The necessity of colour mapping

[chaosprism]

Colour mapping is a type of image processing that gets used sometimes.

 

It actually a very versatile tool thats been around in games for a long time.

 

It allows an artist to make a cloak for example in grey scales. And then those greys get changed into colours based on the situation.

 

it also alows say a metallic feature on that cloak to appear in silver or gold or wood or a green jade colour. With the advent of texture based 3d graphics this has largely been avoided however it still allows a great deal of flexibility even when used on the textures themselves.

 

It also allows player customization on a much higher level , with people able to pick hair and skin colours from a large palette. The colour mapper will handle it.

[JJ86]

It is also used in 2d graphical systems by using alpha channels. Fallout Tactics used it to good effect and allowed a greater variety based only on a few models. Its definitely a necessity to give less of a cookie cutter feel. But in 3d engines isn't it just as easy to put a new skin on model?