Something is called planar if it is made up of flat planes, or pertaining to planes. A graph is called planar if it can be drawn in the plane without any edge intersections; see planar graph. In mathematics, a plane is the fundamental two-dimensional object. ... In graph theory, a planar graph is a graph that can be embedded in a plane so that no edges intersect. ...

In the context of computer graphics, Planar is method of representing pixel information with several bitplanes. There are also cases where byteplanes have been used. Each individual bit in a bitplane is related to a single pixel on the screen. Unlike Chunky, Highcolour or Truecolour graphics, the data for an individual pixel isn't in one specific location in RAM, but spread across the bitplanes that make up the display. Jump to: navigation, search Computer graphics (CG) is the field of visual computing, where one utilizes computers both to generate visual images synthetically and to integrate or alter visual and spatial information sampled from the real world. ... In chunky or packed pixel frame buffer organization, the bits defining each pixel are grouped together. ... Highcolour (or Hicolour, Highcolor, Hicolor, Thousands on a Macintosh) graphics is a method of storing image information in a computers memory such that each pixel is represented by two bytes. ... Truecolour (or Truecolor, Millions on a Macintosh) graphics is a method of storing image information in a computers memory such that each pixel is represented by three or more bytes. ... Random access memory (sometimes random-access memory), commonly known by its acronym RAM, is a type of computer storage whose contents can be accessed in any (i. ...

For example, on a Chunky display, each byte will represent one pixel. So, if colour zero is black, colour one is blue, and colour two is green, a byte of chunky pixel data would look like this: In chunky or packed pixel frame buffer organization, the bits defining each pixel are grouped together. ...

00000000 = Black pixel
00000001 = Blue pixel
00000010 = Green pixel

Whereas planar data would look like this:

Plane 0, Byte 0: 00000000 = 8 black pixels
Plane 1, Byte 0: 00000000

Plane 0, Byte 0: 10000000 = 6 black pixels, one blue pixel, one green pixel
Plane 1, Byte 0: 00010000

Planar graphics were used a lot in the 80s and early 90s because displays tended to only be able to show fewer than 256 colours. Chunky displays always represent one pixel within a contigous grouping of bits. And usually have 1 byte or more per pixel, even with a colour depth not a multiple 8 bits (sometimes going as far as storing a 24 bit image in 32 bit chunks). This wastes RAM in cases where fewer bits are needed than are provided. If you only need to display 8 colours, you can use 3 bitplanes, and each pixel only has 3 bits assigned to it instead of 8 (reducing memory and bandwidth requirements by 62.5%).

Planar graphics are also easier to scroll than chunky graphics in hardware, which is why systems like the Commodore Amiga were able to move large playfields around with little effort. Though few understand why, and it's validity is in dispute. Commodore is the commonly used name for Commodore International, a West Chester, Pennsylvania based electronics company who was a vital player in the personal computer field. ... In computing, Amiga is a range of home/personal computers primarily using the Motorola 68000 processor family, whose development started in 1982, initially as a game machine. ...