Digital Graphics
File Formats
Arran Bull
Raster Graphics
Raster Graphics (a.k.a. Bitmaps) are
graphics built-up by pixels that each
record the colour information of a section
of an image. Rasterised images have a
fixed resolution, causing them to lose
quality when being resized. The image
gets separated into Megapixels (1
Megapixel = 1,000,000 pixels) and
records the colour that area of the image
should be.
Vector Graphics
Vector Graphics are built-up of
paths/strokes defined by A to B
points with angles, curves and points
in-between. With all this information
combined, the path becomes a
shape, ranging from a square, a
triangle, a circle and even a line.
Vectors have no loss in definition
which means they can be scaled to
different sizes without losing any
Raster Graphics
JPEG
Stands For
Joint Photographic Expert
Group
Used For/Example
Uploading photos to the internet.
For example, images that are
uploaded to Facebook are saved
as JPEG files.
Advantages
JPEG images have full colour
information because they
consists of millions of pixels per
image. This makes it great for
displaying high-quality images
on screen.
They can be uploaded on to the
internet for photo sharing.
Disadvantages
Each time a JPEG image gets
edited, it will lose quality due to
how it needs to be compressed
and decompressed in order to
make edits.
TIFF
Stands For
Used For/Example
Advantages
Disadvantages
Tagged Image File Format
It is used for desktop publishing.
For example, Adobe InDesign
documents are stored as TIFF
files.
Multi-page documents (such as
word documents) can be saved
as TIFF files.
They can be compressed
lossless so compressing the file
will not loose any quality.
The file size can be huge;
clogging up data.
GIF
Stands For
Graphic Interchange Format
Used For/Example
They are used for short, digitised
animations on the internet. For
example, the Nickelodeon website
uses GIF animations for their
menu icons to make it flashy and
appealing for kids.
Advantages
They have lossless compression
which makes the format
suitable for making logos.
Suitable for uploading
animations.
Transparency Support.
Disadvantages
Very Limited Colour Pallet: only
256 colours.
Large file sizes.
BMP
Stands For
Bitmap Image File
Used For/Example
Storing bitmap images. For
example, BMP is a great format for
desktop wallpaper.
Advantages
The format has lossless
compression, making it ideal for
photo editing and resizing.
They are also ideal for desktop
wallpaper thanks to again, the
format having no loss in
compression.
Disadvantages
BMP files are often huge in file
size, which means they can
clog up storage and will take
longer to load on the internet.
Vector Graphics
PSD
Stands For
PhotoShop Document
Used For/Example
Manipulating image files. They are
often used for front covers of
magazines.
Advantages
Transparency support.
They can save layers, making it
efficient for photo editing.
Can be tightly integrated into
other Adobe software.
Many different tools to work
with for editing.
Disadvantages
Large file size.
The format is exclusive to
adobe when it comes to
integration on other software.
AI
Stands For
Used For/Example
Advantages
Adobe Illustrator Art
To create graphics for illustrations and
logos. For example, illustrations for
childrens books that are produced digitally
would use an AI format due to its lossless
compression and art-based tools.
Disadvantages
The format uses vector graphics,
meaning that assets from the
software have no loss in definition,
making it perfect for resizing and
editing.
Integrates with other Adobe
Software really well.
Lots of different art-based tools to
use for more creative freedom.
Trying to use the software effectively can
have a steep learning curve.
Sharing files on the internet in this
format can be tricky.
Editing assets is limited compared to
PSD files.
May require a graphics tablet in order to
use the software more accurately.
FLA
Stands For
Used For/Example
Advantages
Flash File
Creating animations and games
for the internet. For example,
every animation and game on
Newgrounds is a flash file.
Disadvantages
You can create a high quality flash
file on a small file size.
Lossless definition thanks to the
format being vector based.
Sound, video and interactivity can
be incorporated into flash files as
well as vector graphics.
Designer friendly for beginning
users.
Not compatible with all devices.
It requires a flash player in
order to run.
Can take longer to load due to
file size.
WMF
Stands For
Windows Metafile
Used For/Example
Used for making logos and
displaying images on screen. For
example, Microsoft Word clipart
are WMF files.
Advantages
The format has both raster and
vector components, but its
mostly vector. Making it great
for resizing images.
Disadvantages
The format is not often used by
professional graphic designers
due to how unprofessional it
looks from a designer standpoint.
In the case of Microsoft Word
clipart, using the format can
cause Plagiarism.
File Format
Capture and
Optimising
Compression
Definition
Lossy Compression is where you
remove irrelevant or redundant
information from image data in
order to save storage or to
transmit image data efficiently.
Advantage
Getting rid of irrelevant
information from image files
means that less data is saved.
This gives the file more space for
more necessary data to be saved.
Disadvantage
However, reducing data does cost
the image to have lower quality
by becoming more pixelated. This
is because the more image
compresses, the smaller the
amount of pixels there are on the
image.
Image Capture
Method
Scanner
How is it used for image
capture of graphics?
Digitising tangible images so they
can be transferred onto a device.
Method
Camera
How is it used for image
capture of graphics?
Digital cameras have a sensor
that records information the light
that enters the cameras lens. The
information is then passed onto
the pixels to create a digital
image.
Graphics Tablet
Method
How is it used for image
capture of graphics?
A tablet that you connect to a
computer. On it, the mouse is in
the form of a pen and you use the
pen on the tablet screen to
enhance production on digital
artwork, animations and
Optimising
Why would you optimise?
Optimising is incredibly handy for
making an image easy to load and
view on the internet. This includes
reducing the file size (E.g. pixel
information in this case) so that the
image will load a lot quicker on the
web.
How can you optimise?
Decrease the resolution/bit
depth
Image Compression
Reducing the size of the image
Advantage to optimising
Making the file size smaller
means that it will load
download faster on the internet
Disadvantage to optimising
Reducing the file size has the
expense of losing picture
quality from the image
Storage
File Size
What could affect a Working
Scale (Photoshop) document
file size?
Number Layers
Resolution of assets
Smart objects being rasterised
The size of colour palette
How could you reduce the file
size of a Working Scale
document without affecting
quality?
Use vector graphics
Get rid of unnecessary layers
(merging)
Delete excess data
What is an advantage of
scaling up images before
exporting?
Consistent Quality if it is a
vector image
Bigger resolution
Larger Image
What is a disadvantage of
scaling up images before
exporting?
Lower quality if the image
Bigger file size which clogs up
data
May take longer to load an upscaled image on the internet as
it will have more data to
File Naming Conventions
What naming conventions
could you use when creating
your video game assets?
Keep file names short and
simple
Record the dates of when the
file was created
If you have made copies of a
certain file, rename them in
simple ways (E.g. filename,
filename2, filename3 etc)
Store the files in an orderly
fashion (E.g. alphabetical order,
numerical order etc)
Why is it a good idea to
accurately name your assets?
It makes it easier to identify a
specific file for when you need to
access it again. It also keeps the
storage neat because naming files
makes your storage more
organised.
Asset Management
Why would you use folders
when storing your assets?
So I can store data in an orderly
fashion. This makes it easy to
navigate through files and will
categorise my work so ill never be
lost when searching for a
particular file.
What folders would you create Media Coursework
Media Project
and what would you save
Proposal
within them
Pitch Presentation
Pitch Script
Analysis
Print Graphics
Comic Photos
Photo 1
Photo 2
Photo 3
Photoshop practise
Rotascope
Shape Task
Film Quote
Text Task
