Image Capture, Optimisation and Storage

Image Capture, Optimisation and Storage

To capture a digital image is to transform an image into digitalised format. A scanner is a device that captures images from photographic prints, posters, magazine pages, and similar sources for computer editing and display. Scanners all come in different shapes and sizes, they can varies in cost from about 50-1,000 pounds. The key features for the scanner is the resolution and DPI (dot per inch) which means the more dots the more colours that can be put into the image. The advantages of the smart scan is that it can be used as a scanner and a mouse, the disadvantages of the smart scan is that the resolution is not very good. The advantages of the flatbed scanner is that the resolution is the best and it has a lot of DPI, the disadvantages of the flatbed scanner is that it is only used as a scanner nothing else. The advantages of having a hand held scanner is that it can be taken anywhere, the disadvantages of the hand held scanner is that it does not have the best quality and can easily go wrong when using it. The advantages of Document scanner is that it is okay quality, the disadvantages of this scanner is that it only does documents. The last scanner is all round scanner that it can be used for more than just a scanner, the disadvantages of cost a lot. Flatbed scanners work with a CCD array. When light hits the CCD array it creates an electrical charge. The amount of the charge varies by the different colours of what you are scanning. The electrical charges are then read and digitized onto the computer.

This is an image of how the digital cameras works. There are three different types of digital cameras and these are Compact, SLR and Phone. The Compact camera is used to take photos and videos, it is manly used by families to that videos and photos for memories. The SLR is a camera that takes professional photos manly used by professional photographers. The Phone camera use used by people that have phones it is not the best quality but can be used for videos and photos. The key features of digital cameras are the image resolution, sensor size, screen size, zoom lens, video recording and card compatibility. The advantages of using the Compact camera is that it easy to take around, the disadvantages is that the quality is good but not the best. The advantages of the SLR camera is that it is the best quality camera around at the moment has a high resolution, the disadvantages are the cost it varies from 300-6,000 pounds and is very heavy to carry around. The phone camera advantages are the cost they are cheap to buy, the disadvantages of this camera is that the quality of the photos and video are bad.

A graphics tablet works very similar to a table like the iPad due it working from the touch, but the graphics tablet uses the use of pressure instead of touch. The key feature of graphics tablet are pen pressure sensitivity, keys, multitouch and wireless. The different types of graphics tablets are Cintiq, Bamboo and Intuos. Cintiq advantages are that they are really good quality and have over 1billion colours that can be used on them, the disadvantage is that the cost is from about 800-2,500 pounds. The Bamboo graphics tablet advantages are cheap to buy and easy to use, the disadvantages of this are that it needs to be connected to a computer to use it. The advantages of the Intuos are they are cheap, the disadvantages of this is that it also needs to be connected to a computer. 

Digital graphic optimization means you want to get the best image from your graphic if you have a HD TV that would be 1080p. The image resolution factors in to this as the higher the DPI the better the image. Image bit depth is used to show colours if you have 8 bits per pixel the image isn’t going to look  as good as an image with 48 bits per pixel. Also compression is used the higher the compression the smaller the file size but this means you will lose quality in your image.

Asset management is a software tool for organizing the creation, management, distribution and archiving of a rich media asset. Rich media assets include photos, music, videos, animations, podcasts and other multimedia content. Basically, it’s a set of database records. Each database record contains metadata explaining the name of the file, its format and information about its content and usage. This software is very good as it makes everything easy to find and access. Allot of artists may use this to their advantage as it would be useful to store work or even sample images very quickly.

File Type and Format

File Types and Formats

Image Properties

The term pixel is short for "Picture Element." Pixels are small little dots they are what make up the images on computer displays, whether they are flat-screen (LCD) or tube (CRT) monitors. The screen is made up of thousands maybe even millions of pixels, by having more on the screen it makes it look smoother, also you cannot see an individual pixel because they are so small.  

