unorm8

unorm8 is a data type commonly used in computer graphics and image processing. It represents an unsigned integer value that is normalized to the range of 0.0 to 1.0. The "8" in unorm8 indicates that it uses 8 bits to store the value.

When an unorm8 value is stored, the integer 0 corresponds to 0.0, and the integer 255 corresponds to 1.0. Values in between are scaled linearly. For example, the integer 128 would represent approximately 0.5. This normalization is useful because many rendering pipelines and image formats expect color or other data to be within this standard 0-to-1 range.

The use of 8 bits means that unorm8 can represent 2^8, or 256, distinct values. This provides a reasonable level of precision for many applications, such as representing the intensity of a red, green, or blue color channel. Larger bit depths, like unorm16 (16 bits), offer higher precision but require more memory.

In graphics APIs like DirectX and OpenGL, unorm8 is frequently used for texture formats, vertex attributes, and render target outputs. It allows for efficient storage and manipulation of normalized data, contributing to faster rendering performance. Its widespread adoption makes it a fundamental data type for developers working with visual data.