x, from a technical standpoint I know that in a 32 bit pict: the first 8 bits are the red channel. the second 8 bits are the green channel. the third 8 bits are the blue channel. the fourth 8 bits are the alpha channel. (which bit in the alpha does what I don't know.) each channel maps the entire image seperately and is found in sequence in the image of a BMP file as Header RGBARGBA . . . RGBA. red and blue may or not be reversed. . . . if that helps. I want to get that Kitchen's book too. I have heard good things about it from many sources - not just here. - TJ