Raster and vector
- 2. Raster File Formats Raster Graphics offer a lot more file formats than Vector but this is because raster is pretty much industry standard for most images meaning that raster will be supported more and uses in thousands of third party editing software for images that in rare cases may offer their own format to export files. This may just be for convenience within the software such as faster loading times compared to loading to a standard format or may be because certain software will offer features that are not supported in others and loading them in other programs would cause errors.
- 3. Advantages of Raster Graphics Raster files generally end up a smaller file size than a vector file, this is because less is processed into the final image compared to a Vector file which because of its format can hold more detail in an image of the same resolution and dpi. Raster images are the natural choice when representing images like photos. They store a value for each pixel, compressing the images with various schemes. Because of the simple data storage technique, Raster files are usually easy to access between different programs and are generally faster to transfer and open.
- 4. Disadvantages of Raster Graphics Vector files cannot easily be used to store extremely complex images, such as some photographs, where colour information is important and may vary on a pixel basis. Vector data displays best on vectored output devices such as plotters and random scan displays. Reconstruction of vector data may take considerably longer than that in a bitmap file of equivalent complexity, because each image element must be drawn individually and in sequence.
- 5. Vector File Formats Vector formats are a little more scarce with the Vector being a relatively new format for images after only becoming widely known following the launch of Adobe Illustrator. Third party software still offers uncommon file extensions for vector files although not as many as raster offers. This is because as previously mentioned Vector is still a recent format and Vector files just don’t have the same usage capabilities as raster so is only used for specific tasks such as logo creation thus isn’t as popular.
- 6. Advantages of Vector Graphics Vector’s way of mapping images mainly benefits logo or illustrations which, granted, is more niche then Bit-map. Vector is designed to not lose quality no matter how close you zoom into it. This also goes for stretching it out as far as you want without any degrade in quality. This is why vector is a lot better for prints from pamphlets to billboards.
- 7. Disadvantages of Vector Graphics Vector isn’t as accessible as a raster because vectors have a much more complex methods to exporting images. Vectors have to try keep each line as straight as possible or in bends, try to fill each crack that a pixel wouldn’t be able to fill. This leads to larger file sizes and a complexity that most soft wares can’t handle