Deep Image Display with OpenGL

Last Revision:
Version 1.0, 2015-12-10
First release.
Build Requirements:
OSX 10.11 SDK
Runtime Requirements:
OSX 10.11

30-Bit Color is now supported on the Mac Pro (Late 2013), iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014), and iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015). The frame buffer of these Macs has a depth of 10 bits per color component, allowing apps to display graphics and imagery with more than 256 color gradations per component.

When a window’s color depth limit is set to 64-bit (RGBA 16-16-16-16), a specialized dither pattern is automatically applied to the window’s content as it is composited into the 8-bits per color channel frame buffer. This dithering minimizes the appearance of quantization artifacts on screen. Using the technique demonstrated by the sample you can also display 32-bit "deep" formats like 10-10-10-2 RGBX (or 2-10-10-10 XRGB).