Do-It-Yourself Image Editing: HayLoise's Branding Tips
Do you understand the difference between Vector and Bitmap Images?
Do you know when one should be used instead of the other? Digital imaging and color graphics (display,
creation, and printing) is a very complex topic.
New technology impacts it everyday. This study guide can help with these answers.
| Vector Images |
Bitmap Images |
Made up of many individual, scalable objects (solids).
Changing attributes (i.e., color, fill, and outline) does not affect the object itself. |
Also known as raster images.
Made up tiny dots of individual color (called pixels) in a grid that create the image that
you see on your screen. |
| Used for logos, icons, and artwork made up of lines and filled areas,
any of which are not pictorial color. |
Used for full color images with photographic quality color. |
Scalable and resolution independent; defined as shapes, not individual dots
Always save a copy of original vector artwork in its native format before converting to a bitmap. |
Resolution dependent images; displayed on your
computer screen at screen resolution: 72 or 96 ppi.
Print rendering accurately for printing typically requires 150-300 ppi. E.g., a 6 inch screen image
prints 2 to 3 inches wide. |
Lines remain crisp and sharp, on screen and in print, when image size increases and decreases.
Unsuitable for producing photo-realistic images; printed quality can be an issue.
Cannot depict the continuous subtle tones of a photograph. |
Resolution dependent; difficult to increase or decrease size without sacrificing image quality.
Drawing software creates new pixels through sampling when you increase the size of a bitmap image. New pixel colors are estimated,
often producing jagged edges and fuzzy images. |
| Opening a vector image in a bitmap editing program usually destroys the
vector qualities of the image and converts it to raster. |
When you reduce the size of a bitmap image, you must throw away
pixels. This causes less of a problem but still can distort image quality. |
In many applications, vector images need to be converted to bitmaps. Once
converted to a bitmap, the image loses all the wonderful qualities it had in
its vector state. Converting to a resized bitmap means going back to the original vector file.
|
| Any of us who use our computers to create any kind of color image we want
to print, at home or with a commercial printer, have a multitude of issues to deal with. |
| -- HayLoise |
|
line art, simple shapes
resolution independent
scalable
graphic can be any shape
support for transparency
|
| Made up of solid areas of color or gradients. |
| Fonts are vector objects. |
|
pixels in a grid
resolution dependent
resizing reduces quality
restricted to rectangle
low transparency support
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