a document about gaming and how games are put together through different methods and creative processes.

1. Bibliography
Abstraction. (2011, 09 27). Retrieved from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstraction
Adobe Forums: What Does Pixel Intensity Mean? (2011, 09 14). Retrieved from Adobe:
http://forums.adobe.com/message/2954909
Bioshock. (2011, 10 13). Retrieved from Metacritic: http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/bioshock
Bioshock Concept Art. (2011, 09 27). Retrieved from Offical Bioshock Website: http://www.bioshock-
online.com/media/conceptart/
Cel-Shaded. (2011, 09 27). Retrieved from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cel-
shaded_animation
Compression. (2011, 10 20). Retrieved from Search Storage:
http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/definition/compression
Concept Art. (2011, 09 06). Retrieved from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concept_art
Exaggeration. (2011, 09 27). Retrieved from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exaggeration
Google images. (2011, 09 28). Retrieved from Google:
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=gears+of+war+3+box&um=1&hl=en&safe=active&tbm=
isch&tbnid=G24LRDgy-yXSPM:&imgrefurl=http://conflictinggamers.com/2011/05/09/check-
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EDHGM08yyM&w=450&
Graphics Tablet. (2011, 09 27). Retrieved from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_tablet
How Scanners Work. (2011, 09 22). Retrieved from How Stuff Works:
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/scanner1.htm
Image Scanner. (2011, 09 22). Retrieved from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_scanner
Isometric Projection. (2011, 09 06). Retrieved from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isometric_projection
L.A. Noire motion capture demonstrated. (2011, 09 29). Retrieved from engadget:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/17/l-a-noires-amazing-motionscan-facial-capture-
system-demonstrat/
Lossless Data Compression. (2011, 09 20). Retrieved from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lossless_data_compression
Lossy Compression. (2011, 09 20). Retrieved from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lossy_compression

2. Photorealism in Video Games. (2011, 09 27). Retrieved from Research frontiers:
http://www.ugc.edu.hk/rgc/rgcnews11/Pages/2%20CompGames-E.html
Pixel Art. (2011, 09 06). Retrieved from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_art
Raster Images. (2011, 09 14). Retrieved from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raster_images
Texture (Art). (2011, 09 07). Retrieved from TalkTalk:
http://www.talktalk.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0097242.html
Vector Images. (2011, 09 14). Retrieved from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector_images
what is Lossless Compression? (2011, 09 21). Retrieved from wiseGEEK:
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-lossless-compression.htm
What is lossless compression? (2011, 09 21). Retrieved from Webopedia:
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/L/lossless_compression.html
sprites. (n.d.). Retrieved from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprite_(computer_graphics)

3. Computer Game Graphics
Isometric Projection
Isometric Projection is a design in which 2-D objects are shown in 3-D visually. It is done by
taking 3 coordinate axes and the angle between them is 120 degrees, which gives it a 3-D
atmosphere. Professor William Farish first discovered the isometric projection, though it
had existed through rough ideas over the centuries. In the 19th century,
Perspective iskey in isometric projection. Everyone
needs to look at a certain angle when viewing 2-D
objects in a 3-D way. There are 8 different ways to see
an isometric view. Like in the image below, the stairs
carry on going upwards. This is because the shape is
tilted on a certain angle so our eyes see continuing
stairs. It’s called the ‘triangle of Penrose’ which was
created by Lionel Penrose and his son Rodger.
Isometric is also used in a lot of video games. These days, people associate it possibly with a
game called ‘Farmville’, which became very popular when players could create and edit
their own farm.
But a lot more were created before ‘Farmville’. Back in the 80’s, isometric games such as
‘Q*Bert’ and ‘Knight Lore’ exploded into a massive market in which everyone wanted to be
a part of. Most arcade games back then used an isometric view in some cases, which carried
on into the 90’s, with games like the original ‘Fallout’ and ‘Diablo’. It later lost interest years
later, when 3-D graphics were invented, in which the camera could be freely rotated 360’.
This was mainly used in RPG’s (Role Playing Games) like ‘Vandal
Hearts’ and ‘Final Fantasy Tactics’.

