Digital Graphics File FormatsRachel Hewitson

Raster Graphics

• Give a definition of Raster GraphicsRaster graphics are made up of Bitmaps. Bitmaps are graphics made from pixels. Each pixel records the colour information of that section on a image. They have a fixed resolutions which means when enlarging the photo it could lose definition.

Vector Graphics

• Give a definition of Vector GraphicsVectors graphics are made up of vectors. They are defined by a start and an end, points with curves and points with angles. An example of a vector is font. When you enlarge font it will never get distorted round the edges. You have small and big vectors and no loss in definition will occur.

Raster Graphics

JPEGStands For JPEG

Used For/Example JPEG are used normally for photographs and web format such as Facebook as they save uploaded images as JPEGS.

Advantage An advantage of using a JPEG is being able to save an image with a small file size this allows you to send it and access it much quicker and easier.Also uses less memory so you can store more files.

Disadvantage An disadvantage of using a JPEG is the photo losing quality due to compression.Everytime an image is saved after editing it keeps losing quality as less pixels are saved each time.

TIFFStands For Tagged Image File Format

Used For/Example TIFFs are used for desktop publishing.Documents in Adobe are often saved as TIFFS.Also magazines use them.

Advantage An advantage of TIFFS is you can save multiple pages in a single file.This is useful for magazines companies to store lots of there pages in one file and also saving it as a TIFF allows you to edit it as many time without losing image quality.

Disadvantage TIFFS will have be file sizes due to lots of information being stored.This can make if difficult to sent it to other people with such big file sizes and also could take a while to open it up.

GIFStands For Graphic Interchange Format

Used For/Example GIF are used for short digital animations that are usually shown on the internet such as Facebook.It creates a loop of images that gives it the look of a video.

Advantage They have a small file size so makes it easier to view and can send and also when online can load fast but also keeps its good quality.

Disadvantage The colour palette is limited so this can make the GIF appearance bad with poor quality. You cannot not go back a re-edit it once you have saved it as a GIF this can be a problem if you have missed something out as you would have to start over.

BMPStands For Bitmap Image File

Used For/Example A BMP is similar to a JPEG and TIFF. They save any pixel based images.

Advantage BMP saves images at a high quality as when they are compressed they do not lose any quality.

Disadvantage A disadvantage of pictures being saved at a high quality is the file size will be large and this can make it difficult to send or open and also will take up lots of memory.

Vector Graphics

PSDStands For Photoshop Document

Used For/Example PSD files can be used for magazines front covers and image manipulation.

Advantage An advantage of a PSD file is you can save layers this allows you to come back and edit images after saving. This is good if you have missed something and be able to add it in out without starting again.

Disadvantage An disadvantage of a PSD file is they can only be opened in photoshop and has a very large file size this can cause problems when sending to other people as they can not open it without photoshop and allows takes up a lot of memory.

AIStands For Adobe Illustrator Art

Used For/Example AI is used to create graphics for company's such as logos to represent something for example clothing brand.

Advantage An advantage as an AI is you can make the image small or large without losing any quality this is really helpful when promoting your brand in different ways, for example you can make your logo very big for a billboard and also make it small for a leaflet with the same quality.

Disadvantage An AI file is limited when opening it as you need specialist software this can cause problem when sending it to people as they might not be able to access it.

FLAStands For Flash File

Used For/Example A flash file is used to create games and animations.Theycan include videos and sound.

Advantage An advantage of FLA is the produce high quality files but still have a small file size.This is good if you wanted to upload it online as it would not take long and wouldn’t take long to open it either.

Disadvantage A disadvantage of a FLA is the software is limited when accessing it. This means it makes it more difficult to open it as it has a specialist file.

WMFStands For Windows Metafile

Used For/Example A WMF are used for logos and graphic companys.A WMF is similar to a AI file. A window metafile is a windows format used for clipart.

Advantage Just like an AI file images saved as a WMF can be scaled small and large with no loss in definition. It also can contain both vectors and bitmap components.

Disadvantage A WMF can only be generated on windows platforms as they are only available there.

File Format Capture and Optimising

CompressionDefinition Lossy compression is the reduction in file

size by reducing the amount of information which is saved.

Advantage An advantage of compression is it reduces the file size so if wanting to upload a image fast be compressing it will upload it quicker as the quality is reduced.

Disadvantage A disadvantage of compressing an image is you lose quality and makes the image appear more pixelated, this is not good if you wanted a high quality image online you would have to not compress it and just have to wait longer for it to upload.

Image CaptureMethod Scanner

How is it used for image capture of graphics

You are able to digitalise physical images such as drawings. This is really good if you are better at drawing as you can scan them onto the computer and edit them.

Method CameraHow is it used for image capture of

graphicsA camera takes image by recording the light with a sensor and the sensor records information for all the pixels which produces a image.

Method Graphics TabletHow is it used for image capture of

graphicsA tablet is great for drawing digitally by being able to use a mouse like a pen. This allows you to control the drawing and selection of the image.

OptimisingWhy would you optimise? You would Optimise an image that is

uploaded on the web to check is it can be easily viewed.

How can you optimise? You can do this by going into photoshop an changing the file size. It is optimised by reducing the file size, reducing the bit depth, reducing the resolution and also by compressing images.

Advantage to optimising An advantage of optimising you reduce the file size so it make it faster to download and open up on the internet.By having a large file size it take longer to open up on the web which makes people click off.A file size should be no bigger then 500 pixels wide.

Disadvantage to optimising A disadvantage of optimising is by reducing the file size it reduces the amount of pixel information.

Storage

File SizeWhat could affect a Working Scale (Photoshop) document file size?

Files on Photoshop a genuinely large because of the layers and shapes. The file size could also relate to the pixel dimensions.

How could you reduce the file size of a Working Scale document without

affecting quality?

You could reduce the files size by changing the file type but keeping the working scale. You can do this by changing the bicubic automatic image to a bicubic sharper o keep the image quality.

What is an advantage of scaling up images before exporting?

An advantage of this is it allows you to resize them without losing image quality after exporting making it much easier to resize.

What is a disadvantage of scaling up images before exporting?

Scaling an image up will make the file size much bigger making it much harder to send or publish.

File Naming ConventionsWhat naming conventions could you use when creating your video game assets?

I would name my file with a single file name as leaving it as “untitled” or “new document” is a bad idea as if lots of your work are saved like this it would make it hard to find a certain file. Also when saving a file you have edited it is useful o use number for example if you are editing a magazine cover save it as magazine cover (1) and so on.

Why is it a good idea to accurately name your assets?

It is a good idea to name your assets because if you don’t I will be really hard to find certain documents within a folder if they are all named similarly. So naming your assets is key.

Asset ManagementWhy would you use folders when storing

your assets?Folders help spilt up projects. If you are working on several small project having folder can help organize them up so it is easy to access them as not having folders it could make it more difficult to find a certain project.

What folders would you create and what would you save within them

I would create 1 main folder for the course, for example “creative media” hen create 4 new folders named the 4 project we do. “photography”, “video games “, “Print” and “Video”. And within these folder place my files.