Vector vs. Rastor images

K
Posted By
KPanthen
Jul 31, 2006
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342
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Good morning! I am confused. Can any one explain vector vs. rastor images in laymans terms? The difference between BMP and Rastor images?

KEN PANTHEN, Albany, NY

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HB
Heather Bell
Jul 31, 2006
Simply put as possible, I suggest if you want technically "accurate" info you look these up on-line, this is just to give you an "idea".
Vector: paths, a system by which the parameters of an object is mathematically determined by calculating lines and arcs between points. This is the "best" format for logos and other items that will need to be changed in size over time because the size can be altered without loss of quality.
Rastor: Imagine a grid, a raster file takes that grid and says: this pixel this info, that pixel this info, on and on. If you try to enlarge the file, the grid gets larger, while the boxes on the grid stay the same (bigger piece of paper with more boxes) so then the files "makes" up info to place in the new grid spaces, and enlarges the box info, you often get a "pixelated" effect when attempting to enlarge a rastorized image. But this is arguably the best format for photographic imagery.
BMP: is one of the file formats that saves as rastor.
EH
Ed_Hannigan
Jul 31, 2006
BMP: is a certain file format. Beside being a raster format it has little relevance to this issue. The confusion arises in that raster images are also called bitmap images sometimes.

Raster means composed of a grid of pixels, like a mosaic. Photosjhop images are tradionally raster images. Raster imagess arfe dependent on the pixels they are compposed of and are not scalable without loss of image quality.

Vector means the image is a mathematical constuct and is independent of resolution. Thus they are (theoretically) infinitely scalable. Illustrator and Freehand images are vector images.

That’s the simple explanation. In reality it’s more complicated:

<http://builder.com.com/5100-31-5075851.html>

<http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41>

< http://www.nw-media.com/ps_intro/html/lesson_1/lesson1_pg3.h tml>

And so forth. You can Google for more information.
P
Phosphor
Jul 31, 2006
Ken,

Imagine a piece of graph paper. You can ‘draw’ a line by filling in adjacent squares, or you can get out a ruler and just draw from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’.

The first method is an analogue for a raster image and the second for a vector image.

The raster image is just a collection of pixels (like the squares on the graph paper) and there is no real relationship between one pixel and any other pixel.

On the other hand, a vector is a series of mathematical expressions such as "draw a line from point x,y to point x1,y1". In this case, every position upon that line is dependent upon the whole line.

The difference between BMP and Rastor images?<<

A .bmp is just one particular file format of many in which a raster image can be saved.

Some formats can save both raster and vector format within themselves. Examples are .pdf, .psd and .eps, although there are other formats that can do this also.
K
KPanthen
Jul 31, 2006
Boy oh boy, you are all great. Thanks to all. Simple but to the point. I printed out all the specifics you gave me, Ed, thanks so much.

KEN

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