EGC: FORMAT, FORMS AND USES OF GRAPHICS

Bitmap File Formats

The formats include but not limited to JPEG, TIFF, PDF, PSD, CPT. They are explained below.

JPEG

JPEG is a standard format for image compression developed by the Joint Photographic Experts Group (chiefly in the United States). Because of its high-end and highly effective compression system, its use cuts across several platforms of graphic, web and image processing applications. JPEG can be used on any color mode from the 8-bit grayscale, to the 32-bit CYMK (Cyan, Yellow, Magenta, and Black).

The JPEG system can compress an image file from 2 which is low compression and high quality to 255 (high compression but low quality) and still have an appreciable amount of quality that can be used in publishing. The astonishing compression ration makes JPEG files a compression of choice for websites. New features in the system allow you to attach image properties and values as well as restrict compression to a specific area of the image.

TIFF

The Tagged Image File Formats also have good compression ratio but probably not up to that of JPEG. It is not widely used as JPEG because it supports up to seven encoding schedules, though it is applicable in both grayscale and color undertakings. The different encoding routines means there are different versions of TIFF. Another disadvantage is that it cannot save information for duotone color mode even though it is good for CYMK and RGB. Besides that, TIIF files can take some time to load when they are compressed using Packbits 32773, or CCIT because it takes the application decode it.

PSD

Every designer using the Adobe Photoshop graphic application must be used to the PSD file format. The Photoshop is an image editing application that is popular with graphic designers. The PSD file is the Adobe Photoshop default file saving format. This format is so native to Photoshop that it may not work successfully or at all in some other applications. PICT files have similar limitations as they function onlyperfectly well in Mac Operating System. Before you can use PICT in other systems, it has to undergo some changes in its properties.

PDF (Portable Document Format)

The PDF or Portable Document Format is perhaps the post popular file compression format. This popularity may not be unconnected with its flexibility and cross-platform features which allow you to use it in nearly all word processing or graphic applications. The PDF system is based on the PostScript imaging system which displays with high precision contents that have been compressed. The PostScript system operates the PostScript language to describe the layout of vector and bitmap images for display and for printing uses.

MPEG

MPEG, an acronym for Moving Pictures Experts Group, is a standard for compressing both audio and audio data in a way that they can be stored or transmitted. MPEG is the moving version of JPEG.

Forms of Graphics

2-D Graphics

Two-dimensional computer graphics are the computer-based digital images that are generated mostly from two-dimensional models. 2-D graphics will not normally show all sides of an object but they can adequately represent objects. For instance, if you want to represent a cube on a page, you could simply draw a square to represent it and call it a cube. Another example is if you want to represent a soccer ball with a graphic. You could simple draw a circle and draw interspersing lines to form the squares. With this, 2-D convincingly offers an acceptable representation of a real world.

3-D Graphics

Assuming you want to represent a triangular prism, you could go ahead and use a simple 2-D shape to represent it. But when details need to be studied about the object you are trying to represent, you would soon discover that your two dimensional shape was grossly inadequate. This is where the 3-D option comes handy. A triangular prism that you have represented with a simple shape actually has four sides to it, namely the three triangle sides and a base. The following is an illustration of a 3-D shape.

In the foregoing diagram, four sides have been combined to give an impression of a triangular object which would have otherwise been represented as a simple, primitive triangular shape. A close look at the diagram shows the first triangle which you see as the front view and is represented with the weighty triangle (the darker one). The other two triangles are not visible to you which is why they are represented by the dotted lines (engineers and geometricians call them hidden lines). If the objects are disassembled, the four parts that constitute them become easily discernible as shown in the figure.

Three dimensional drawings are more vivid in engineering designs as shown in the following diagram in Unit 2 Figure 3. In engineering designs, forms that are created are far more complex than the triangle object shown above. The diagram shows three parts which are drawn in three dimensions showing the various parts of the solid form.

(Two) 2-D are flat images which can be cut out and assemble together to form three-dimensional objects. Two dimensional drawings are produced to show the designs of different parts of three-dimensional objects. Some software applications have three-dimensional transform filters, which allows you to manipulate flat two dimensional images to look like three dimensional. Photoshop can let you create threedimensional stuff by adding shadows, extrusion or contour. In round orconical shapes, you can determine the point of curves by adding a wire frame with which you are able to determine those points.

Animation

Animation is another type of graphic which can be modified from either two- or three dimensional drawings depending on what you want. Animation begins with the creation of a database of the objects which are produced sequentially, with a measure of time allotted to a sequence. When these sequences are played by animation software, they give an impression of motion, thereby making those objects animated.

The sequence of computer animation is created by first specifying the storyboard (what the action will be like). The objects that make the storyboard are distinctly identified. You may call these the dramatis personae. Each object must have a shape and its own movement as described in the storyboard. Still image frames are generated manually, or with the use of the relevant software, to simulate the sequence of the desired motion.

Resolution

You must have read that resolution is a vital element in a bitmap image. Each image has a pixel dimension which is the number of pixels set both horizontally and vertically in the image. The clarity of an image on your computer screen depends on the pixel composition of that image in relation to the pixel setting of the computer monitor.