Image resolution is the detail an image holds. As the resolution goes up, the image becomes clearer and it becomes more defined, and more detailed as well. Resolution is sometimes identified by the width and height of the image as well as the total number of pixels in the image. For example, an image that is 2048 pixels wide and 1536 pixels high (2048X1536) contains 3,145,728 pixel.

There is also the colour intensity which is the amount of colour used in the picture, the colours that tend to be used are these, Red, Green, Black and Blue.

Compression

Compression is the process of reducing the size of a file, this is sometimes used when sending an email. There is a down side by doing this because the less there is in the file the more blurry the image is.Compression is good for photos that need a smallish file size.

Lossy compression is a data encoding method that compresses data by losing some of it. Lossy compression attempts to eliminate unnecessary information from the file.

Lossless compression is different to lossy because it does not lose any data in the compression process. Lossless compression is also handy for storing files as they take up less room.

Types of Digital Graphics

Raster is a quite a large file size because the file has to record information on what is held in every single pixel, raster is also known as bit-map. Raster (bit-maps) are very good for photographs as they reproduce colour accucurately. Also raster image is a collection of dots called pixels and each pixel is a tiny colored square.

Bmp

Bmp is also known as bitmap. It is a file format found mostly in computers that is used in the storage of digital photo and it was introduced on the Windows platform, but is now recognized by many programs on both Macs and PCs. The Bmp format stores colour data for each pixel in the image without any compression. This method of storing image information allows for crisp, high-quality graphics, but also produces large file sizes.

 

Gif

Gif is good for drawing/line art for example a world map, but is not so good for photos with 256 colours in the photo and Gif always uses lossless LZW compression. This is best used for making animated pictures.

 

Tiff

 

Tiff stands for tagged image file format. This is a file format for storing images, it is popular among graphic artists and the publishing industry. TIF is lossless which is considered the highest quality format for commercial work. TIFF supports most colour spaces, RGB, CMYK, YCbCr, etc. TIFF is a flexible format with many options. TIFF is uses an amazing quality image photographys are an example of a TIFF.

Jpg

In computing jpeg is a commonly used method of lossy compression for digital photography or image. This is the right format for those photo images which must be very small files, for example, for web sites or for email .JPEG images have a low resolution (72 dpi), therefore they are unsuitable for high quality print output.

Vector images are images made up of many individual, scalable objects. These objects are defined by mathematical equations rather than pixels, so they give the highest quality images. File sizes are smaller because only co-ordinates and number are stored in the file.

Psd

Of all the file formats that Photoshop supports, the PSD format is probably the most important. PSD stands for "Photoshop Document". PSD is one of the few file types that fully support all of the powerful features that Photoshop gives us, like layers, layer masks, adjustment layers, channels, paths, etc.

Fla

The fla file format is the document for Flash projects. Fla files can only be opened in Flash. The FLA file is the editable project file saved by the Flash development program and the SWF file is a compressed format that is viewable in most Web browsers with the Flash plugin.

Ai

 

Vector image file created by Adobe Illustrator, composed of paths or lines connected by points instead of bitmap data, include objects, colour, and text often referred to as an Illustrator drawing.

Computer Game Graphic Types

Computer Game Graphic Types

In the game industry there are many types of Graphical Types used in games. These graphical types are 2D Sprites, 3D Isometric Sprites, concept art, textures, in the game interface and printing media. These are the most popular graphical types in games. All of these are put in to a game to make it enjoyable for players to play on.

2D Sprites

2D Sprites are 2D flat images that are made to look 2D, some games that use this is are ‘Street Fighter’ and ‘Sonic’. 2D Sprite use a chain of pictures to give an illusion of change in movement, the more pictures the more smoothly the game will play.  These are only used with characters, enemies and pickups etc. 2D Sprites are used on low specification machines like old consoles, tables and some phones.

