How a scanner works

Scanners:A scanner would be used capture an image or psychical document that allows to be created into digital copies onto the computer systems can be used for various things such as scanning in old pictures and  allowing them to be edited using editing software. When this is done when the scanning is completed, it allows characters that are selected to be edited separately which is called optical character recognition. The scanner goes through different stages when it scans, first the document is placed on top of a glass plate on the scanner and the cover is closed. The scanner will then send a scan through the document which checks for any covers or backs that may interfere with the copying and only scans what is needed and check the size of the document for scan process.

How a digital camera works

Digital Camera: When you take a picture with a digital camera, a shutter opens for a brief moment and each pixel on the image sensor records the brightness of the light that would fall onto it. When the shutter closes to finish the exposure it gets transferred into a number that would range from a tone between black and white which are known as grey scale.

As the camera only records grey scale tones, RGB filters are laid on top which make the primary colours and as each pixel goes through these colour sensitive diodes which will mix together and will give a number which will then reveal the colour based on the number of tones

Interface

Interface: In a game there is always a system known as the Interface which in other words would be known as the HUD (heads up display) which would correspond with the player controls. The interface would usually consist of the following tools which are coded into the game and can be activated by certain button commands

·         Health/Lives

·         Time

·         Weapons/Ammunition

·         Capabilities

·         Menus

·         Crosshairs

·         Mini map

·         Compass/Quest arrow

These are the most common HUDs that would be features in many varieties of gaming. The HUD would usually be different depending on the style of the game 

Raster Images

Raster Images: A raster image is an image that is also known as bitmaps because they’re made up tiny dots called pixels that make up an image, which are often many different colours and it is actually possible to edit each individual pixel. Bitmap images are usually very annoying when saving them because each pixel gets saved as an image which would mean that the file size would be quite LARGE. Any images that are from devices such as cameras or computer are all raster images.

Advantages of Raster images:

·         Each pixel can be edited individually

·         A bitmap uses solid colour pixels which can be edited easily using adobe Photoshop software

·         Most images that you would see on the computer are raster images.

Disadvantages of raster images

·         They start to become blurred and pixelated when they are enlarged

·         They have a large  file size

 

Here is an image comparison showing what a raster image looks like when its normal as you can see it looks smooth but as you get closer to the pixels it starts to become very pixelated and blocky

Vector Images

Vector images: Vector images are images made with lines, text, and shapes. Main example of a vector image being used in would be the McDonalds Logo which is made up of vector shapes. This can be scaled down on so they can be used on name badges and the same file can also be used for the signs you would see on massive billboards.

 Vectors are a way of defining images on a computer and are defined by points and curves rather than by pixels. They would use mathematical equations to measure out the shapes so no matter how big or small they get they won’t lose any detail. They are resolution independent meaning no matter how big or small the picture is they will never lose quality. It’s possible to use full colour in a vector image because the definition will not lose its colour even if it’s scaled to larger size but that’s if the image is only made up of vector images. You will tend to lose colour if the image is raster because it won’t support many colours

Advantages of Vector Images:

•              Vector images have the appearance of artistic form such as cartoons

•              They can be easily converted to bitmap images

•              Lines and curves are defined and will always be smooth and retain their continuity

•              They will use smaller files size and won’t take up a lot of memory.

•              They can be blown up to a larger size for things such as a poster and they won’t lose detail

Disadvantages of Vector Images:

•              Thin lines may disappear if a vector drawing is reduced too much

•              Small errors in a drawing may become visible as soon as it is enlarged too much

•              If you make a small error when creating vector images they may become visible when they are blown up to a bigger scale

This is an example of the difference between vector and raster images you can see that when you zoom in on a raster image it starts to become very pixelated whereas the vector image does not.

Vector Graphics

Vector graphics: Vector images are images made with lines, text, and shapes. Vectors are a way of defining images on a computer and are defined by points and curves rather than by pixels and not be confused with raster images.  Vector graphics would be consisted of lines and shapes using mathematical formulas to create the shapes or images. Even though it’s supported on flash most internet browsers would not support vector graphics. They are resolution independent meaning no matter how big or small the picture is they will never lose quality.

 

Concept ar

Concept Art: concept art is a form of illustration which uses drawing and pictures to represent a main goal. This can help artists draw up ideas which of things that could be represented in things such as comics, games, movies etc. It helps to try and piece together a kind of mood idea of what things would like such as visual design of what character for a new game would be like or what landscape view of what the background will involve such as mountains, cities, jungles etc

  

Print media

Print media: Print media would be used for any kind of media for advertising for example if they were to advertise a new game or anew console they would try and find as many ways of getting the name out there to the media such as designing posters for game shops, advertising banners, descriptions in magazines and advertisements on media based webpages. These are all a few of the methods that would be used by publishers to draw in potential buyers or consumers 

History of file formats

         JPEG: The term jpeg stands for joint photographic experts group and is a compressed image file format designed for images that can be used on the pc and are web friendly but cannot be used for simple drawings letters of the sort because they use Lossy compression but for pictures that don’t use lossy compression, most jpegs allow 24 bit colouring. 

BMP: Short for "Bitmap picture. The BMP format is a commonly used raster graphic format for saving image files. Bitmap images are better suited for most high quality renderings and web page graphics   

GIF: GIF, short for Graphics Interchange Format is a file format for storing graphical images up to 256 colours. It uses LZW compression which is a lossless compression method.

Pixel art

Pixel art: pixel art is in a way another form of art which consist of art being created using raster images which can be edited using software which can edit a picture pixel by pixel. These images are more commonly found on 2D games such and mobile phones because they can use fewer pixels to create an image


Here is a main example of pixel art from the original Mario game, As you can see if you closer the pixels are almost visible whereas if you were to look at games nowadays it seems almost impossible to see the pixels stand out because more and more used

Texture Art

Texture Art: an element of art which to the viewer looks and visually feels like the real thing when touched for example, 3D grass when touched would make you visually think in your head that it is soft to the touch and this works with both 2D and 3D texture arts

Here is an example of what texture art in a game would look like and to compare that to real grass to can really see the focus they put into every little detail

Background art: Background art would be used to help the viewer of a game focus on the foreground because it sets the stage for what is happening in front of the background. The artist application that would appear in the distance of any kind of 3D or 2D game which would give the viewer the satisfaction of realism to the game. For example games such as Super Mario would be the be the best example of both foreground and background art because even though it is a 2D side scroller it focuses on the foreground and using the background art it helps the player pay more attention to what is happening in front and with the changing of games from 20 years ago to now you can really see a major change.