APPLICATION PACKAGES

GRAPHICS
Raster Graphics
A raster image is a collection of dots called pixels.
 Each pixel is a tiny coloured square.
When an image is scanned, the image is converted
to a collection of pixels called a raster image.
 Most images you see on your computer screen are
raster graphics.
Pictures found on the Web and photos you import
from your digital camera are raster graphics.
They are made up of grid of pixels, commonly
referred to as a bitmap.
The larger the image, the more disk space the
image file will take up.
To accurately reproduce a raster image file, your
graphics software must keep track of a large
amount of information, including the exact location
and colour of each pixel in the collection of pixels.
This results in huge file sizes for raster graphics
since raster graphics need to store so much
information, large bitmaps require large file sizes.
 Fortunately, there are several image compression
algorithms that have been developed to help reduce
these file sizes. JPEG and GIF are the most common
compressed image formats on the Web, but several
other types of image compression are available.
Raster graphics can typically be scaled down with
no loss of quality, but enlarging a bitmap image
causes it to look blocky and "pixelated". For this
reason, vector graphics are often used for certain
images, such as company logos, which need to be
scaled to different sizes.
A raster file is usually larger than a vector
graphics image file. A raster file is usually difficult
to modify without loss of information, although
there are software tools that can convert a raster
file into a vector file for refinement and changes.
Raster Graphics File Formats
BMP (Windows Bitmap)
 PCX (Paintbrush)
TIFF (Tag Interleave Format)
 JPEG (Joint Photographics Expert Group)
GIF (Graphics Interchange Format)
 PNG (Portable Network Graphic)
 PSD (Adobe PhotoShop)
 CPT (Corel PhotoPAINT).
Vector Graphics
A vector image is a collection of connected lines and
curves that produce objects.
When creating a vector image in a vector illustration
program, nodes or drawing points are inserted and
lines and curves connect nodes together.
This is the same principle as "connect the dots".
Each node, line and curve is defined in the drawing by
the graphics software by a mathematical description.
Every aspect of a vector object is defined by math
included node position, node location, line length and
on down the line.
Text objects are created by connecting nodes, lines
and curves. Every letter in a font starts out as a vector
object.
Vector images are object-oriented while
raster images are pixel oriented.
A vector object will have a "wireframe"
underneath the colours in the object.
 In a vector object, colours are like clothes
over the top of a skeleton.
CorelDraw and Illustrator create text and
objects using vectors that can be easily
manipulated.
Since vector images are composed of objects
not pixels, you can change the colour of
individual objects without worrying about
individual pixels.
Colouring vector objects is similar to
colouring with crayons in a colouring book.
A drawing program will enable a user to click
inside an object and define its colour.
Colouring vector images is much easier than
colouring bitmaps.
Vector files are very small in file size.
Vector Graphics File Formats
EPS (Encapsulated PostScript)
WMF (Windows Metafile)
 AI (Adobe Illustrator)
CDR (CorelDraw)
 DXF (AutoCAD)
SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics)
PLT (Hewlett Packard Graphics Language
Plot File).
Computer-Aided Design
Current Computer-Aided Design (CAD) is used in the
design of tools and machinery and in the drafting and
design of all types of buildings, from small residential
types (houses) to the largest commercial and
industrial structures (hospitals and factories).
CAD is mainly used for detailed engineering of 3D
models and/or 2D drawings of physical components,
but it is also used throughout the engineering process
from conceptual design and layout of products,
through strength and dynamic analysis of assemblies
to definition of manufacturing methods of
components.
It can also be used to design objects.
Advantages of CAD
Lower product development costs
Greatly shortened design cycle.
CAD enables designers to layout and develop
work on screen, print it out.
It allows users to save it for future editing,
saving time on their drawings.
Desktop Publishing
Desktop Publishing is the merger of text with
graphics without using external services. Microsoft
word can be used as a desktop publishing package
through the use of word art, word graphics and
columns.
Examples include:
Aldus Personal Press
Adobe FrameMaker
Adobe PageMaker
Microsoft Office Publisher
Scribus
Corel Ventura
Components of Desktop Publishing
Document Composition software:
 The document composition software enables users to
design and make up the page or pages of a document e.g.
PageMaker

Typefaces and fonts:

 A typeface is a set of characters that are of the same type
style (Times New Roman, Arial, Courier, etc.).
 A font is described by its typeface, its height in points (8,
10, 14, 24, and so on) and its presentation attributes (light,
bold, italic, bold italic etc). When needed to print a
document the soft font for a particular font is retrieved
from disk storage and downloaded to the page printer’s
memory.