public ArrayPOD<RGBA_Bytes> allocate(int span_len)
{
if (span_len > m_span.size())
{
// To reduce the number of reallocs we align the
// span_len to 256 color elements.
// Well, I just like this number and it looks reasonable.
//-----------------------
m_span.resize((((int)span_len + 255) >> 8) << 8);
}
return m_span;
}