4. Pixel Art
Pixel Art is created through raster graphics software
where in which art is pixelated so it can be used in
electronic games (i.e. Video, Computer and mobile
games). It was first shown by Adele Goldberg and
Robert Flegal of Xerox Palo Alto Research Centre in
1982, but was first a concept by Richard Shoup in his
Superpaint system, in 1972. There are a lot of different
techniques for pixel art like dithering, in which 2 colours
in a 2x2 checkerboard pattern, you then could change
the density of the colours which leads to different
subtones.
Stylised Dithering is where 2x2 pixel are randomly
mixed together to get different textures (it also
produces circles in the pixels). Anti-aliasing is different,
because it can be done by hand, to create transitions
and curves. This creates a texture that’s crisp for the background of artwork. Some tools
aren’t considered valid for concept art. For example, Image Filters (such as alpha blending)
and tools with automatic anti-aliasing because they automatically calculate new pixel
values.
Pixel art is split into two categories:
isometric and non-isometric. Isometric
is is drawn in a isometric diametric
projection, this means the art is
usually shown in a 3-D view but not a
3-D processing. Non-isometric art is
when the pixel art is shown in anyway
apart from an isometric view, like
bird’s eye view, side view or
perspective view. They can also be
called Planometric views.
With 3-D graphics ever improving in video games, pixel art became quite obsolete in the
gaming industry, though it’s still used in other things like advertising.But many people
believed pixel art or, ‘Modern Pixel Art’ as they call it, is the “Golden age for second and
third generation consoles”. But pixel art started to come back popular with internet games
like ‘Habbo’ and ‘CityPixel’. And is still used for graphics in games in the ‘Nintendo DS’.

5. Concept Art
Concept Art is basically a rough illustration or drawing
for films, video games or animation before its put
through to a final design, then into the final product. It
can also be known as visual art for design of fashion or
retail.
It’s been a popular topic since the 1930’s when used in
Disney films, but no one really came up with ‘concept
art’, or was never really noticed, but made it into an
industry that’s became a celebrated job. Concept art is
most associated with design of any kind, like set and
architectural work.
Most of the
themes or subjects
that involve concept art are mostly from
video/computer games. Themes are mostly focused
on Science fiction (Portal 2) and fantasy (World of
Warcraft), but it can vary. (I.e. war games: Call of Duty,
Medal of Honour.) A particular video game made
hundreds of concept art drawing for their work was
‘Bioshock’.
2K’s ‘Bioshock’ is computer/ video game which had its
release in 2007. Widely loved by many game reviewers
and fanatics, ‘Bioshock’ became the third best-selling
game of that year, selling over 490,000 copies.
Metacritic said “Bioshock creates a living, unique and
unpredictable FPS experience.” But many reviewers didn’t just enjoy the vast gameplay it
brought to the table. Everyone noticed the stunning sites and the atmosphere it shone. It
mixed the beautiful 1960’s with the disgusting and creepy monsters that lure beneath the
sea.
More than 500 pieces of concept art has been released since Bioshock was first announced
and is still going. With the special editions of both ‘Bioshock’ and ‘Bioshock 2’, every
customer got a book containing all the art produced from the making process. And with the
release of ‘Bioshock Infinite’, 2K has been releasing more images of what we should be
expecting from the stunning series.

6. Sprites
A sprite is an animation or image in 2D or 3D that’s integrated into a much larger scene. It
used to be referred to graphical objects handled in the memory bitmap of a video display,
but is now used to describe various graphical displays.
They were originally used to put unrelated bitmaps integrated onto a normal bitmap on a
screen, for example, creating an animated character that can be moved across the screen.
Sprites can be made from circuitry or software.
In the circuitry part, a sprite is made from a hardware construct that employs custom DMA
channels to show visual elements. In the software part, it’s basically the same but can
simulate this through specialized rendering techniques.
Now that three dimensional graphics become more popular, the term has changed to where
flat images are put onto three dimensional backgrounds, which is complicated and time
effecting.
Sprites have been used in lots of video and computer
games over the years. Like the Atari 400(as seen on the
left) and 800 used a similar circuitry way of creating the
images for their games. But with the three dimensional
sprites taking over the industry of computer graphics, 2D
sprites became obsolete in a way, even though when
people use the word “sprite” they see two dimensional.
With an explosion of enhanced 3D graphics over the last few years, sprites became quite
unpopular, where it’s not used as much in handheld video games and mobile phone games.
This is due to photorealistic video games like present a computer game that looks realistic
enough to look like real life.
It’s not to say that sprites in games have become obsolete, many popular games still are
used that use sprites. Games like ‘Habbo’ still are used to this day. ‘Habbo’ is an online game
where the user can create his own sprite. The user can also create their very own house and
build their own objects.

