B-TEC level 3

Unit 30 task 1

Thomas Harker

Thomas Harker

Task 01 - (P1) (P2) You will need to carry out some research on both the hardware and software required for use in digital graphics. You should create and deliver a PowerPoint presentation to the ICT department staff on the hardware and software used to create and edit graphics. For each item, describe its main features and the role it plays in the creation and manipulation of graphical images. In your presentation explain how different types of graphic images relate to file formats, file conversions, formats and compression.

Thomas Harker

Hardware and software used to create graphic images

Thomas Harker

HardwareGraphics card

A graphics card is a hardware component in computers used to generate the images that you see on your monitor. its job is complex, it creates an image from the binary data from the CPU and turns them into images that you see on your monitor. The image you see on your monitor are made up of millions of pixels and the computer has to decide what to do with all of them to create an image. To do this it needs a translator, something to take binary data from the CPU and turn it into a picture you can see, that translation takes place in the graphics card. The graphics card decides how to use the pixels on the screen to create the image. It then sends that information to the monitor via a cable.

The graphics card accomplishes this task using four main components:. A motherboard connection for data and power. A processor to decide what to do with each pixel on the screen. Memory to hold information about each pixel and to temporarily store completed pictures . A monitor connection so you can see the final result

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/graphics-card1.htm

http://www.tacticalpanda.co.uk/help9.html

Thomas Harker

monitorThere are a few different types of monitors but they all have the same purpose which is to display the image from the computer onto a screen to create a visual image. The most popular type at the moment is LCD ‘liquid crystal display’ these monitors also come in different sizes and resolution. Some monitors have features such as touch screen these can be very useful in graphic design because for example it allows you to draw an image straight onto your computer without the use of a tablet of uploading a drawing.

http://en.screenland.eu/screen-technologies/interactive/touch-screen-monitor

http://www.bhvd.de/produkte/monitor/index.html

Thomas Harker

USB flash driveA flash drive is a data storage device that use’s flash memory to store data on it, meaning we can externally backup and store data. A flash drive can store all different kinds of files for example music files, photographs, PDF’s and countless other file types. They also come in many different types of capacity ranging all the way up to 256 gigabytes with storage capacity's as large as 2 terabytes planned for the future. A flash drive also use’s no moving parts. Some advantages of flash drives are that they are quite robust as they have no fragile moving parts and data stored on them is impervious to mechanical shock these property's make them suitable for transferring data from place to place. Before flash drives were popularly used people would use hardware such as floppy disk, cd’s to store data which had a lower storage capacity, larger in size and more fragile. On disadvantage is that they are small in size so can be easily misplaced.

http://www.comparestoreprices.co.uk/usb-flash-drives/sandisk-cruzer-blade-usb-flash-drive--16gb.asp

Thomas Harker

printerhttp://www.internet-ink.co.uk/ink-news/Printers/

A printer is used in digital graphics to print images as hard copy's onto paper or card. Different printers are capable of printing a range images and text on a range of different sizes, most domestic printers are capable to printing anything up to A3 as others are able to print poster size pictures. There are also several types of printers that use different technology to print an image for example inkjet and laser printers.

Thomas Harker

softwareThere are loads of different types of software and programs that are used when creating graphic images from just printing software and programs that allow you to view the picture, where other programs allow you to manipulate and edit images.

Thomas Harker

softwareAdobe Photoshop

http://techsavvyagent.com/video/what-program-should-i-choose-to-edit-real-estate-photos/

Adobe Photoshop is a graphics editing program used to edit and manipulate images. It is very in-depth and complex allowing the user to create a digital graphic using a massive range of different tools. Photoshop is the most popular editing software used by professionals and armature graphic designers ‘Adobe’s Photoshop CS5 is the most powerful photo editing program on the planet.’ this is a quote from http://techsavvyagent.com showing there view on Photoshop. But although Photoshop is a very useful and advanced program its also very expensive ranging from £120 onwards.

