[DustyPorViva]

Dithering, like most techniques, does not simply boil down to "use it or don't". Some people can pull it off, most can't. Just because someone else can dither a balloon and make it look good does not mean the suggestion not to dither a balloon is not a good one. It's not black and white, but for most people the best suggestion is to not do it, simply because of the effects dithering can have. Dithering, like on the balloon, gives the impression of a rough surface... a balloon does not have a rough surface. Rocks have rough surfaces most of the time, so ideally it would be okay to dither a rock.

How well dithering looks also depends a lot on resolution, contrast, monitor... I used to have a CRT and I dithered a lot... and it look good because of the way CRTs work with colors and all. Then I got an LCD and dithering almost always look bad... the only time dithering looked nice was when I did very low contrast on the colors, because LCDs are so crisp and clear. I also find myself critiquing dithering much more. Same applies to resolution and contrast in different ways.