7. Texture Art
Texture art is thought as the feel of an artwork or graphical image. With texture art, it’s
about using our imagination to create an idea of what something feels like. Like in the
Bioshock 2 logo seen to the left, from the image we can see rust developing from the
background. This would give us a texture of a really crusty and jagged feel to it.
Colour is also a very important aspect.
We associate colours all the time with
our emotions, like a simple red could
represent anger, or a blue could
represent peace.
‘Bioshock’ is a game in which its
texture makes it graphically stunning.
Set in an underground city, many of
the characters were special diving
suits, which rust a lot. The feel and
look at the rust on a ‘Big Daddy’s’ Suit
makes the image look photorealistic
and amazing to look at. Bioshock is one of those games which closely concentrate on the
texture of its art throughout all 2 games, and even the new game ‘Bioshock Infinite’

8. Print Media Art
Print media art is everything that a computer game displays and shows. A print media piece
of art can come from anything to do with a computer game, from the packaging it came in,
or even game box it stays in.
Print media is the thing that makes the game look more exciting to the audience without
even playing the game. Most computer games use this art work for their packaging all the
time to make the game look stunning. It attracts the customer into buying the product.
These days, most people buy video games for guns and
explosions, so say if a front cover of a video game has an
explosion in the background of a man holding a gun,
customers will be immediately attracted. Big and bold
colours also attract the customer, it makes it stand out on
the shop shelves.
Like the image to the left. The recently released ‘Gears of
War 3 .tm’ used print media art for the front cover of the
game packaging. It makes the game stand out beautifully.
The bright colours but also dark makes it visually brilliant
to look at. They don’t just create this one piece of artwork
though. Game companies create thousands of images for
just one game so they have various choices of images for
packaging.
A lot of game companies make different editions
to their games, to give the buyer more to do with
the game. ‘Gears of War 3.tm’ did this just like
many of the games that are released produce
these days. Most of the items that the companies
give away are cheap and easy to make but sell
them at ridiculous prices. The ‘Gears of War3 .tm’
Epic Edition, contained the game itself, a statue of
the main character, a ceremonial flag, a ‘COG’
Medal, scraps of papers associated from the game
and downloadable content (all seen below).
Altogether, the price was £100. It probably didn’t
cost the company half this much to make, but
fans still buy this kind of merchandise as they
become obsessed with the franchise.

9. Artistic Styles Used In Computer Games
Photo realism
When a video game uses graphics and images that are so life like, they’re called photo
realistic. It was hard to find a game that used it in the past, but these days, when technology
is beyond our imagination, photo realism is easy to find. Some game companies take their
time when creating a game and focuses on their graphics to create a photorealistic feel.
They spend more time and money on this to create a sense of the real world in a computer
game. Most computer games that are created these days are all photorealistic. A lot of
people spend money to see a game for their graphics, not story.
One of the first games to create a photorealistic feel was the first ‘Gran Turismo’. It’s a
racing game in which you’re in the driving seat. Its graphics were amazing for its time and
received excellent reviews, like a 9.5/10 from IGN and a 10/10 from PlayStation Magazine.
Many video games have taken
their time to be released to focus
on photorealism; big title like
‘L.A. Noire’ and ‘Alan Wake’ took
many years to be released into
the market. Rockstar’s ‘L.A.
Noire’ used motion capture
technology, which means every
action and detail was done by a
human being then put into a
computer to be developed for the video game, like seen in the image to the left. The
actor/actress is surrounded by 32 high definition cameras, which watch every single move
and action. On Xbox 360, the game had to be put onto 3 discs because the graphics were so
advanced, but the PlayStation 3 discs are built for high definition graphics (I.e. Blu-ray discs).
The bar was raised for computer graphics after L.A. Noire. Nobody has ever seen anything
like it in a computer game. Though PlayStation’s Heavy Rain argues it has very similar
graphics, just not as sophisticated.
‘Alan Wake’ was another game that took a long time to be released due to graphics, but also
script problems (5 years to be exact). The main character (which is self-titled after the game)
was modelled after the Finnish actor and journalist Ilkka Villi and voiced by the actor
Matthew Porretta. The modelling
focused on the facial expressions
of the characters, with every
word looking like it was real.
“Developers of this era of 3D
engines often tout their
increasingly photorealistic
quality. These engines include

