Resources Research

By Abbie Llewellyn

Graphics Cards• A video card, video adapter, graphics accelerator

card, display adapter or graphics card is and expansion card which generates images to a display. Most video cards offer added functions, such as rendering of 3D scenes and 2D graphics, video capture, TV-tuner adapter, MPEG-2/MPEG-4, FireWire, light pen, TV output.

• Video hardware is often included into the motherboard, however all modern motherboards provide expansion ports to which a video card can be attached

• Almost all of these motherboards allow the disabling of the included graphics chip in BOIS, and have an AGP, PCI, or PCI Express slot for adding a higher-performance graphics card in place of the included graphics.

Graphics Tablets• A graphics tablet (or digitizer, digitizing

tablet, graphics pad, drawing tablet) is a computer enter device that allows a user to hand-draw images and graphics, similar to the way a person draws images with a pencil and paper. These tablets may also be used to capture data or handwritten signatures.

• It can also be used to trace an image from a piece of paper which is taped or secured to the surface. Capturing data in this way, either by tracing or entering the corners of linear poly-lines or shapes is called digitizing.

Digital CamerasA digital camera is a camera that stores pictures on a memory card instead of film. Because of this, a digital camera can hold many more pictures than the traditional film camera. A digital camera can sometimes hold hundreds of pictures. There are different sizes of memory cards and each size can hold a different number of pictures. A digital camera can use a USB cable that hooks into a computer to take the pictures from the camera and put them on the computer.

PrintersPrinting is a process for reproducing text and images, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and business printing.

3D printing is a form of manufacturing technology where objects are created using three dimensional files and 3D printers. Objects are created by laying down following layers of material. Some companies such as Sculpteo or Shapeways are proposing online solutions for 3D printing.

MonitorsA computer monitor is an electronic device that shows pictures. A monitor is usually used to see programs on a computer. The main difference between a monitor and a television is that a monitor does not have a television tuner to change channels. A monitor may be used to watch television if it is connected to a device that has a television tuner. Some models of monitor can be used as a television, and some televisions are used with computers. A monitor has a better display resolution than a television to make it easier to see smaller letters and graphics on.

CD - RomA CD – Rom is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback

CD-ROMs are popularly used to deliver computer software, including video games and multimedia applications, though any data can be stored (up to the capacity limit of a disc). Some CDs hold both computer data and audio with the latter capable of being played on a CD player.

CD – Rom drive

HDD (Hard Disk Drive)

A hard disk drive (HDD; also hard drive or hard disk) is a non-volatile, random access digital magnetic data storage device. It features rotating rigid platters on a motor-driven spindle within a protective enclosure

Memory SD card (Secure Digital)

Secure Digital (SD) is a non-volatile memory card format developed by the SD Card Association (SDA) for use in portable devices. The SD technology is used by more than 400 brands across dozens of product categories and more than 8,000 models, and is considered the de-facto industry standard

Since cards from all families have a similar physical size, it tends to cause confusion with consumers. For example, microSD, microSDHC, and microSDXC are all the same physical size, but the abilities for each is defined by its own family.

Vector Graphic Software (Corel Draw)

Computer graphics can be classified into two different categories: raster graphics and vector graphics. Many graphics programs focus completely on either vector or raster graphics, but there are a few that combine them in interesting ways. It is simple to convert from vector graphics to raster graphics, but going the other way is harder. Some software attempts to do this.

Advantages: easily resized, produce smooth image, small file size.Disadvantage: long time to create, images produced aren’t real.

Bitmap Software (Paint)

In computer graphics, a bitmap or pixmap is a type of memory organization or image file format used to store digital images. The term bitmap comes from the computer programming terms, meaning just a map of bits.

In computer graphics, a bitmap or pixmap is a type of memory organization or image file format used to store digital images. The term bitmap comes from the computer programming terms, meaning just a map of bits. Unfortunately, the case with vector file formats where many programs can only deal with their own file formats and a very limited choice.