If you have a 21-inch computer monitor and you have an image that measures 800 pixels in length and 600 pixels in width, then that image will be smaller on the screen because your screen can accommodate nearly double the size of your image. When preparing your image, especially for the Web, you must ensure that the image is such that it can be viewed without difficulty in a variety of screens.

All these point to the vital importance of the quality your pixel detail. When you begin to put into consideration the number of pixels that exist in your image when it is printed out, which is measured in pixels perinch (ppi), then your concern is about the digital detail or “resolution” of the image. When you adjust the resolution of image, you are simply controlling how the pixels of that image conform to the amount of space in which it is going to be printed from the printer. Your printer will treat each pixel as a dot. From there it is easy to determine how many dots are contained in an inch. Hence image resolution is calculated in terms of dot per inch (or dpi).

Please note: that your image has the proper resolution on your computer screen is not a guarantee that your image will come out well from your printer. Most printers have been built to handle optimum resolution from the computer. But if the capacity of your printer is low and does not configure well with what is coming from the printer, you are faced with the problem of pixilation, which is a computer output with large, ugly looking pixels that make the image poor. In order to correct the pixilation problem, many printers can be fitted with more memory which enables them print images with more dots per inch.

Uses of Graphics

Advertising and Entertainment

The use of graphics have revolutionised advertising practice and boosted entertainment. In the time when cost of shooting a commercial is skyrocketing, computer graphics have come to the rescue either by way of graphic texts and design or animation or both. Cartoon films also sell very well, and in several cases have box office hits. Besides that on your mobile phones, graphics provide the entertainment when the calls are coming in. Most or all of the graphics on the entertainment devices have been produced from the computer.

Publishing and Multimedia

It is in publishing that computer graphics is most visible. The high visibility has got to do with the fact that publishing has a mass audience, which can be as few as hundreds but as large as millions or billions. The World Wide Web now has billions of people who visit sites that must contain some graphics in order to make meaning to them. There is no website that does not contain a graphic no matter how small it is.

Newspapers that do not have nice graphics will die while ugly websites will attract fewer visitors. A newspaper with good contents and good graphics is not only the delight of an audience but also the joy of the advertiser and his agent, because it provides a good platform for them to sell their goods and services.

The Graphics Process

Before graphics can communicate, it must follow a process (Baran, 1999, Bertoline & Wiebe, 2005). This process has some stages. Each stage has its distinctive features.

The first phase is problem identification. Here, this problem is objectified into points and these points may be transposed into questions. By asking those questions, what you are trying to achieve becomes very clear. It is important to note at this stage that “problem” does not necessarily mean a difficulty or a challenge. It could simply mean idea, impression, feeling, imagination, thought, and so forth which can be communicated. In research, a problem statement simply means a statement of what you want to do.

The second phase is visualisation. After listing out the objectives and putting them into questions, you should look out for the key concepts that comprehensively encapsulate the whole idea of the problem. A good way of doing this is to look for the keywords in the problem statement. The keywords must be such that when all of them are defined, they adequately represent succinctly the problem you are trying to resolve. You begin to picture how those concepts are able to resolve the issues that are involved. The third stage is where you begin to sketch out your ideas in form of graphics. This sketching stage comes before the next phase of

Uses of Graphics

Advertising and Entertainment

The use of graphics have revolutionised advertising practice and boosted entertainment. In the time when cost of shooting a commercial is skyrocketing, computer graphics have come to the rescue either by way of graphic texts and design or animation or both. Cartoon films also sell very well, and in several cases have box office hits. Besides that on your mobile phones, graphics provide the entertainment when the calls are coming in. Most or all of the graphics on the entertainment devices have been produced from the computer.

Publishing and Multimedia

It is in publishing that computer graphics is most visible. The high visibility has got to do with the fact that publishing has a mass audience, which can be as few as hundreds but as large as millions or billions. The World Wide Web now has billions of people who visit sites that must contain some graphics in order to make meaning to them. There is no website that does not contain a graphic no matter how small it is.

Newspapers that do not have nice graphics will die while ugly websites will attract fewer visitors. A newspaper with good contents and good graphics is not only the delight of an audience but also the joy of the advertiser and his agent, because it provides a good platform for them to sell their goods and services.

The Graphics Process

Before graphics can communicate, it must follow a process (Baran, 1999, Bertoline & Wiebe, 2005). This process has some stages. Each stage has its distinctive features.

The first phase is problem identification. Here, this problem is objectified into points and these points may be transposed into questions. By asking those questions, what you are trying to achieve becomes very clear. It is important to note at this stage that “problem” does not necessarily mean a difficulty or a challenge. It could simply mean idea, impression, feeling, imagination, thought, and so forth which can be communicated. In research, a problem statement simply means a statement of what you want to do.

The second phase is visualisation. After listing out the objectives and putting them into questions, you should look out for the key concepts that comprehensively encapsulate the whole idea of the problem. A good way of doing this is to look for the keywords in the problem statement. The keywords must be such that when all of them are defined, they adequately represent succinctly the problem you are trying to resolve. You begin to picture how those concepts are able to resolve the issues that are involved. The third stage is where you begin to sketch out your ideas in form of graphics. This sketching stage comes before the next phase of preparation, where you begin to subject your representation to judgment in order to determine its worth. This leads you to the final stage of communication.

, where you begin to subject your representation to judgment in order to determine its worth. This leads you to the final stage of communication.

 SOURCE:NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA