Digital Graphics Pt.2

Digital Graphics
Pt.2

Image Optimisation

  These are different options that can be use to maximise the output of the image, through the editing of it's features.

Optimising your image
   There are many different ways you can optimise your image, if you want your image to display on a certain screen or format then you must first make sure that the quality of the image suits that of the display or else it can have disastrous effects on the out come of your image.

Bit-Depths effects

  This can be done by editing the bit depth which edits how many bits make a pixel for better colours/shades, increasing the resolution to a higher amount, which is measured in PPI (pixels per inch higher>less grainy), making sure that the image is actually to scale with the display (although this can have a negative effect on raster files, making them grainier/pix-elated).

JPEG File

   Sometimes you may want to store your image on a computer for later use, this is where file size is important as some files may take up too much room so you may need to optimise them for storage.
If you wish to decrease the amount of memory your image takes up, you can change the file name extension to one of which reduces the images size such as .JPEG or .PNG.
   They give you the option to compress the image in either of the two forms, lossy and lossless the former remove unnecessary information such as alpha channels and layers, while the latter leaves the image close to the original while changing small details to save space.

GIT

Asset management software is used to organise and store the different assets used, before recording any data related to the file in question, whether it be their names, their format, when they were changed and who changed them, all this information is stored categorically to be seen at your convenience. This is very useful for artists as they can find their assets, import them and save the final product in any file format that they choose with little to no hassle involved on their part.

Digital images Pt.1

Digital images
Pt.1

Being able to capture images digitally has provided people with various new ways to produce, edit and showcase their work but how does one actually capture an image digitally well there 3 methods of which I know of: 

1. Scanners- Machines that take high quality images of documents presented upon its surface. You can get them in different forms: 

Flatbed

This is the most commonly found type of scanner, you have to place the paper between the window and it's back-light, which illuminates the picture, the scanner then moves around and picks up the light going through the document/picture. This light passes through lenses to hit the light sensitive diodes that modify the light into an electric current according to intensity. The voltage is stored as data and then it is transferred to a PC where it is translated into a digital image. They can be used to scan pretty much anything, they are fast at scanning and are generally good at picking up details in graphics(photos) and documents. Although they can only can one image at a time and generally cost a considerable amount for what you are solely getting (£100-£500).

Handheld Scanner

Handheld scanners project a light onto the object to illuminate the image and then the an angled mirror reflects the light onto a lens that focuses the images onto light detectors located on a CCD that then detects changes in the intensity that also changes in voltage(as they are powering the panels), these changes are then picked up and translated into a readable format for the software. While this type of scanner is cheap (costing around £30-£70), light and portable it doesn't have a very good quality and since you must move it over the image there is the factor of human error where you may go to fast or not be precise enough.

Sheet-fed scanners

As the name implies when using this type of scanner you have to feed the paper through the scanner, other than in this aspect the sheet-fed scanner is fairly similar to the flat-bed scanner. This is however more compact and portable while being able to scan more sheets in a period of time than it's flat-bed cousin although the cost for doing so is a decrease in quality since it is scanning a moving image and it is unable to scan objects such as books. (£100-£300)

All-in-One

If you have multiple tasks to do then this scanner is most probably the most compact and cost efficient scanner you can get at about £40-£100. It is not only a scanner but also a fax machine and a printer. As I have already stated, this machine is good at saving space, money and time as you don't have work multiple machines in order to print or fax your work should you want to once you have finished with the document.

Just don't expect the quality of a flat-bed, the portability of a sheet-fed or the price of a handheld.

 The key feature of scanners is the ability to process documents and photographs into a digital image, with great detail.

 2.  Camera- a device for recording visual images in the form of photographs,movie film or video signals.

These cameras use a grid of photo sensors to capture the light, which it hits, sending an electric current from each of the individual sensors on a CCD. As the light hits the different sensors with varying amounts of intensity/brightness they produce different electrical charges that are picked by firmware that translates it into a format readable by graphic programs.

There are 3 different types of digital camera:

Compact

Here we have the common compact camera unlike it's higher bred sibling the SLR, it is made for the purpose of family photos or essentially beginners to the photo hobby. Due to this it has been altered to fit this purpose by being more simple and cheap. They are used for taking memorable images of holidays, parties and other events. It is very cheap compared to its SLI counter-part while having a higher megapixel rate than their camera phone relation, a middle grounds of sorts, although they neither have the quality or  the settings found on an SLI or the effeciency of a phone camera.

SLI

Here we have the SLI camera the, alpha male of the camera clan, it is handled only by the highest class of photographer, those who wish to perfect their craft and more importantly those who wish to make there hobby into their job. Because these are the top in their field it is adequate that they have high mega-pixel sensors, along with high quality screens and HDMI output to boot. Since they are so valuable they also have to be very rugged being made out of steel to withstand all the tasks they must handle. This does mean however that the camera is very expensive leading into the range of the £1000s and to get the most out of it you will have to purchase all the additional equipment such as lenses and stands.



Camera Phone

As you can most probably tell by looking at the name, this is a camera that has been integrated with a phone. It is usually used for more menial tasks such as scanning QR codes, taking a quick picture of something interesting on the go and sharing said image to other people over messages or social networking sites.

These cameras have to be light as the phone itself must be portable for convenience, so that means that the lenses are usually small and the actual quality of the images are low due to it's low mega-pixel rate. However being able to share images over the internet or messages is a big plus for this camera if you like travelling.

The key feature for cameras are that they are able to produce a digital image without having to scan from a source they can create an image from scratch, they also very portable when compared to other forms of digital capture.

  3. Graphics Tablets- An input device composed of a flat, pressure sensitive surface  and a stylus, that is mainly used for drawing as it allows for greater accuracy than a mouse. There are two main types of graphics tablet the surface and the screen, the difference between the two being that the latter displays the image on the surface on which you draw to better emulate real drawing, while the former simply displays the image on the computer monitor. Higher-end tablets tend to have higher pressure sensitivity that detects how hard you are pressing, than some of the lower end/older tablets, with range going from 512(amateur use) to 2,048 levels of pressure sensitivity for not only the cursor but also the eraser should be included.

Surface

Cheaper end, 1024 pressure levels, active area of 152x95 mm 

but displays the image on computer monitor and does not have multi-touch

Wacom Intuos Pen CTL-480s-enes graphics tablet :£49.99 - £59.99

Screen

Has 2048 levels of pressure sensitivity, comes with multi-touch & 

displays the image on the screen ( 54.6 cm) as you draw

but costs a lot of money.

(This one, Wacom Cintiq 22HD Touch - 16-btn Digitiser - Wired - USB: £1,757)