10. realistic shader-based materials with predefined physics, environments with procedural and
vertex shader-based objects (vegetation, debris, human-made objects such as books or
tools), procedural animation, cinematographic effects (depthof field, motion blur, etc.), High
dynamic range rendering, and unified lighting models with soft shadowing and volumetric
lighting.” – From Wikipedia
Cel-Shading
Cel-Shading is a type of non-photorealistic rendering on animation or video game graphics.
It’s a technique to make 3-D graphics appear to look hand drawn. This is to create a
cartoony and comic look to a model. Its most commonly associated with video games, but
the style has only really just taken off as a type of
computer graphic.
The process is actually quite simple. It involves first
creating a three dimensional model. Conventional
lighting values are calculated for each pixel in the
model. Each pixel is given smooth highlights and
shadows to create a flat two dimensional look to the
model. Black ink outlines and contour lines are created
into the model to give it texture and the 2-D look. Then
the image is composited via Z-buffering, which means
the original 3-D model will always stay behind the
shadows and outlines. Originally this term was called
the Shading technique, but is now called Cel-Shading
because it’s used frequently in video games and
animation.Many computer games use the Cel-Shading
technique, Like in ‘The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker’ and ‘Borderlands’.
Many of the Zelda games have used Cel-shading
technique. The main game that was recognised
was ‘The Wind Waker’. It was controversial at
the time for using Cel-shading as the past games
of Zelda didn’t use this technique, but the use of
colour that the game presented made it look
beautiful, and to this day still looks excellent.

11. Abstraction
Abstraction is a process in which an idea or thought is modelled around a real concept. It
can mean many things, for reducing the information of a concept, like the idea of an old
Sega video game; you reduce the idea down to just a video game. It ultimately reduces the
information and ideas behind it, but it’s still a general video game.
Many computer and video games are abstract; companies take ideas and add or take away
some details from the original. In fact, most games these days are completely abstract. Not
many are actual original ideas.
An obvious abstract idea is the
zombie genre. Most zombie
games follow the same pattern of
an infection spreading, and
survivors fighting for their lives.
It’s just some games tweak with
the original. ‘Dead rising’ did an
original idea for video games,
which was a man, who needs to
find out what’s going on round
the world that’s so special. To
break his big story as a journalist, he spends 72 hours in a mall to get evidence. Throughout
the story, you must help people and protect them from zombies. Then in 2010, Rockstar
released ‘Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare’ which is similar to ‘Dead Rising’. The
Main character must save certain spots in his towns from being overrun from zombies and
must help innocent people from zombies along the way.

12. Exaggeration
Exaggeration is a form of taking certain aspects of something too far. It’s like when
somebody has told you something a couple of times, but you forget. Then the other person
says “I’ve told you a billion times”. Obviously the person hasn’t told you a billion times, it’s
just to make it seem much worse or better than it actually is.
In computer games and animation,
Exaggeration is used a lot more than
people think. In anime and manga,
exaggerating is used frequently. A
popular manga series called ‘Naruto’
exaggerates all the time with its
fighting techniques and facial
expressions like in the image to the
left. In real life, no human could make
that facial expression, but it’s to
overdo the anger the character is in.
Most fighting scenes in manga are
exaggerated, from punching someone
in the face and the face moulds over the fist.
Many computer games use
exaggeration in their
gameplay. A recent title called
‘WWE All Stars’ exaggerated
the wrestling moves. The
player could perform a special
move and pick another player
up at least 20 feet into the air
and throw them to the floor.
With this action, the
characters also shun colours
from themselves.

13. Lossy Compression
Lossy compression is a data encoding way of compressing a file, such as an image, and
making it smaller. The method is to make data smaller than needs to be held and discarding
the left overs of the data. But like in the image below, the bottom image has been
substantially compressed compared to the top, making the image distorted and blurry.
Lossy compression is used most in the
multimedia side of data like images, videos
and audio.
With Lossy compression, it’s most known for
losing data all the time. When data is Lossy
compressed repeatedly, the file will keep
losing more and more data every time.
Unlike, lossless data compression, which
won’t lose any data with a procedure like
this.
There are some advantages for Lossy
compression over lossless though. Lossy
compression can create a much smaller
compressed file and still produce the
provisions of an application. It can do this
better than any other lossless method.
With the Lossy compression method, it’s
often used for videos and music because
it’s easier for humans to interpret. This is
because Lossy gets rid of some data when
compressing, but the human mind can
“fill in the blanks” or we can just see past
errors in some data or files.