3D Isometric Sprite

3D Isometric Sprite is a flat and still picture but it is made to look 3D by bringing in two different views/angles of the character. These are made in something like Maya when a 2D shape has been rendered. Games that use this are ‘Sims’ and ‘fallout 1 and 2’. Now the players now expect 3D games because the twenty first century now provides software to make 3D games.  So companies are forced to make 3D games.  

Concept Art

Concept Art is used for show the ideas of characters, weapons, environment, etc. They do this because the uses of images are better then the use of words when describing something. Concept art designs ideas for the 3D modellers which then make the character, environment, etc most games will have uses this in there game e.g ‘Assassins Creed’.

Textures

Textures are used to give the 3D/2D animation to give them abit of life. Texture is a flat 2D image that then gets wrapped around a 3D model. They give texture to objects etc to give them some colour instead of them being plain grey. Lots of games use this in there game e.g ‘Call of Duty’.  The different texture type are diffuse which is a kind of map texture you use to define a surface a suface's main colour. It is the most frequently used texture mapping method. It wraps the bitmap image onto the 3D geometry surface while displaying ist original pixel colour. Another one is normal texture which is a method of simulating the lighting of bumps and dents on an otherwise flat surface, creating the illusion of a physically detailed surface. The last one is specular texture which is a method used to define the shape of shiny or reflective areas on a surface. For an example, if a texture surface represents a wooden box with metal parts, a specular map can be applied to define only the metallic portions of the texture as shiny.

In The Game Interface

The game interface is when you play on the game to see the  HUD. The main menu or on a game mode screen when you hover over a icon say ‘multiply’ it some times changes colour or will flash to show that you can click on it. In a game like Call of Duty the HUD tell you where players are from a mini map in the top left hand corner. Games that use this are ‘Battlefield’ and ‘Call of Duty’.

Printed Media

Printed media is what you will see on the case of a game (the box art), the main menu page on a game, posters, etc. If people what to buy a game but don’t know what so they just look at what game stands out the most on the self then it is always best for game companies to make the box art really standout to encourage people to play there game. The printed media normally shows what the game is about like Battlefield has a army person on the front to show people that is a army/shooting game. 

Graphical Styles

Graphical Styles

Graphical styles are different art designs in a videogame. These determine how the game looks and it can influence what the game is like. Graphical style is very important in gaming especially when you consider what category the game is in or how the gameplay is intended to play out. The most common art designs in a videogame are; photo realistic, abstraction, cel-shading and exaggeration.

Photo realistic- this type of graphical style tries to make the game as realistic as possible by the use of textures, shading and paying attention to detail. This adds a realism that many games today try to improve continuously; some of today’s games even imitate real life landmarks to add realism to the game. The games that have this graphical style are games like Call of Duty, Assassins Creed, and Battlefield. These games have been made to look as realistic as possible. 

Abstraction- game isn't used often in the gaming industry and is mainly used by independent game manufacturers. Abstraction is where the animations are not realistic. Lots of iOS games are like this for example Angry Birds is an abstraction game; the games also tend to be bright and colorful, attracting younger age groups.

Cel-shading- is a type of non-photorealistic rendering, aimed to give the appearance of hand drawn graphics. This is often used to copy a cartoon or comic book style; it is often recognized with having a thick/bold black line around features of the drawings. These games are mostly fun and usually appeal to kids. Some examples of video games are Dragon Quest Viii and The Legend of Zelda.

Exaggeration- Exaggeration is where the style of the game is very over the top. From the sizes of the Characters, Environment’s and other aspects of the game are slightly or majorly out of proportion. The Japanese and the Chinese mainly make games like this. Some examples of games that use exaggeration are; Too Human, Final Fantasy and FEZ. These game styles can be very popula
r for showing off character’s exaggerated characteristics e.g big colorful hair.

 

Overall out of all the graphical styles photo realistic is one of the most popular to be used in a game. I play a lot of Call of Duty, which comes under photo realistic. Also a lot of people tend to play abstraction this is many because a lot of games are on iOS and people play on them on buses, trains and on the move.