16bit TGAs?

[evanerichards]

I thought TGAs were 16 bit? When I render one out however and open it in photoshop, its only 8 bit. And there aren't any bit depth options on TGA images. Am I mistaken or just doing something wrong?

It;s a little bit of a problem because we are compositing in flame and the flame doesn't recognize the TIFs that come from vray for whatever reason. So if TGAs don't render 16bit, and TIFs don't work at all, that pretty much leaves us with PNGs and EXRs for images with a higher bit depth.

Please advise.

[t.petrov]

The format can store image data with 8, 15, 16, 24, or 32 bits of precision per pixel[1] – the maximum 24 bits of RGB and an extra 8-bit alpha channel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truevision_TGA
If the information is correct, there is not 16bit per channel support in the TGAs.

[Dariusz Makowski (Dadal)]

I either cant read or u say cant and the wiki say can... which 1 is it? it say TGA can store 16bit images...

[t.petrov]

I think evanerichards needs 16bits per channel, which means 48bit or 64bit image.

[evanerichards]

Sooo...I'm trying to wrap my brain around this.
It can't do 16bits per channel, but can do 16bits or higher per pixel. Which translates to what? A 24 bit image? Which would be an even higher bit depth than a 16bit image?

I can't be understanding that right.

[t.petrov]

16 bits per pixel means that all three channels are stored in 16bits.
It is something like 5.33bits per channel (5-6-5bits for the R-G-B channels respectively).
So this is less than 8bits per channel, which is 24bits per pixel (3x8bits=24bits).