Raster graphics are made up of pixels and have a fixed resolution, so they deteriorate in quality when resized. They can be compressed into smaller file types like JPEG, which further reduces quality over multiple saves. Vector graphics are made up of paths and strokes defined by a start and end point, so they can be scaled without losing resolution. Common raster formats are JPEG, TIFF, GIF and BMP while vector formats include AI, EPS and PDF. Each format has advantages like file size or quality but also disadvantages such as inability to edit or large file sizes that impact loading and transferring.

1. Digital Graphics
File Formats
Cara Taylor

2. Raster Graphics
• Raster graphics are made up of small bitmaps (pixels) Each pixel records a different colour on the image.
They have a fixed resolution which means they can only be adjusted so much until the quality of the image
begins to deteriorate, when it is starting to be edited. Such as resizing the image would make the picture
distort and drop to low quality. Meaning that the image will no longer be clear and becomes pixelated. For
example when you take an image of the internet that is saved as a file type such as JPEG the quality of the
image can drop, this is due to all the pixels being compressed down so that they fit into a smaller file type.
• With raster graphics there is an amount of pixels that you can get which provides good or low quality , for
example 14MP is 14,000,000 Mega pixels which will result in a high quality image. However when the
image has been saved and transferred onto a website such as Facebook and somebody else saves it, the
quality of the image will drop. It may not drop drastically with one save, but over a period of time the
quality of the image will drastically decrease so that the end result will be low quality, and clearly pixels;
and a clear image of the picture is hard to now make out due to the decreased quality of the image.
• When this happens the colours of the image also don’t become as detailed they begin to blur together
into one soil colour, instead of each pixel of the image all being a different colour. Which results in low
resolution of the picture. However these types of images can be saved as a small file type which is why the
pixels get compressed. This means that images in this format wont take up as much space as images that
are Vectors. This is why these types of images can be good to save online due to not taking up much
space.

3. Vector Graphics
• Vector graphics are made up of vectors. Which are also known as paths and strokes. These types of
images are defined by a start and an end. Like an equation but it makes up the parts until the way,
unlike Raster Graphics which is constant information in an image. With the information that the
Vector has it is able to become a line or any sort of shape. Vector images can be scaled up or down
without losing any resolution when it is being resized.
• This means that these image types are perfect for making things such as company logos for
advertising as they can easily be resized to fit things such as business cards or billboard without
any change in the images resolution. Which shows that this image type can clearly be used for a
more professional manner such as advertising. Due to this it means that an image will stay high
resolution as it does not compress the size of the file down, so it does not lose its quality.
• With Vector graphics when zoomed in on there is a clear image that you can see, you see solid
colour and lines. Unlike the Raster Graphics when you zoom in you would see different coloured
pixels. The image is smooth and has clear block colours that are still clear when zoomed in.
• This makes these types of formats highly suitable for graphic designers due to the high quality
resolution of these images , which allows a good quality result in all work that happens and can also
allow a large amount of transferring to happen with these file types without them losing any
resolution. However some of these types of images can be a very large file type which may cause
issues depending on the type they will be saved as.

4. Raster Graphics

5. JPEG
Stands For Join Photographic Experts Group
Used For/Example These file types can be uploaded onto things such as Facebook and
the internet, due to the file size many can be uploaded.
Advantage The advantage of these types of files is that they are a small file size which
means that large amounts of photos saved in this format can be uploaded
onto the internet. Also due to this being the main file format almost
everything supports this file type, browsers and programs. As well is a JPEG
file is wanted to be printed or transferred they do not need to be converted
into a different file type for people to be able to do so. Although these lose
quality when compressed this may be a god way to prevent people from
stealing your own work.
Disadvantage The disadvantage of this file type is that the quality of the image can
easily drop, this is because when it is being compressed down into a
small file size it loses its quality in the image. This can result in large
distortion of the image. This can also prove an issue is a JPEG image
wants to be edited as it may prove difficult due to the way that the
JPEG file format is compressed. As well to being with the image is
not the highest quality of this format you can get.

