Graphical Images

Graphical images can be stored in a number of different

formats. Bitmaps, Vector Graphics and specialist formats
like CAD are all graphical images, but each has both
advantages and disadvantages. You need to
understand the differences and when you would use a
particular file format.

Bitmaps
A Bitmap image is one of the most common ways of
storing graphical images on a computer. Scanned
pictures, photographs or pictures that you have drawn
yourself using a Paint package are usually stored as
bitmaps.
Bitmaps are made up of lots of tiny square dots; this is
automatically done for you by the computer. These dots
are called pixels and each one is given a specific colour,
when put together they make the image. If the pixels are
small then the image is clearer and it has a high
resolution. To help us tell the difference between one
pictures resolution and a different pictures resolution we
use the measurement dpi (dots per inch).

Not all bitmap images are in colour. Where the image is a

black and white image, the pixels are either black/white
or a shade of grey this is where we get greyscale from.
These images are called greyscale images.

So what are bitmap images?

Well bitmap images actually include:
1. .bmp files these are often made in Microsoft
Paint
2. .jpg files this stands for JPEG, these are often
found on the Internet and can be produced by
a large number of different graphic packages
(Photoshop being one)
3. .tif files this stands for TIFF, these are often
scanned in using a scanner.

Disadvantages of bitmap images..

1. If they are enlarged (Made bigger by stretching
them) we start to see the pixels that make up
the image. This makes the image look jagged
and unclear. Here is an example of a bitmap
image zoomed in to try and look at the
mountain in the background.

2. Because each pixel has colour information the

file size is large and storing lots of bitmap images
takes a lot of space on the computer.

Common bitmap formats:

4. BMP
5. GIF
6. JPEG, JPG
7. PNG
8. PICT (Macintosh)
9. PCX
10.
TIFF
11.
PSD (Adobe Photoshop)

Popular bitmap editing programs:

Microsoft Paint
Adobe Photoshop
Corel Photo-Paint
Jasc Paint Shop Pro
Ulead PhotoImpact

Vector Graphics
A vector image is made up of lines joining different
positions, this is then mapped (plotted) onto a set of
axes. The computer then stores this as a list of instructions.
Very complicated, but this makes the file a lot smaller
than a bitmap image, so it uses less space on the
computer!

Advantages of Vector graphics are:

1. Vector images are often smaller in file size, so
take up less space.
2. When made smaller (reduced) or larger
(enlarged) there is no loss of detail. The word for
this is scaled, so vector images can be scaled.
Original

Scaled image using a vector image

Scaled image using a bitmap image

3. Vector images can easily be changed to

bitmap images, but bitmap images can not
easily be made into vector images.

Common vector formats:

AI (Adobe Illustrator)

CDR (CorelDRAW)
CGM Computer Graphics Metafile
DXF AutoCAD
WMF Windows Metafile

Popular vector drawing programs:

Adobe Illustrator
CorelDRAW
Macromedia Freehand
Techsoft 2D
Xara X