Vector animation uses geometrical primitives like points, lines and curves to create images made of paths and nodes that can be scaled without loss of quality. Raster animation uses a grid of pixels so images become pixelated when stretched. Lossy compression reduces file sizes by losing some data quality, especially for images, while lossless compression allows exact reconstruction but with smaller compression ratios. Different file types like .swf, .gif and .mng are used for digital animation and graphics with varying capabilities like support for animation, color depth and compression.

1. Task 4-Investigate Digital Animation
Vector animation
Vector graphics is the use of points, lines, curves and shapes (also known as geometrical primitives)
to represent images in computer graphics.
A vector image is made up of paths and nodes so it doesn’t matter how much the image is stretched
or shrunk it will maintain its quality 100%.
Adobe Illustrator, QuarkXPress, CorelDraw are the main examples of programmes that are used for
vector art, but some things on Photoshop can also be used for vector art such as Text, Shapes and
the pen tool.
Raster animation
Raster graphic images also known as bitmaps are data structures representing a rectangular grid of
pixels.
Raster images are stored in image files with varying formats.
If a raster image is stretched the image becomes more and more pixelated and blurry as the image is
stretched.
Raster images are normally photographs or images that are not made up of paths or nodes.
Raster came from the Latin word “rastrum” which means rake.
Compression
Lossy data compression compresses data by losing some of the data which is then lost and can never
be restored.
The aim of doing this is to make files and data smaller so it is easier to hold and takes up less space.
Lossy compression is used mainly to store images, audio and videos.
When videos are lossy compressed there is a little visible quality loss.
When audio is lossy compressed there is a loss of quality in the sound.
When an image is lossy compressed the quality is a lot more noticeable to have dropped then audio
and video.
MP3 and JPEG are the main file types/programmes that use lossy compression for easier storage.
The more times an image, video or audio is saved the more they get compressed which makes the
quality of the image, video or audio worse and worse each time it is saved.

2. Lossless data compression allows the exact original data can be reconstructed from the compressed
file.
Lossless formats such as tiff, bitmap and png save the image with maximum image quality but the
compression ratios are smaller than lossy files so the file will be larger but with higher quality.
Images that will be printed are usually saved with lossless compression because the quality is much
more important than the quality of an image that will be on a website.
File size
The file size is how big a computer file is.
Files are usually measured in bytes with a prefix.
Files are usually measured in kilobytes, megabytes and gigabytes.
Download speed
Download speed is how fast a file can be downloaded from the internet.
Scalability
Scalability is where files, videos or images can be made bigger or stretched, vector graphics can be
stretched since they are made from formulas but raster cannot since they will pixelate when
stretched.
.fla
The .Fla is also known as a Flash file, flash software is used to edit .Fla files and compile them into
.swf files, it can also be used to add animations and videos to websites and can also make the web
page intractable.
The files in this are compressed.
.swf
A .swf is a shockwave file, this is the final version of the created media and therefore cannot be
edited.
.gif
The GIF file format is also known as a graphics interchange format, this format supports up to 8 bits
per pixel, this format also supports animations and separate palettes for each frame.
This format is unsuitable for reproducing images and photographs with continuous colours.
The files in this are compressed.
Designed specifically for web use.
This file type is designed specifically for web use.

3. This file type was created in 1987 by CompuServe to provide a colour image format.
.mng
An .mng file is similar to a .png, it is used as a graphic file for animated images
.svg
An .svg file is an XML based file which is used for 2D vector graphics.