1. Hardware and Software for Digital Graphics Joe Caley

2. Graphics Cards A graphics card is a piece of hardware installed in a computer that is responsible for rendering (or creating) the image on the computer’s monitor. If you didn’t have a graphics card then you wouldn’t be able to see anything on your computer screen. There are two types of Graphics Card available today. The AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) is older but still quite popular as many people still have these slots in their motherboards. The PCI-Express (Peripheral Component Interconnect) version has been around for a few years now and new graphics cards and motherboards are using this technology. PCI express offers a greater scope for data transfer to and from the graphics card and main memory. There is a huge variety of Graphics Cards to choose from, with prices ranging from $20 to $2400. Obviously the more expensive graphics card you have the higher quality of the displayed image will be.

3. Graphics Tablets A graphics tablet is an device used by artists and other people such as architects, for example, which allows you to draw a picture or compose some writing onto a computer screen without having to use a mouse or keyboard. A graphics tablet consists of a flat tablet and a type of drawing tool, usually a pen or stylus. A graphics tablet may also be called a drawing tablet or drawing pad. Graphics tablets are much more accurate than using conventional drawing techniques, such as using a mouse, for example. It allows professionals and amateurs to create great pictures and animations using a variety of different programs. They come in a range of sizes, from smaller 3" by 4“up to larger models which measure 7" by 9“. Even larger graphics tablets exist, up to enormous 14" by 14”. These are mostly targeted at professional designers and artists.

4. Digital Cameras A digital camera is a device for taking photographs and video clips. It turns the points of lights absorbed by the lens and converts them into pixels to be displayed on a digital screen. The clips are then stored on the cameras inbuilt memory or on an external memory card inserted in the camera. Digital cameras allow for huge cost savings over traditional cameras as there are no film processing to be done. Not only do they save money, but they also save time as photos can be taken and then be printed, shared across social networks, or stored in a matter of minutes. The types of digital of the market are very broad. They range from basic compact cameras to high tech professional large cameras which can acquire many different lenses and stands. Prices are from about £50 to anywhere over £2000. The ones costing in the range of £1000s are more professional and will take better quality images.

5. Printers A printer is a office machine that prints out images and other documents to make hard copies of your digital creations. The images or text are printed onto your hard copy by using different coloured inks to layer the paper and create your piece of work. They work by using small pixels to transfer and image from the system to another surface. Some printers can in only print black and white copies, most printers today can produce colour copies. There are some main groups of printer: 1. Daisy wheel 2. Dot matrix 3. Pen based plotter 4. Line printer 5. Typewriter-derived 6. Teletypewriter-derived As with digital cameras, there are many different types of printer with a huge price range. Some modern printers now have wireless connectivity. This means that you can now print documents without having to be physically connected to it through a USB cable. Devices that this works with includes laptops and some tablets and phones.

6. Monitor A monitor is a piece of technology used for viewing different texts, images and videos. It can only work when used with another machine able to transfer information to be displayed. It works by receiving a signal from a source and then relaying the data onto the screen. There are two types of monitors; 1.LCD (Liquid Crystal Display); more expensive but better picture quality 2.CRT (Cathode Ray Tube); more durable and cheaper but worse picture resolution These also have a huge range of models with the more expensive ones giving you a higher quality image. Televisions are very similar to monitors, and in fact you can use a television as a computer monitor, but monitors display the picture at a much higher resolution.

7. CD-ROM A CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read Only Memory) is a type of circular, optical disk capable of storing large amounts of data. They are usually used to store music, games and other forms of data. CD-ROM drives, or optical drives, are CD players inside computers that can have speeds in the range of 1x and beyond and have the capability of playing audio CDs and computer data CDs. Nowadays people tend to use the more common Memory Stick, as they have a larger memory capacity and are less prone to getting damaged more, but in some forms of work CD-ROMs are more appropriate. The price for a empty CD-Rom pack is relatively cheap ranging from about £0.50-£15.00.

8. HDD HDD stands for Hard Disk Drive. A hard drive, as its most commonly know, is a essential part of a computer. The hard drive is where all of your programs and files are stored. If they get damaged then you could lose everything on your computer. A hard drive uses similar memory storage technology to cassette tapes and video tapes. They were first introduced on September 13,1956 and consists of one or more hard drive platters inside of air sealed casing. Most computer hard drives are in an internal drive bay at the front of the computer and connect to the motherboard using either ATA, SCSI, or a SATA cable and power cable. Inside it there are disks, kind of like mirrors, that are covered in a magnetic medium. These spin around. Hard drives are generally inside your computer but today you can now but external ones that can store up to sometimes 500gb of data.

9. Memory SD Cards A SD (Secure Digital card) memory card is a flash memory chip used in things like digital cameras, mobile phones, and other technological devices. The SD card is roughly the size of a stamp and they come with different capacities and transfer speeds. In general, the larger the capacity, the faster the transfer speed. In use since 1999, SD Memory Cards are now available in capacities between 16 Megabytes and 1 Gigabyte. An SD card typically measures 32 x 24 x 2.1 mm and weighs approximately 2grams. SD cards are a great way to store photos, videos and music. Prices range from £5 for a 2gb one to about £45 for a 32gb one.

