Reply To: Texture resolution: explained why powers of 2

[Shawn Blanch]

@theluthier I just researched it more specfically for images. I may be wrong on the file size comment (though I still think it holds a little water when running in the active RAM of the computer as opposed to the stored file size).

What it comes down to is: It’s a 1’s and 0’s thing and transistors. haha. 

Computers and Processors/Microchips/Intel boards are made up of microscopic transistors (we are getting close to atomic level of some designs I have read). Transistors are switches for electricity like a light switch in your house but without any mechanical movement. WHAAAA!?! Since a transistor only works in a 1 or 0 computers are mostly built on combinations of those 1’s and 0’s like in Binary Code. Binary utilizes powers of 2 and things working in powers of 2 like our image textures help speed the process along, otherwise there are going to be required conversions with take up more transistor resources as far as I understand it. More transistors means more energy/more time/more heat/more work. Older graphics cards weren’t designed physically to work on images outside the powers of 2 range but newer cards are better at taking anything you give them, but I am positive it causes more ‘computational’ transistor work when it comes down to it.

Transistors are crazy and how we came about them was kind of an accident while also being intentional at the same time……..yawn. AT&T Bells Laboratory and youtube has an hour long video on the discovery/invention haha. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4XknGqr3Bo