14. Lossless Compression
Lossless compression is a form of data compression that can reconstruct the original
files/data from the compressed data without losing any data in the process. The lossless
data compression is used in many applications such as ZIP files format. It’s also used a lot in
lossy compression data.
Lossless compression is used mostly when
an image and the identical decompressed
image look exactly the same. Some types of
image formats only use lossless like GIF and
PNG.
There are many methods of lossless
compression. One example is the
Pigeonhole principle. The algorithm for this
principle can’t compress all data and any
random data streams. For this reason, different algorithms are designed with a specific type
of input data.
Lossless Data Compression is mostly used in
Data and programs and certain multimedia
files and programs. It can’t guarantee that
compression for all the files requested to
compress. To put a long story short, for any
data compression, there will be a data input
that will not get compressed. Not all files can
be compressed.
The advantage of using lossless compression:
you will get an exact copy of the file/data
which was compressed.
The disadvantage of using lossless
compression: in any compression, there
should be a compression ratio of 50/50, but
there can’t be a ratio with lossless, as it
doesn’t lose any part of a file/data. If you needed a higher compression ratio, you would
have to reduce the file by more than 50%, but this would only work with lossy compression.

15. Image Capture
Scanner
A Scanner is a computing device in which a two
dimensional image or text can optically copied and
converted to a digital image. The Scanner consists
of many things which create a copy of a specific
thing.
The core of the scanner is the CCD array (Charged
Couple Device). It’s the most common thing found
in image capture for scanners. The CCD is little
diodes that turn protons of light into electrons of
electrical charge. The diodes are called Photosites.
The more light that hits the Photosites, the bigger the electrical charge will be.
Next, the image that you want to be scanned goes to the CCD array though a number of
mirrors and lenses.
The image is put inside a glass casing/plate. A CCFL (Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamp) slowly
moves across illuminating the image through the glass casing/plate. The light from the CCFL
is reflected by an angle mirror to another mirror. Each mirror in the scanner is slightly
curved to focus the image through the scanner.
When the image passes through the last mirror, the lens focuses the image through a filter
on the CCD array. This operation depends on the type of scanner. Sometimes a certain
scanner uses the three pass method. Each time the image is passed through a different
colour filter (this uses the RGB colour system (Red Blue or Green)) after that process, the
scanner produces three filtered images into one single full coloured image. This process isn’t
used much today, as technology has become more advanced and a scanner only has to pass
an image once.
Scanners vary in resolution and intensity. Flatbed scanners (flatbed, because it’s completely
flat on a surface) usually scan on a 300x300dpi (Dots per Inch). This determines on the
scanners sensors in a single row and how many it has. With a scanner that works on a
300x300dpi, the number of sensors that it would work with would be about 2,550 (arranged
in horizontal rows).
Next, the scanner must transfer the image to the computer. This is done a method which
varies with different scanners. There are 5 ways of doing this process:
. Parallelis the way of connecting the scanner to the computer through the parallel portin
the computer. This is the slowest method of the three
. Small Computer System Interface