6. TIFF
Stands For Tagged Image File Format
Used For/Example This file type is used mostly for graphic designers, as well as being
the generic save for photos in Adobe In Designing documents.
Advantage The advantage of this image is that you can save this images with out
them being compressed so they can keep the quality of the image
they started with. However there is also an option to compress but
they do not lose quality. This image format is widely recognised by
PC’S and Macs. This is the standard format for printing images at
home or in a photo lab.
Disadvantage The images however can be a very large file size and can go up to
20mb for an image of around 10 Mega Pixels. Which will make the
file difficult to work with if it becomes too big easily. Even though
most computers can run and recognise this file format most online
website do not run it or even recognise the image format. To load
some of the images saved as this file type it needs to be a good
computer other wise it would take a long time for it to open. And
then these images are being transferred to places that do support
the TIFF format it takes a long time for these images to transfer.

7. GIF
Stands For Graphic Interchange format
Used For/Example An example of a gif would be a small animation put onto a website such
as Facebook or Tumblr. (it is a series of images played on after another
to resemble an animation)
Advantage Gifs can have a small file size which means that these can load very
quickly and play almost what's seemingly on an non stoppable loop,
while the gif is being viewed. It seems like a video but is not, which is
why it doesn't take up as much Data as playing a video would. Gifs are
also able to capture tiny details in movement that videos would not be
able to capture during one, so they are also like a small segment of a
video. That hasn’t been seen before.
Disadvantage However gifs have a limited colour pallet of around 250 which means
that the quality of the GIF can be reduced because of the amount of
colour that is able to be used, which results in a gift looking blocky or
pixelated. Once a gif has been made there is no way to simply edit the
image which means while creating a gif is something goes wrong you
would have to start all over again. Also gifs don’t always load quickly
depending on the file size and may take a while to being starting to
work, which means it may take a few buggy play through before a

8. BMP
Stands For Bitmap image file.
Used For/Example Bitmaps can be used for simply uploading images onto the internet, it is
rather similar to TIFF and JPEG.
Advantage This image format is widely universal which means that most programs
and browsers will be able to support this file type when it is needed to
be used. This image also does not lose any quality when it is being
compressed. Also due to the file being how it is it is easy to edit in a
photo editing software.
Disadvantage However a disadvantage of this is that this file type isn’t used very often
because it is not a standard image type. Also it has a very large file size
which may mean that is can be slow when editing it, or
uploading/transferring the image to somewhere. If the image is higher
quality/better resolution it will being to take up even more memory. As
well this image types are difficult to scale because most of them time
when you try to resize one of these images they just become pixelated
and/or blurry. This also happens when you try to zoom in on a image of
this format.

9. Vector Graphics

10. PSD
Stands For Photo Shop Document
Used
For/Example
These will mainly be used for when a Photoshop image is in the process of
being made and/or edited.
Advantage This type of document allows easy manipulation of images, this makes it good for professionals
who are making things such as magazine front covers. This format also saves layers which means
that different parts of an image can easily be changed or edited without having to re-do the entire
image from scratch again. These types of images also do support transparency which means
people are able to use this. This is also incredibly good with pictures from being able to edit them
and/or adding effects onto an image. These images are also high quality and can easily clearly
render an image,
Disadvantage These images are not very good with the use of text in images, this makes Photoshop more for
image based work and not text based. Which means if you were to make something such a
magazine in Photoshop it would be difficult because of how it supports text. As well is text is being
used there is no spell checker which means there could be an unidentified error in the text. These
types of documents can easily get very big very quickly depending on what it is done and also
depending on the amount of layers that have been used on one piece of work. The image can
easily go into GBs If you are not careful. Also these image formats are not widely universal so the
images has to be compressed/converted into a different file type for the image to be able to be
transferred via email or to be published online e.c.t this could take a long time depending on the
size of the image that has been created.

11. AI
Stands For Adobe Illustrator Art
Used
For/Example
Used in adobe illustrator when creating an image on the program. It is
similar to a PSD file, as it is a working file that can be edited.
Advantage The software is mainly drawing however this can provided a good quality
image for things such as company logos, and they can be scaled either way
and because these are a vector file they have no loss in definition. It is a
specialist piece of software so it is ideal for working professionals. They
would be able to produce high quality work that loses no quality when it is
being saved.
Disadvantage The disadvantage of this type of file format is that the image isn’t universal
and can only be supported by certain things. The image has to be convert
into a different file format for somebody who does not have the program to
be able to view the image. There is also no standard file format for this type
of file, which may prove an issue when trying to decide what to save your
work as. However with this being specialist people new to this program
may have difficulties with it and may end up with a file that could be too
big.

