the color depth of the texture determines how it reacts with the surface properties of the geometry. each of the spheres below has a bright red surface color.
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| 1: 8-bit grayscale (.gif, .png, .jpg) imparts value to surface color |
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| 2: 8-bit greyscale with 1-bit alpha (.gif, .png) imparts value to surface color and adds binary transparency |
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| 3: 24-bit color (.gif, .png, .jpg) replaces surface color with texture color |
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| 4a: 24-bit color with 1-bit alpha (.gif, .png) replaces surface color with texture color and adds binary transparency |
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| 4b: 24-bit color with 8-bit alpha (.png) replaces surface color with texture color and adds soft transparency |
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