezuss]

Thanks brandonb for this explanation.

But I don't recall seeing that "effect" when I had the HD 6850 and before, but in Fallout NV when I loaded the game yesterday, the clouds were all looking like that...

Could it be a graphics card problem?

I just can't wait for the HD 7xxx series to come out, i'll get one and see how it goes

 

[Rhezuss]

If someone could post a screenshot of the DE:HR sky, I could compare with what it looks like at home.

 

[zebrax2]

Tried changing the color settings in the driver? Try tweaking the settings a bit like digital vibrancy while playing

 

[Rhezuss]

Ok, found the right term for my trouble.

One is called Posterization and looks like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posterization

The other is called Color banding.

I got both of those effects happening and it's making me crazy since I don't remember having this issue before getting the 560 Ti, though I don't think it's the culprit...

Well, looks like I gonna have to live with it...

 

[toyota]

I see it in a lot of games and it drives me nuts. there are a few places in Dead Space 2 that are so bad that it made me turn the brightens all the way down to help. the first Crysis had really noticeable banding in the sky too which was quite annoying.

 

[Rhezuss]

I see it in a lot of games and it drives me nuts. there are a few places in Dead Space 2 that are so bad that it made me turn the brightens all the way down to help. the first Crysis had really noticeable banding in the sky too which was quite annoying.

So it's nothing hardware related?

 

[toyota]

So it's nothing hardware related?

its mostly just game related from what I can tell. now I guess it is possible for it too look slightly better or worse with different hardware. I mean maybe it is possible for it to be rendered slightly different on different video cards. I know different monitors can also have a small impact on it in some cases. for instance the banding was less noticeable on my CRT in Dead Space 2. now the banding in Crysis looked equally as bad on both my LCD and CRT though.

 

[Rhezuss]

Maybe once you notice it, you're stuck with it hehhehheh.

I can't understand why we're stuck with this kind of effect with today's technologies and hardware...

Lazyness?

 

[toyota]

Maybe once you notice it, you're stuck with it hehhehheh.

I can't understand why we're stuck with this kind of effect with today's technologies and hardware...

Lazyness?

yeah I wonder the same thing. I believe the first FEAR game was the first time I ever noticed this type of issue and its ridiculous that it still occurs in more modern games. Dead Space 2 is one of my favorite games but that color banding ruins it for me in some spots. if the whole game had it then I would have been miserable.

 

[brandonb]

Rhezuss,

Use this website to determine if its the monitor/video card.

http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/gradient.php

If it looks good, then its the game, if the banding test there looks funny, then its your hardware.

 

[Rhezuss]

Rhezuss,

Use this website to determine if its the monitor/video card.

http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/gradient.php

If it looks good, then its the game, if the banding test there looks funny, then its your hardware.

Thanks brandonb, i'll test this tonight.

Appart from brightness/contrast, is there a way to reduce the banding?

EDIT: Well, it looks good from your link brandonb. So I guess it's the game...which is sad.

 

[Rhezuss]

Encouraging thing, it doesn't do that in Crysis 2. Tried it yesterday and and it was looking awesome.

But in the other games...can't explain why such an effect would be possible in 2011...