Image Types and Color Maps

With AutoCAD Raster Design toolset, you can insert several types of images into a drawing, and display them in various ways. The color map provides the main source of display control. AutoCAD Raster Design toolset recognizes the inserted image type and provides a default color map. Later, you can edit the color map, or with some image types, create a new insertion with a different type of color map.

Image Data Attributes

File Type	Data Structure (bits/pixel)	Default Color Map	Insertion Type
Bitonal	1 bit	Bitonal	Bitonal
Grayscale	4 or 8 bit	Image Adjust	Grayscale
Index Color	8 bit (256 colors)	Image Adjust	Index Color
True Color	24 or 32 bit	Image Adjust	True Color
Digital Elevation Model	Floating Point	Palette	Palette Color
Single-Band Integer	16 or 32 bit	Image Adjust	Palette Color, Grayscale

The different color maps have the following attributes:

• Bitonal color map controls the color assigned to the linework (foreground color) and background of a bitonal image.
• Image adjust color map uses the AutoCAD Image Adjust dialog box to control values for brightness, contrast, and fade.
• Palette color map has many options available for interpreting and displaying the data. For example, you can display surface elevation, slope, or aspect, choose the number of data ranges, and assign a color to each range.
• Band assignment color map specifies which data bands to display and which color channel (red, green, or blue) to use for each one. By assigning bands to channels in particular ways, you can create false color images for analytic purposes, such as the display of vegetation or water features.

For related information, see Editing Color Maps and About Supported Image Formats.