The document discusses different types of digital graphics file formats including raster graphics (made up of pixels), vector graphics (defined by paths and strokes) and several specific file formats. It covers raster formats like JPEG, TIFF, GIF and BMP and vector formats like PSD, AI, FLA and WMF. The document also discusses file compression, different methods of image capture, optimizing images for web use, factors that affect file size and best practices for file naming and asset management.

1. Digital Graphics
File Formats
Joe Young

2. Raster Graphics
Raster graphic are made up entirely of bitmaps,
bitmaps are a graphic that are made up of
pixels. Each pixel records the colour
information of that section of the image.

3. Vector Graphics
Vector graphics are made up of vectors (paths
and strokes) vector graphics are defined by a
start and end point with curves, points and
angles between them
From this information the path can become a
line, square and triangle or a curvy shape.

4. Raster Graphics

5. JPEG
Stands For Joint Photographic Experts Group
Used For/Example Used for the majority of pictures on the
web. Used on big sites such as Facebook
etc. The standard for pictures on the
internet.
Advantage Small file size, Is used by the majority over
the internet. All modern web browsers
support this file format.
Supports conversion so other file formats
can be converted into a JPEG such as a PSD
file.
Disadvantage Picture will begin to lose quality after,
multiple edits performed on it, this is
due to compression and recompression.

6. TIFF
Stands For Tagged Image File Format
Used For/Example Desktop publishing, Adobe InDesign.
Advantage Can save multi-page documents to a single
TIFF file, when compressed will not loss
any quality.
Disadvantage TIFF files cannot be opened by everything
and usually have bigger file sizes especially
compared to JPEG.

7. GIF
Stands For Graphics Interchange Format
Used For/Example Used to create short digital animations
using a series of images. Used mostly by
animators and the general public to share
home videos.
Advantage Can be used as an alternative to video
while serving the same purpose with a
smaller file size and continuous loops.
Disadvantage Kind of deemed useless by video platforms
such as YouTube that has plenty more
features and options for content creators.
GIF files only support 8-bit colours while
other file formats such as PNG and JPEG
allow for the use of 24 bit colours allowing
more complex shades to be shown.

8. BMP
Stands For Bitmap Image File
Used For/Example Photography and art.
Advantage No loss in compression, a universal file
type and very good photo quality if not
resized. Bitmap files may be easily created
from existing pixel data stored in an array
in memory.
Disadvantage When using the bitmap file format you are
always going to be left with a very large
file size meaning that it can take a long
time to send/receive bitmap files and also
when resizing an image (especially
enlarging) is it hard for the image to not
become pixelated.

9. Vector Graphics

10. PSD
Stands For Photoshop Document
Used For/Example Photoshop is used for image manipulation
and in the industry you will see it
frequently used for front covers of
magazines and film posters etc.
Advantage The file format will support transparency
which all other file formats do not.
Uses vectors so pixilation won’t be a
problem.
Disadvantage Intricate designs will have the potential for
massive file sizes.
Photoshop is required to view the files
unless converted to another file format
such as JPEG.

11. AI
Stands For Adobe Illustrator
Used For/Example Creating logos for company use.
Advantage Can be scaled big and small as vectors
have no loss in compression. It comes with
a user interface that allows custom
viewing and enables space saving.
Disadvantage Similar to Photoshop AI files can only be
viewed by the program itself and would
need to be converted to send to outside
parties.

12. FLA
Stands For Flash File
Used For/Example Generally used to create animations and
games, usually on a web page.
Advantage These files can include sound and video
and can produce high quality files while
also maintaining a small file size. Flash files
have multiple uses they can be used for
movies, banner ads, online presentations
etc. There is a variety of video file formats
that can be easily converted to flash.
Disadvantage Creating content for flash generally can
cost a lot of money and be very time
consuming. When visiting a web page that
contains flash files, visitors of that web
page may experience a longer load time.

13. WMF
Stands For Windows Metafile
Used For/Example Similar to AI files in that it can be used for
logo creation.
Advantage Again can be scaled big and small as
vectors will always have no loss in
compression, however uniquely WMF files
can contain both vector and bitmap
components.
Disadvantage A very simple file type which lacks the
features to create complex files like
Photoshop, out-dated.

14. File Format Capture
and Optimising

15. Compression
Definition The way in which file sizes are reduced by
reducing the amount of information that is
saved.
Advantage Downloading and viewing images from a
website will be a lot easier and quicker if
the image is compressed.
Disadvantage Images become more pixelated as they are
compressed because they will have a
smaller amount of coloured squares each
time.

16. Image Capture
Method Scanner
How is it used for image capture of
graphics
A scanner can digitise physical images like
sketches, physical photos and mixed media
products.
Method Camera
How is it used for image capture of
graphics
A camera can take pictures and allows for
them to be transported onto a computer
and subsequently the web.
Method Graphics Tablet
How is it used for image capture of
graphics
A graphics tablet allows you to control the
mouse like a pen, this allows for enhanced
controls when performing actions like
drawing, selecting and digital handwriting.

17. Optimising
Why would you optimise? Optimising allows you to upload images to
the internet for easy viewing.
How can you optimise? The most common way of optimising an
image is to use a website that will do the
job for you
Advantage to optimising Images that are not optimised will have a
large file size, this means that
downloading this image will take a lot
longer. If you feature an optimised image
on your site then you will be helping to
greatly reduce the load time of that site.
Disadvantage to optimising Optimised images will have a reduced bit
depth and a reduced image size, this
subsequently will reduce the resolution of
the image.

18. Storage

19. File Size
What could affect a Working Scale
(Photoshop) document file size?
The main problem will come from the
amount of layers and effects that you have
featured on your image.
How could you reduce the file size of a
Working Scale document without
affecting quality?
Some ways you could reduce Photoshop
file sizes is by merging and flattening layers
and also making sure you are only keeping
the essentials of the image, another thing
you can do is rasterize smart objects.
What is an advantage of scaling up images
before exporting?
In raster graphics, scaling up the image will
make the image seem more soft and less
pixelated.
What is a disadvantage of scaling up
images before exporting?
Like many of these, the disadvantage of
scaling up images is the obvious increase
in file size.

20. File Naming Conventions
What naming conventions could you use
when creating your video game assets?
A file name should be relevant to the
purpose it serves, this helps in making
files recognisable from other ones.
In similar fashion when using PSD it helps
to name each layer to something
conforms to the actual feature such as;
Tree, Path, Door etc.
Why is it a good idea to accurately name
your assets?
Accurately naming your assets allows to
quickly find the exact thing that you're
looking for and also if you pass your
project on for someone else to look at
then they can quickly become accustomed
to your project.

21. Asset Management
Why would you use folders when storing
your assets?
Using folders can help generally organise
your files when dealing with a great
amount of files and file types.
What folders would you create and what
would you save within them
Personal files: I place to separate your
recreational files from work
College: All text based files that you work
on at college.
Photoshop: A place to create all of your
Photoshop creations, work or play.