16. Tablet
A Tablet is graphical device that allows people to draw an image onto a computer. It’s just
like drawing an image from pencil to paper but is done through technology. Usually the
tablet is connected via USB interface
It’s a much easier tool for graphical artists who draw computer images with a mouse. It’s
become an everyday use for them since it can change an images attributes. Yes, a mouse
can do this but it takes time. Unlike a mouse, a Tablet is information generated to modify
the brush techniques through the tablet itself.
A tablet is a lot like an interactive whiteboard and other touch screen technology. It works
on the same basis as these tools, but you can’t see what you’re drawing on the tablet, you
have to look at the computer screen.
The first actual computer tablet was invented in 1888. It was called the Telautograph and
was created by Elisha Grey, whose most recognised as the inventor of the telephone to
Alexander Graham Bell. It was made for handwriting recognition back in the day, which then
went into a computer called the Stylator (created in 1957). Most mice are taken over by
tablets, because not just graphical artists, but general people prefer to use them as they find
it easier. The first colour tablet software was created in 1981, by musician Todd Rundgren,
which he then licensed to Apple. It was called the Utopia Graphics Tablet System.
The first Graphics tablets were used for Apple. Those tablets used a magnetostriction
technology which contained wires made of special alloys, stretching over a solid substrate to
accurately locate the stylus (Pen) on the surface of the tablet. The first graphics tablet for
home use was called the KoalaPad. It was originally designed for Apple in their computer,
Apple 2. The Koala eventually broadened its applicability to all home computers, like the
Atari 8-bit family and The Commodore 64. Later after this, Atari produced a completing
tablet which was considered to use very high quality work.
Graphics tablets are mostly used in the artistic industry. Artists have a pen, a graphics tablet
and a graphics editing program, like Adobe Photoshop (which is the most common graphics
program). This gives artists the precision to create drawings digitally, which speeds up the
task when drawing on paper.
Graphics tablets these days are often used to
replace computer mice. It’s becoming more
popular to do this as people find it practical,
as the tablet is basically the computer screen,
and the pen is the pointer of the mouse.
Artists do this for practical use, because it
would be a waste of time to do their work
with the graphics tablet, then move the
operations with the mouse, it saves time to
just do all operations on one device.

17. Digital Camera
A digital camera is a device in which a person can take a visual image of anything they want,
or they could even video it. They are most used for digital photos though. ‘Digital’ cameras
are a lot more sophisticated than film cameras. They can keep the photos on a small
memory card which can hold thousands of images (depending on the memory size of the
card) and you can see all your images at any time. Most digital cameras in the times we live
in now, can record sound as well as video. Most digital cameras run on high amounts of
power, meaning it needs a power source which can take it for quite some time.Usually a
digital camera runs on batteries, which run out of power in a matter of hours, but some can
contain a rechargeable battery. These run out depending on the digital camera, but most
last a couple of days (depending on how much you use it).
Apart from just taking images, videos and sound, they have range of special features. Like
taking pictures for different environments or even crop the image when you’re not even on
a computer. Most people have a digital camera in the 21stcentury; not many have film
cameras, though people say that film cameras make the picture that is taken clearer and
more presentable.
Digital cameras are presented with many different types and settings. Most people choose a
digital camera that takes higher resolution or mega-pixels. This makes the image they take
much more realistic to the actual thing which was taken.
When digital cameras over took film cameras, many photographers had one question in
their minds which they couldn’t just budge. Could film cameras be converted into digital?
Well the answers yes and no. The reason for saying no was for people that used 35mm film
cameras, which were most photographers. The problem was the cost would be too much.
The process involved removing the back of the film camera with a custom built digital unit.
Many 35mm cameras at this time could not have this technology for the film cameras,
because it was developed for 35mm film. This meant the cameras had to be mounted on a
large bulky unit that was often bigger than the actual cameras.
Some 35mm cameras had to have digital backings made from their manufacturer. Typical
backs for 35mm cameras cost over $10,000 at the time. These backs lead to enormous
image sizes. Some sizes were ridiculous. For example, Phase One’s P45 39MP image backing
creates a TIFF image size that takes 224.6MB; some were even bigger in size.
“The resolution of a digital camera is often
limited by the image sensor (typically a CCD or
CMOS sensor chip) that turns light into discrete
signals, replacing the job of film in traditional
photography. The sensor is made up of millions
of "buckets" that essentially count the number
of photons that strike the sensor. This means
that the brighter the image at a given point on
the sensor, the larger the value that is read for
that pixel. Depending on the physical structure
of the sensor, a color filter array may be used
which requires a demosaicing/interpolation

