Vector Graphics Terminology -2

Fill

A fill can be applied to any area within a path. Fills can be single blocks of colour, gradients, patterns or images (raster or vector).



Join

Two or more line segments meet with a join, and the join style can usually be one of three types: miter join, round join, or bevel join.




Line segment

Paths are made up of one or more line segments. A line segment comes between two anchor points and is either a curve or a straight line.



This path is made up of six line segments (one straight and five curved)

Path (Open Path; Closed Path)

The path is the basis for all vector objects. A path is made up of one or more line segments connected by two or more anchor points. Paths can be made from a combination of straight lines and curves, each of which may be made up of many connecting points. Paths can be open or closed. An open path is one with unconnected end points, while a closed path is one whose start and end points meet.


Open paths (anchor points and line segments shown in blue)



Closed paths (anchor points and line segments shown in blue)

Polygon

A polygon is any closed path made up of three or more adjoining line segments. Vector drawing programs usually provide tools for drawing ellipses (circles and ovals), squares and rectangles, and most have polygon tools allowing you to automatically draw other shapes such as triangles, stars or shapes with any number of sides. Once created, basic polygons can be edited to form much more complex shapes.




Rasterise

Rasterising is the process of converting an image from a vector format to a raster (or bitmap) format. Vector images usually need to be rasterised in order to print or display them on the Web. Once rasterised, the individual components of the vector graphic (paths, fills, strokes, text, etc) can no longer be edited. A vector image that has been rasterised is like any other raster image in that it is a 'resolution-dependent' matrix of pixels (i.e. it cannot be scaled without loss of quality).

The conversion process is relatively straight forward - opening or importing a vector image in most raster-based image editing programs (such as Adobe Photoshop or Corel Paint Shop Pro - see TASI Advice Document Image Editing Software) will prompt the user to select pixel dimensions and resolution for the file. You can also save or export vector images as bitmaps using vector-based drawing programs (such as Adobe Illustrator or Macromedia FreeHand - see TASI Advice Document Vector Graphics Resources).




Once a vector image has been rasterised it is no longer resolution-independent. The diagram on the left illustrates the scalability of the original vector graphic - the zoomed portion remains crisp and clear. The diagram on the right shows the obvious visual distortion that occurs when you zoom in after rasterisation.



Stroke

A stroke is a path's outline. A path can have multiple strokes of varying widths. Strokes can be coloured or patterned.




Here it gets over we will discuss about the vector graphics tool from adobe called "Adobe Illustrator" in the next post

regards
NikiJackson

Vector Graphcis Terminologies..

We will discuss about the terminology used in vector graphics

Anchor point (point; Node; End point;)

Anchor points (or simply 'points') are the basic components of a path. Points appear at the start and end of a path and at every point at which the path changes direction. Points connect each line segment and determine the nature of the line's curve. Each point can be moved to adjust the shape of the path. Points can be added or removed from existing paths.



Six anchor points connecting six line segments to create a closed path


Bézier curve (Curve)

A curved segment of a path is known as a Bézier curve (after French mathematician Pierre Bézier). Bézier curves are defined by mathematical equations - essentially, the coordinates of a curve can be calculated and drawn by knowing the position of two end points and two control points.




Cap

The cap refers to the end of an open path, and the cap style can usually be one of three types: butt cap, round cap, or projecting cap (aka square cap).



Control handle (Control point)

Control handles appear when a path's anchor point is selected. Control handles give greater control and flexibility over how each point and line segment is placed, and allow fine-tuning of the overall shape of the path.



Moving the control handles affects the shape of the path

Why to use Vector Graphics?

Its not been a problem in knowing history of any subject. but it always good to know why to use it.. thats what we are going to discuss today...

Why to use Vector Graphics?

Most professional graphic designers create logos (and other images with less colors) with a vector based program such as Adobe Illustrator or Flash. This is beneficial because

• The logo can then be scaled smaller to fit on a small business card
• Scaled indefinitely and put on a giant billboard
• The side of a skyscraper, for that matter.
• Vector files are typically extremely small in file size compared to bitmap images Its very easy and quick to work with.


see you in next post

Regards
NikiJackson