10. Vector graphic software (corel draw, visio) Vector graphics is a type of computer graphics software that uses mathematical connections to describe an image. Vector graphics are better than raster, or bitmap graphics, which are computer images that are made up of individual pixels. This is because raster graphics needs more pixels to generate a larger image and smaller pixels to generate a smaller image. Vector graphics have little or no limitations because they can be enlarged or reduced in size easily. Picture quality is one of the advantages of a vector graphic. A raster image uses a limited amount of pixels to make up an image and it cannot be enlarged without a losing some of the picture quality. For example, if an image with 100 pixels needs to be enlarged to one with 1,000 pixels, the computer will have to add information in order to fill up the 900 extra pixels. This decreases the level of viewing quality of the picture. Unlike Bitmap Software, Vector images and not confined to a rectangular shapes. Vector objects are defined by mathematical equations rather than by pixels, so they always render at the highest quality. As well as this, changing the attributes of a vector object does not effect the object itself. You can freely change any number of attributes without destroying the basic object.

11. Bitmap software (paintshop pro, paint, GIMP) Bitmap software is software that produces an image using pixels. Pixels are tiny dots used to display an image. Your computer screen is made up of thousands upon thousands of pixels. Most monitors display approximately 70 – 100 pixels per inch but monitor specifications may lower or raise this number. The disadvantage with bitmap software is that if you enlarge or decrease the size of an image then the quality becomes much worse. Bitmap software uses a limited amount of pixels to make up an image and it cannot be enlarged without a losing some of the picture quality. For example, if an image with 100 pixels needs to be enlarged to one with 1,000 pixels, the computer will have to add information in order to fill up the 900 extra pixels. This decreases the level of viewing quality of the picture. Common Bitmap formats include BMP, GIF, JPEG AND PNG. Popular Bitmap editing programs are Microsoft Paint, Adobe Photoshop and Corel Photo-Paint.

12. Photo manipulation software (photoshop). Photo manipulation is when you use image editing techniques to photographs in order to create an illusion or deception. It also allows you to alter, correct and adjust photos in order to give them a better appearance. Expert users of photo manipulation software can create changes undetectable to the eye, with results potentially similar to the work of a Hollywood special-effects artist. Although experts use photo manipulation software to create incredible images, many other people use it to adjust personal photos. For example, people use it to remove the ‘red-eye’ effect, to rotate and add text to their photos. Photoshop is the most common form of photo manipulation software. It allows you to crop images, cut out one part of an image and put it onto another and use many other photo editing tools.

13. An example of a program that uses a graphics software Photoshop is a program that uses photo manipulation software to allow the user to edit, combine and resizing images to create a new image. It is used by both professionals to create movie style images, and by general public to alter their personal images. Good points: 1.The basic tools are reasonably easy to use. 2.A large range of tools to create the desired image 3.The picture quality of the finished, edited product is clear and of a good quality Bad points: 1.Some of the tools are very complicated to use 2.The help instructions are not very informative. 3.It’s quite expensive for a general user as they will not be able to use all of the features to their maximum ability. Photoshop

14. Choosing the best software I have, in previous slides, given information about the three types of software: Vector Graphic Software, Bitmap Software and Photo Manipulation Software. Vector Graphic Software is good for making your pictures and videos look realistic and sharp. It is also good if you want your images to ‘flow’ and freely combine with other images without having the restrictions of a rectangular shape, like Bitmap Software. Photo Manipulation Software is good for editing images by, for example, cropping them, combining two images together or changing the colour of a certain part of the image. Professionals tend to prefer photo manipulation software as it gives them movie style images without the cost of special equipment and programs. However, quite a few people find this software difficult to use. Bitmap software is good for putting an image onto your computer screen. It is also good for basic users and if you don’t have a particularly good computer. I think that photo manipulation software is the best because it allows you to edit images and view them in good quality. Even though it takes quite a long time to master the software completely, you can still create excellent images whilst only using the basic tools.

15. The need for converting files Converting files is important because some files can be viewed in a better quality or can be uploaded quicker depending on what the file type is. Different file types are kind of like a different language so different programs read different languages (file types). Different file types can also store different amounts of data within them.

16. File Sizes The file size measures the size of a computer file. Usually it is measured in bytes, such as Mega Bytes or Giga Bytes. The amount of disk space used by the file depends on the file system. The maximum file size a file system can contain depends on the number of bytes reserved to store the information and the total size of the file system. NameSymbolNumber of Bytes Equal to Kilo ByteKB10241,024 bytes Mega ByteMB1,048,5761,024 KB Giga ByteGB1,073,741,8241,024 MB Tera ByteTB 1,099,511,627,776 1,024 GB

17. The need for naming files Naming files is important because it allows you to know what it is and what the file contains. If you just call it ‘jndfjkhnvjksdmncvkjsx’, for example, you will have no idea what it is. It is also important because when you want to send a file to someone via email, it will need to have an appropriate name so that the recipient can know what is contained within the file.

18. Different file types There are many, many different file types that contain and allow you to view and edit and huge range of data. Some are:.bmp – Bit-map Image File: This is a very common image file format that can be opened by the majority of image manipulation packages..jpeg – JPEG Graphics File: A file that is a compressed image. Normally compressed at a ratio of 10:1 while keeping near to uncompressed image quality..png – Graphics File: It is an image format that uses lossless data compression. Images saved as.png can be viewed by virtually all internet browsers..gif – GIF Image File: Used mostly for internet use.

19. Comparing the file types.jpeg and.png are most commonly used for images and in displaying them to the best quality..gif is a bit-map file type and used on the web because of its portability and quality..bmp is usually used in photo manipulation software because of its ease of use and its good.

20. Sources Main Sources – www.wisegeek.orgwww.wisegeek.org www.howstuffworks.com www.webopedia.com Other sources – www.about.comwww.about.com http://enwikipedia.org