Article by Kevin M. Sugrue - August 23, 2008
Designing with vectors can enhance an image and make it cartoon like. The time to use vector graphics best is when you are creating an image that is going to be resized, because vector images do not lose their resolution or detail when resized. What is a vector? Vectors are the use of geometric tools like lines, points, shapes, and curves that are all based on mathematical equations. Vectors use a mathematical formula to create your image. This mathematical formula can make your image to any size, and the quality is determined by the resolution of the display and what type of file you save you vector graphic as. Some beginners might not even have a clue to what a vector is, because they are so use to drawing with rasters, also called bitmaps. Vector graphics are the direct opposite to raster graphics. Raster graphics use pixels to create images, and vectors are used more when representing photographic images. When you create using pixels the image will look choppy and jagged when the size is changed. The quality will also be affected.
The closer the pixels are together the better quality your graphic will have. Vector images are smooth on all parts at all times. If you didn’t know your computer is made up of pixels and a vector might not look ask clean as it is made out to be. Try printing out a copy of your image to see how clean a vector really is. When it comes to saving be cautious, because saving a vector as a raster file will lower the quality of the image. SVG, VML, SWF are some file types that you should use when saving a vector image.
The advantages to using vectors are endless. The file size is much smaller with vector graphics than with raster graphics. Another advantage is when you zoom into a vector graphic it remains the same quality and it is the same if you zoomed out of the graphic. With a raster graphic, if you zoom in you will notice the tiny square dots that make up your image and give it the smooth look when viewed at normal resolution. Also with vector graphics, the parameters of you graphic are kept to keep for you to modify when you want. So now when you scale, fill, move, rotate, etc., it will not cause a drop in the quality of the graphic.
This article is written by Kevin M. Sugrue and is an extract from 'The Essentials of Design in Photoshop' ebook.
For more go to www.tutorialhell.com/ebooks
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