18. algorithm. The number of resulting pixels in the image determines its "pixel count". For
example, a 640x480 image would have 307,200 pixels, or approximately 307 kilo pixels; a
3872x2592 image would have 10,036,224 pixels, or approximately 10 megapixels” –
Wikipedia
Most Digital Cameras contain a video output port, which sends a standard definition signal
to a person’s television, allowing them to view the images and videos on their television.
This includes the option to view the pictures in a slideshow. Since it was first developed,
technology has become greater. High Definition has been created to be put into digital
cameras these days, meaning the pictures can be viewed in HD, but the person must have a
HDTV and a HDMI cable.
For film cameras to store the images inside the camera, the camera must have contained
film, hence “film” cameras. With digital cameras it’s a completely different story. Digital
cameras have a tiny computer stored inside them; this is called internal memory, though it’s
very limited, usually containing at the most a hundred megabytes. For more memory in a
digital camera, the person needs a Micro SD Card or a CompactFlash Card. It’s a tiny storage
device that can hold thousands of images and videos, depending on the size of the memory.
This is just like any other storage device like a USB flash drive or a Floppy Disk.
Pixel
A pixel is the smallest point in a picture. It usually is represented
in a two dimensional picture by dots or squares. Pixels usually
are made up of different colours, then put together to form a
picture like in the image below.
A pixel is usually formed of colours, but that means it is made up
of bits per pixel (bpp). (I.e. a 1 bit image is formed of 1 pixel). A
pixel is the smallest part of a digital picture, with millions of
different pixels built up to create the image similar to an
original. Pixels are used in different places in our everyday life all
the time, like our televisions. LCD televisions use
Computers use pixels to display images. The image that is made up of pixels is known as a
bitmapped image or a raster image. Computers use pixels to display images.
There are different types of pixels, from sub pixels to
megapixels. Sub pixels basically means when each section of
a pixel, for example on a LCD television, have their own
addressable element. A Megapixel is one million pixels inside
an image. People often hear megapixels when they have a
phone or camera. Say an image is 2901x1294; the megapixels
would be 3.7 megapixels (2901x1294=3,753,894 rounded)

19. “For color depths of 15 or more bits per pixel, the depth is normally the sum of the bits
allocated to each of the red, green, and blue components. High color, usually meaning 16
bpp, normally has five bits for red and blue, and six bits for green, as the human eye is more
sensitive to errors in green than in the other two primary colors. For applications involving
transparency, the 16 bits may be divided into five bits each of red, green, and blue, with one
bit left for transparency. A 24-bit depth allows 8 bits per component. On some systems, 32-
bit depth is available: this means that each 24-bit pixel has an extra 8 bits to describe its
opacity (for purposes of combining with another image).”-Wikipedia.
Image Resolution
Image resolution is the detail that’s inside an image. The term comes from raster, film and
other digital images. Resolution can basically see lines that show in an image while still
being visibly clear.
Resolution is the number of pixels inside a
digital image, if there are more pixels inside
the image, the more clearer and sharper it
looks. Like in the image below, the top
image contains fewer pixels, so the
resolution isn’t as good. But the bottom
image contains more pixels, so it contains a
fresher and crisper picture.
But it’s much more complicated than that.
The counting of pixels isn’t a real
measurement for resolution on digital
images.

20. Intensity
The intensity of a pixel is represented by various different colours. In a colour image system,
the image is presented through three or four colour intensities; red, blue and green, or cyan,
magenta, black, yellow. Like in the image below, the colours that go into creating an image
for our televisions or computers.
The pixel intensity is the intensity of each individual pixel,
from its brightness to its tone. It varies from 0-255 which
gives it its different types of colour tone, “e.g., in an RGB
image there are three sets of intensities shown - those of
the red channel, green channel, and blue channel”
In the image of the Photoshop to the side, it shows the
how the intensity works through the colours. The RGB
is the colours red, green and blue. They mix to form a
colour of your choice, just like CMYK. (Cyan, Magenta,
Yellow and Black) this is the intensity of the colours,
because it lets you choice the different tones and
shades of a specific colour.

21. Vector Images
A Vector image is represented in video game graphics when it contains sharp, curved and
neat corners when zoomed in. Vector images are stored in mathematical equations, rather
than raster images, which creates images with bitmaps, also known as ‘pixels’.
Some say vector graphics are the best kind of image editing, because
it creates a clearer picture when zooming in on an image, like
in the image at the side. Compared to bitmap (Raster), the
image is much smoother.
All the earliest two dimensional computer graphics used
vector graphics. A lot of popular arcade games used vector
graphics too, like ‘Asteroids’ and ‘Space Wars’. But in this day and age,
Vector graphics is usually used in virtually all three dimensional rendering
and multimedia texting.
But not all vector graphics are appropriate in producing graphics work in
devices like scanners and cameras because they mainly focus using Raster
graphics instead. This makes it hard to convert the image to a Vector, because
it will focus on pixels rather than mathematical formulas.

