Digital Graphics
File Formats
Sjon Barnes
Raster Graphics
An image made up of bitmaps, which
represent each pixel for that image
file. Each pixel records the colour or
information for that small square of
that image. Bitmaps have a set
resolution like 300dpi on Photoshop.
This means changing the size of the
image can result in distortion.
Vector Graphics
Vector Files are made up of vectors
which are also known as paths and
strokes. These are made up with
curves and angles and take up little
space. This means you can resize a
vector and it will not become
pixelated, these are useful for
drawing shapes on a document and
for logos that can be resized for
billboards and business cards.
Raster Graphics
JPEG
Stands For
Joint Photographic Experts Group
Used For/Example
Photographs that are uploaded to
the internet like Facebook or
Instagram etc
Advantage
Its the universal file format for
photos on the internet, so
everyone can see them without
having to convert the file format
Disadvantage
Loses quality after many edits,
because of compression or
recompression
TIFF
Stands For
Used For/Example
Advantage
Disadvantage
Tagged Image File Format
PC publishing on Adobe InDesign
which is good for graphic
designers for magazine covers
TIFF contains lossless compression
so the photo doesnt lose quality
during compression
Files have a big size due to the
lossless compression
GIF
Stands For
Used For/Example
Advantage
Disadvantage
Graphics Interchange Format
Short animation images, like a
short video. Often found on the
internet.
A GIF is smaller than a video, so it
was quicker to upload a GIF rather
than uploading a video
Bad quality series of images,
plays like a bad quality video.
BMP
Stands For
Used For/Example
Advantage
Disadvantage
Bitmap Image File
Similar to TIFFs and JPEGs, that it
saves images
No loss in compression, so it can
be sized anyway you want.
Due to the no loss in compression,
this causes the image to have a
large file size
Vector Graphics
PSD
Stands For
Used For/Example
Photoshop Document
Used in Adobe Photoshop for
image manipulation for front
covers of magazines.
Advantage
Saves the image in layers, and it
supports transparency.
Disadvantage
Due to the image saving in layers
the file size can be large.
AI
Stands For
Used For/Example
Adobe Illustrator Art
Used to create logos for
companies
Advantage
Can be scaled in whatever way as
vector files dont lose definition,
so it can fit a billboard or a
business card
Disadvantage
Not good for any person who cant
draw or do art, that wants a logo
FLA
Stands For
Flash File
Used For/Example
Can be used to create animations
and flash games
Advantage
You can have a very high quality
file with a small file size which
includes sound and video
Disadvantage
Can only play these animations
and games on 1 type of media
player, Flash
WMF
Stands For
Used For/Example
Windows Metafile
Similar to AI, it makes logos or
Clipart.
Advantage
Vectors have no loss in definition
so it can be scaled to whatever
size the person wants.
Used for people who cant exactly
draw on AI
Disadvantage
Only useful on clipart, which isnt
popular anymore
File Format
Capture and
Optimising
Compression
Definition
Advantage
Disadvantage
Compression is where images
become more pixelated, the more
they are compressed, as there is
small amounts of coloured pixels
in the image
With vectors you can make the
image whatever size you want
without having compression
With Raster images, the picture
can become more pixelated
making it worse if you use a small
image and resize it to an A4 size
for a poster.
Image Capture
Method
How is it used for image
capture of graphics
Scanner
Scan physical drawings and
photos to use on the PC
Method
Camera
How is it used for image
capture of graphics
Takes an image of it which you
then use an SD card to put it onto
the PC
Method
Graphics Tablet
How is it used for image
capture of graphics
Allows you to control the mouse
like a pen, allowing for enhanced
control for digital sketches
Optimising
Why would you optimise?
You would optimise an image to
make the image a smaller size file
allowing for easy viewing on the
web
How can you optimise?
You can optimise on Photoshop by
changing the image size on the
menus. Images should be 500
pixels wide max with a resolution
of 300
Advantage to optimising
Disadvantage to optimising
The download of an image is
decreased to allow for easy
viewing on the internet
This can skew up a big image so
when someone sees it
Storage
File Size
What could affect a Working
Scale (Photoshop) document
file size?
If the file size is too big then the
file takes up too much space,
which can cause many problems
for if you want to create another
document. This is because of the
layer build up on the Photoshop
document
How could you reduce the file
size of a Working Scale
document without affecting
quality?
To keep it working scale, you could
use the bicubic sharper to keep
the image quality high during
scaling of the image
What is an advantage of
scaling up images before
exporting?
This allows the image to be
resized without losing quality after
exporting
What is a disadvantage of
scaling up images before
exporting?
Scaling up also allows for a large
file size which is harder to send
and publish
File Naming Conventions
What naming conventions
could you use when creating
your video game assets?
I could name the asset whatever
the video game is called to
remember what the file is on a
later date, rather than leaving the
document name as Untitled(1)
Why is it a good idea to
accurately name your assets?
Not accurately naming these
assets can cause a load of
unfindable documents, so when
you want to find a particular
document its extremely hard to
find.
Asset Management
Why would you use folders
when storing your assets?
I would use folders to store assets
that are similar to each other for
example my Photoshop
documents and Video Games are
separated into different folders
What folders would you create I would create folders for each
and what would you save
topic to not confuse myself with
within them
what topic this file is about