Thomas Harker

softwareMicrosoft paintMicrosoft paint is a simple picture and drawing editing software that includes simple editing tools such as the ability to crop, resize, add auto shapes and text to an image. This makes it ideal for youngsters and beginners. It is included with all versions of Microsoft windows. It is very easy to use as it lacks many advanced tools for example layering, magnetic cropping etcetera but its very useful for quickly altering a image.

http://www.fayette.k12.il.us/99/paint/paint.htm

http://www.ehow.com/how_5120787_remove-ms-paint.html

Thomas Harker

How different typesof graphic images

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Thomas Harker

File formatsJPG

JPG files also known as JPEG files which stands for ‘joint photographic experts group’. They are a common file format for digital photo and other digital graphics. JPEG is well suited for a massive range of different images from drawing to detailed photo’s. all editing programs, digital camera’s and web browser on the market support this format.

http://technicallyeasy.net/2010/07/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-jpeg-files/

http://fstopspot.com/main/free-guides-for-photographers/choosing-the-right-image-format-for-photographers-raw-dng-jpeg

Thomas Harker

File formatsBMP

BMP stands for bitmaps, this file format is the Microsoft windows standard format. Also sometimes also stored as DIB (device independent bitmap) file.

http://www.recover-files.ca/recover-bmp-files.html

http://www.arts-letters.com/express_70/import_export6.html

Thomas Harker

File formatsGIFGIF stand for ‘graphics interchange format’ it has come into very wide spread usage on the world wide web due to its wide support and portability. It also supports animations witch is one of its main advantages. The colour limitation make the GIF format unsuitable for simpler images such as photographs and other images with continuous colour, but is well suited for simpler images such as graphics or logos with solid areas of colour.

It is a Bitmap Image Format that was introduced by CompuServe in 1987. The format supports up to 8 bits per pixel thus allowing a single image to reference a palette of up to 256 distinct colors. The colors are chosen from the 24-bit RGB color space. It also supports animations and allows a separate palette of 256 colors for each frame. The color limitation makes the GIF format unsuitable for reproducing color photographs and other images with continuous color, but it is well-suited for simpler images such as graphics or logos with solid areas of color.

Passage from ‘me baze.com’

importance-of-image-formats

Thomas Harker

File formatsTIFF files

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The two kinds ofComputer graphics

There are two kinds of computer graphics - raster (composed of pixels) and vector (composed of paths). Raster images are more commonly called bitmap images.

Thomas Harker

RasterRaster graphics include image formats such as bitmap and JPEG which use pixels to make up an image. Raster graphics are resolution dependent. They cannot scale up to an arbitrary resolution without loss of quality. This loss of quality makes images look pixelated (the ragged square-like look you see when a raster image is enlarged too far). Most editing software's including Photoshop uses Raster graphics.

whats-the-difference-between-vector-and-raster-images

Thomas Harker

vectorVector graphics are based on images made up of vectors (also called paths, or strokes) which lead through locations called control points. Programs that enable you to create and manipulate vector graphics are called draw programs, whereas programs that manipulated bit-mapped images are called paint programs. Vector graphics are better suited for simpler imagers such as text and logo’s. Vector files are also small because they contain a lot less data than raster files. They also have smoother lines when compared to square, pixel-based raster graphics therefore, they are better with straight lines and sweeping curves than raster graphics.

http://blog.pixellogo.com/printing/raster-vs-vector-graphics/

Thomas Harker

The smiley face in the top left corner is a bitmap image. When enlarged, individual pixels appear as squares. Zooming in further, they can be analysed, with their colours constructed by adding the values for red, green and blue.

From Wikipedia.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raster_graphics

Example showing effect of vector graphics versus raster graphics. The original vector-based illustration is at the left. The upper-right image illustrates magnification of 7x as a vector image. The lower-right illustrates the same magnification as a bitmap image. Raster images are based on pixels and thus scale with loss of clarity, while vector-based images can be scaled by any amount without degrading quality

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector_graphics