12. FLA
Stands For Flash Animation
Used For/Example Creating flash animation and games
Advantage The FLA files can produce high quality images which has a small file
size which allows a large amount of high quality work at a low storage
space. These file types also support sound and video which allows
people to be able to create bigger projects with this file format. Due
to the program being a specialist software it will be able to proud
extremely high quality work if done to a good standard. This software
type is what was used to create early on video games in the first
stages of the internet.
Disadvantage Flash files are not compatible with apple products so they do not run
with them, if a piece of work becomes to large you cant save it but
you would have to delete the work and start again to make it smaller.
Flash sometimes crashes frequently which may result in a loss of
work if the work hasn’t been saved recently before it crashes.

13. WMF
Stands For Windows Meta file
Used For/Example Clipart in programmes such as word, these are
similar to AI files and can be used to make
logos.
Advantage Because these images are vectors they do not
lose any definition when they are scaled up or
down. Which makes these images convenient
to be edited they also do not lose any
resolution when they are compressed down.
They come in both vector and bitmap
components.
Disadvantage The disadvantage of this type of file is that it is
pre-set so people are unable to edit things
how they like, with the file format of these
types of images. However these types of
images to be supported need to be converted
into a different file type such as JPEG e.c.t

14. File Format Capture
and Optimising

15. Compression
Definition The way in which file sizes are reduces by reducing the
amount of information that is saved on an image
Advantage It reduces the size of a file so it takes up less space, this
allows images/files to be viewed quicker than an
uncompressed file. It efficiently transfers data from a
large image file to being a smaller image file.
Disadvantage I makes images become more pixelated as they are
compressed as they are saved as smaller amounts of
colour and each time an image is compressed the
quality of the image drops as it is being stripped of
some data each time.

16. Image Capture
Method Scanner
How is it used for image capture of
graphics
By digitalising physical images like
sketches, photos or mixed media products
such as
Method Camera
How is it used for image capture of
graphics
A camera is used for capturing pictures of
people or places at any time.
Method Graphics Tablet
How is it used for image capture of
graphics
A graphics tablet is used to digitalise
something such as a piece of art digitally
onto the computer.

17. Optimising
Why would you optimise? To reduce the size of an image for it to be published
online on a website or to save the image so that it does
not take up a large amount of space on the working
device.
How can you optimise? You can choose to optimise and image by picking the file
type that you chose to save the selected image as. This
can be things such as .TIFF, PNG or JPEG.
Advantage to optimising The advantage of optimising an image is that you are
able to chose the selected file type that you want to
save your image as so it fits the right format of what you
want to do with the selected work.
Disadvantage to optimising The disadvantages is that depending on the size of the
file it may take a long time for an image to optimise As
well depending on what the image is saved as it may not
come out as the highest quality.

18. Storage

19. File Size
What could affect a Working Scale
(Photoshop) document file size?
With a Photoshop document many factors can
affect the file size such as, amount of layers,
The effects that have been done and the as
well as the amount of steps that have been
done on one image.
How could you reduce the file size of a
Working Scale document without affecting
quality?
To reduce the file size of a working scale
document you could do things such as remove
any uneeded steps in the work or removing
layers that are unneeded that will reduce the
size of the file down.
What is an advantage of scaling up images
before exporting?
Because the image wont lose its quality which
means that the image will scale up in high
resolution so it doesn't lose any of its quality.
What is a disadvantage of scaling up images
before exporting?
It may be that when the image is then
exported the resolution of the image will drop
down more in resolution rather than the
original sized image.

20. File Naming Conventions
What naming conventions could you use
when creating your Photoshop assets?
• I would use names such as “character”
“background forest” or “tree” things to
identify which picture is what. As well
as naming layers such as “right eye”
“left eye” “nose”
Why is it a good idea to accurately name
your assets?
It is a good idea to accurately name your
assets when working on a project so that
it is easier to find the bits of work that you
need for a part. Such as if you named
something “background forest” its easy to
find but if it is saved as something such as
“unknown” it would be more difficult for
the wanted image to be found.

21. Asset Management
Why would you use folders when storing
your assets?
You would use folders to make sure that
the images are clearly organised so that it
is easier to find wanted images such as
characters or backgrounds.
What folders would you create and what
would you save within them
• The folders I would create would be
things such as “background” “props”
“characters” so within them I would
save things such as the characters and
the backgrounds and props that I would
want to be using in my work.