This document summarizes different types of digital file formats used for graphics, including raster graphics (made up of pixels that lose quality when resized), vector graphics (made up of paths that can be resized without quality loss), and several specific file formats for both raster and vector graphics. It discusses advantages and disadvantages of common formats like JPEG, TIFF, GIF, BMP, PSD, AI, FLA, and WMF. It also covers topics like file compression, image capture methods, file optimization, file size reduction techniques, and best practices for file naming and asset management.

1. Digital Graphics
File Formats
Josh Highton

2. Raster Graphics
• Raster graphics are made up of bitmaps.
• Bitmaps are a graphic made up of pixels. Each
pixel records the colour information of that
section.
• Bitmaps have a fixed resolution, meaning that
if we resized the picture, it would result in
distortion.

3. Vector Graphics
• Vector graphics are made up of Vectors
(paths/strokes)
• Vectors are defined by a start and an end
point, with curves, points and angles between
them.
• Vectors can be scaled big and small as they
have no loss in definition, meaning no
distortion.

4. Raster Graphics

5. JPEG
Stands For Joint photograph experts group
Used For/Example Photographs and web formats
Advantage JPEG images are easy to upload to social
network sites, such as Facebook,
instagram and twitter.
Disadvantage You lose quality every time the image is
recompressed.
Resizing equals distortion.

6. TIFF
Stands For Tagged image file format
Used For/Example Desktop publishing.
Advantage TIFFs allow multi-page documents to be
saved as a single file.
TIFFs also don’t lose any compression.
Disadvantage TIFFs require a high-end PC in order to
view the images.

7. GIF
Stands For Graphics interchange format
Used For/Example Short digital animations
Advantage GIFs have small memory size, meaning
they are easy to upload/load on the
internet.
Disadvantage GIFs only have a colour palette of 256
colours, therefore they can sometimes
look blocky or of a poor quality.

8. BMP
Stands For Bitmap
Used For/Example Bitmaps are used to create realistic
graphics and images.
Advantage Does not degrade when saved multiple
times.
It’s also supported by every device.
Disadvantage Bitmaps can have a very large image size.
They distort when rescaled.

9. Vector Graphics

10. PSD
Stands For Photoshop document
Used For/Example Default image file for Adobe Photoshop
Advantage Allows individual layers to be saved well.
PSD files can also support simple vector
layers, making them more suitable for
importing and exporting data from
programs such as Adobe Illustrator.
Disadvantage PSD files tend to be very large as they
don’t use compression. Meaning
transportation of the file challenging.

11. AI
Stands For Adobe illustrator art
Used For/Example Logo creation
Advantage Can be scaled big and small as vectors
have no loss in definition.
Disadvantage Newer versions of the AI file format may
have compatibility issues.

12. FLA
Stands For Flash file
Used For/Example Used to create animations and flash
games.
Advantage High quality file with a small size.
The file works consistently on all platforms
and work on all devices.
Disadvantage FLA files can be uploaded straight to the
internet, however it can take a while. So
usually FLA files are converted to other
formats because they take less time to
upload, and the FLA format is not that
popular.

13. WMF
Stands For Windows metafile
Used For/Example Logos
Advantage Can be scaled to any size as vectors have
no loss in definition.
Disadvantage WMF files are only compatible with
Windows platforms. So if you use a Mac or
something else, no WMFs for you.

14. File Format Capture
and Optimising

15. Compression
Definition Packaging a file or files to use
less disk space.
Advantage Less disk space, faster editing, faster
upload/download speed.
Disadvantage Added complication, effect of errors in
transmission.

16. Image Capture
Method Scanner
How is it used for image capture of
graphics
The scan head is moved slowly across by a
belt. The image is reflected by an angled
mirror to another mirror, which reflects the
image onto a lens.
Method Camera
How is it used for image capture of
graphics
Light from the thing you are
photographing zooms into the camera lens.
This incoming “picture” hits the CCD
(charge-coupled device), which breaks it
up into millions of pixels. Each pixel stores
the colour and brightness as a number.
Method Graphics Tablet
How is it used for image capture of
graphics
Touching a point on the surface of a tablet
with a stylus moves the cursor on the
screen directly to that point. Making it
possible to draw on a computer.

17. Optimising
Why would you optimise? To speed up the process of
loading a website/image.
How can you optimise? Use the JPEG format.
Advantage to optimising Sites load quicker.
Disadvantage to optimising Not all parts of the web pages
can be viewed.

18. Storage

19. File Size
What could affect a Working Scale
(Photoshop) document file size?
The file size will increase in size depending
on how much you work on it. The size will
increase as their are more aspects on the
document.
How could you reduce the file size of a
Working Scale document without
affecting quality?
One way of doing this would be to load
your image on photoshop, go to settings
and change the bicubic setting from
automatic to sharper.
What is an advantage of scaling up
images before exporting?
An advantage is that scaling up allows you
to make your images bigger, this allows
you to place them on t-shirts or posters.
What is a disadvantage of scaling up
images before exporting?
A disadvantage of scaling up is that it
would take a long time to export the
images due to the image size being larger.

20. File Naming Conventions
What naming conventions could you use
when creating your video game assets?
Make sure that the name is unique in
order to make your product original.
Make sure that the user knows what
kind of items are used in the game.
Make sure objects have self-descriptive
names. If not, make sure somewhere
there is a description of that object.
Why is it a good idea to accurately name
your assets?
So you don't lose your assets in
mess of folders and stupidly-
named files.

21. Asset Management
Why would you use folders when storing
your assets?
Using folders allows you to
store specific assets in a
separate place, so it doesn't get
mixed with others.
What folders would you create and what
would you save within them
I would create folders for objects,
characters, landscapes, backgrounds, npc's
etc...
And what I would store in them is pretty
self explanatory.