22. Raster images
A Raster image or as its better known as, bitmap, is a data collection where it shows pixels
usually in a rectangular grid and is used generally in video game graphics.
A bitmap corresponds directly
with the image on the screen and
with the same format used for
storage in the display’s video
format.
In Raster graphics, it is
characterized by the width and
height of an image by the pixels
and the number of bits per pixel
(bpp). There are a lot of raster
based editors around, like
‘Photoshop’, ‘Painter’ and
‘Microsoft Paint’.
When an image is used with Raster based programs, the image contains millions of pixels.
Most Raster based programs work by manipulating each individual pixel, they also work RGB
colour model, instead of the CYMK colour model. Raster images deal with more practical
images compared to Vector images, like photographs and photo realistic images.

23. Optimising
Optimising a file is quite a hard process to be put into words. It’s very similar to
compression, where somebody compresses (makes the file smaller) a file to make it run
faster on the internet. To optimise a file for the internet, the file must be shrunk down to be
able to run as fast as possible. This makes the page more accessible for users to go onto,
because if it took a long time to run, people wouldn’t bother. Optimizing an image is meant
for the web, but like compressing, it does take some of the image away, but still trying to
make it as perfect as the original.
Image Bit Depth
Image bit depth is the number of bits that are stored inside an image. The bit of an image is
the computers way of storing colours in numbers called binary code. The numbers are
stored in 0’s and 1’s. When an image is just black and white, the bit depth of the image is 1.
The reason for this is the two numbers in the bit depth is zero and one. These two numbers
represent two colours, black and white. But as an image begins to add more bits, more
colours are added to the image. Say an image contains 8 bits; the amount of colours would
be 256. This means the image will have more shades and colours. This because when more
bits are added to the image, the amount of colours doubles, like shown in the key below.
Key:
1 bits = 2 colours (Black and White)
2 bits = 4 colours
3 bits = 8 colours
4 bits = 16 colours
5 bits = 32 colours
6 bits = 64 colours
7 bits = 128 colours
8 bits = 256 colours
9 bits = 512 colours
10 bits = 1024 colours

24. Optimising Image Resolution
Image resolution is the number of pixels and dots that make up the image. Each pixel or dot
is a single colour. An image is uses dpi (dots per inch); this means between each inch of an
image, there are a certain amount of dots that create the image. For example, if an image
has the size of 8 inches by 4 inches and the dots per inch are 150. And another image is 12
inches by 6 inches but the dots per inch are 75. The first image of 8x4 would be clearer
because it has more dots in each inch of the image. But when someone shrinks the
resolution of an image, the image can be optimised. With this, if someone wants to view the
image at the same resolution, it will become pixelated when it fits the screen.
Optimising Image Dimensions
The dimensions of an image are the size and width of an image, which is usually measured
in pixels, dpi, inches or centimetres. If an image has higher dimensions, the image will have
a higher resolution, but this also depends on the dpi. When optimising the image for such
things like a website, you need to consider the dimensions of the image. Putting it onto a
website, the person would have to make the image dimensions much smaller so the site
would run, but this depends on the dimensions of the image. If an image is 2000x1500 and
the computer screen is 1000x750, the image would have to be optimised because it would
not fit. You could just zoom into the image but then it would lose some of its detail due the
dpi.
Target Image Output
With outputting an image, there are usually 3 modes of outputting it onto certain things.
The three usual programs that people use are through websites, e-mail and printing, but
outputting an image is mainly for the uses of putting a website together. When outputting
an image onto a website, it’s usually to capture a user’s view. The image usual just enhances
the website, to make it look better. But with adding an image, it’s usually has to have a size
of 320x240 or less. This is not just to fit the website;it’s also to make the site run faster.
Compression
Compression is very similar to optimising, in the way in shrinks down files in the need to
gain. It’s a little different though. Compression is used in programs that edit images like
Photoshop. Like the image below, it’s been compressed using the Lossy method, which has
made it lose 50% of its quality. The
two usual methods are Lossy and
Lossless. With Photoshop, it makes
changes to the image every time you
compress it. Like in the image, I only
compressed it once and it’s lost so

25. much quality. But it did make the image size considerably less from compressing as the
original.