How do they differ?• Corel Draw, Paint and Photoshop are the same in how they all alter photos but

photoshop is more advanced in many ways. You’re able to create many complicated but effective pictures/files on photoshop in a way that you can’t on any of the other documents. For example; Corel Draw and Photoshop both are able to change effects (sketch, black and white, sepia and many other ways) , colours, improve facial features and also adjust in the slightest way. But on the other hand ‘Paint’ is more for text, even though you can use text on Corel Draw and Photoshop - Paint focuses more in many aspects.

Manipulation Software (Photoshop)

Image editing includes the processes of changing images, whether they be digital photographs, traditional analog photographs, or illustrations. Traditional analogue image editing is known as photo retouching, using tools such as an airbrush to adjust photographs, or editing illustrations with any traditional art medium. Graphic software programs, which can be largely grouped into vector graphics editors, raster graphics editors, and 3d modelers, are the primary tools with which a user may control, improve, and transform images. Many image editing programs are also used to make or create computer art from scratch.

BEFORE AFTER

PhotoshopPersonally I prefer using Photoshop instead of Corel Draw and Paint in many ways.My first reason is that when you start to use it, someone shows you what’s what it is fairly simple to use; you learn something different everyday on how to adjust your image. Secondly, there is a wide range of techniques you are able to use; for example Paint is mainly focusing on fonts and a small amount of image and with the Corel Draw I haven’t heard of it before, no one has ever suggested it to me so I generally don’t choose to use it. Even if you have no idea on how to use photo shop, there are many tutorials and advise on how to use it, after adjusting your photos you can get some amazing results with your end project.

What is the difference between Raster and Vector Graphics?

A bitmap image uses a grid of individual pixels where each pixel can be a different colour or shade. Bitmaps are composed of pixels.Vector graphics use mathematical relationships between points and the paths connecting them to describe an image. Vector graphics are composed of paths.

Bitmap Image Vector Graphic

FILES/CONVERTING FILES/FILE TYPES

Converting Files

• There are many reasons for converting files, one of the main reasons is that many websites require certain files you are able to use, for example bmp, png, gif, jpeg. Also certain files do not take up as much space, so when you convert files you are saving space. JPEG is widely used via web or email, mainly used for digital photography, whilst GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) is mainly pixels. Some images work better like JPEG doesn’t have a white background whilst PNG doesn’t or some different types of images

Different Types of Files• BMP- Bitmap Image File - is a Raster graphics image file format

used to store bitmap digital images.

• PNG- Portable Network Graphics - is a bitmapped image format that employs lossless data.

• GIF- Graphics Interchange Format - The format supports up to 8 bits per pixel therefore allowing a single image to mention a palette of up to 256 different colours.

• JPEG- Joint Photographic Experts Group - is a commonly used method of lossy compression for digital photography (image).

LOSSY COMPRESSION is most commonly used to compress multimedia data (audio, video, and still images).

Compressing Files• When compressing file it will make the file smaller but there are advantages like;

it’s quicker to load, the same quality as before, easier to store and also quicker to download and send. Compression is used when burning films to a disc, it can reduce files sizes to about 5% of their normal size which helps as you will have a lot more space for other images.

• Some types of files, like JPEG pictures, are already highly compressed. If you compress several JPEG pictures into a folder, the total size of the folder will be about the same as the original collection of pictures to begin with.

Sources• //windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-vista/compress-and-uncompress-files-zip-files 09.09.13• http://www.labnol.org/software/how-to-convert-files/19523/ 09.09.13• http://www.sqa.org.uk/e-learning/BitVect01CD/page_97.htm 09.09.13• http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/D/digitizing_tablet.html 11.09.13• http://www.diffen.com/difference/Hardware_vs_Software 11.09.13 • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_card 11.09.13• http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/CD_ROM_player.html 11.09.13• http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/V/vector_graphics.html 11.09.13• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_format 11.09.13