Graphics & Images

Table of Content
1. Introduction
2. Types of graphics
3. Resolution
4. Memory/Storage requirement
5. Types of images
6. Image colour schemes
7. Colour dithering
8. Image processing
9. Graphic file formats
Introduction

• Image is a spatial representation of an object or a

scene. (image of a person, place, object)

• Graphic is a broader and general definition which

includes:
 Photographs
 Drawings or Line arts
 Clip arts
 Buttons and Banner
 Charts and graphs
 Backgrounds
 Icons
Picture Vs Graphics / Image
Pictures:
• Pictures are found in the world which is
external to the computers.

Images / Graphics:
• Images are the 2-Dimensional digital
representations of pictures found in computers.
• Computer attempts to duplicate the “look and
feel” of a picture via storing and processing.
• Therefore, an image is a “realistic” version of
the original picture ; dependant on the quality
and capabilities of the computer and the graphic
artist’s ability to use the software.
Types of Graphic

• Bitmap graphics

• Vector graphics
Bitmap graphics
• The most common and comprehensive form of
storage for images on computers is bitmap
image.
• Bitmap use combination blocks of different
colors (known as pixels) to represent an
image. Each pixel is assigned a specific
location and color value.
• There are also called pixelized or raster
graphics.
• Software to edit bitmapped graphics are :
• Adobe Photoshop
• Paint Shop Pro
Bitmap graphics
• Advantage
• Can have different
textures on the
drawings; detailed and
comprehensive.
• Disadvantage
• Large file size
• Not easy to make
modification to
objects/drawings
• Graphics become
"blocky" when the size
is increased
Vector Graphics
• Vector images are based on drawing
elements/objects to create an image.

• The elements and objects are stored as a series

of command that define the individual objects.

• Packages that allow to create vector graphics

include :
• Macromedia Freehand MX
• Macromedia Flash MX
• Adobe Illustrator
 Vector Graphics
Advantage
• Small file size
• Maintain quality as the
size of the graphics is
increased
• Easy to edit the
drawings as each object
is independent of the
other.

Disadvantage
• Objects/drawings cannot
have texture; it can only
have plain colors or
gradients ; limited level
of detail that can be
presented in an image.
Resolution
There are three types of resolution measuring different aspects of the
quality, detail and size of an image:

• Color resolution
• Image resolution
• Display resolution

Image Resolution:
The term resolution often associated with an image’s degree of
detail or quality.

Display Resolution:
Resolution also can refer to quality capability of graphic output
(monitor).

Color Resolution / Color Depth:

Color depth describe the number of bits used to represent the color
of a single pixel.
Image resolution
• Image resolution measures the pixel dimension
of an overall image or how many pixel the
image has.

• Image resolution is measured in width and

height

• For example, 100 * 100-pixel image has a total

of 10,000 pixels
Display resolution
• Display resolution is also measured in pixels in terms of
height and width.

• It simply means how many pixels can be displayed on

the computer screen.

• Display resolution normally uses a setting of

640x480(VGA), 800x600 (SVGA), 1024x768, etc.

• You can change the display resolution under

Appearance and Personalization in Control panel.

• If your image resolution is bigger than the display

resolution, the result would be part of the image will be
out of the display area.
Memory/Storage requirement
• Factors to consider:
• The height of the graphics
• The width of the graphics
• The color depth or bit depth

• The file size of a bitmap image (in bytes):

Height X Width X (Color depth / 8)

Color resolution/Color Depth
• Each pixel can represent at least 2 possible
colors or more.
• Color resolution or color depth/channel depth is
measured in bits.
Color Depth Calculation Number of colors
1 bit 21 = 2 2 colors
4 bits 24 = 16 16 colors
8 bits (1 byte) 28 = 256 256 colors
16 bits (2 216 = 65,536 65,536 colors
bytes) 224 = 16,777,216 16,777,216 colors
24 bits (3
bytes)
Binary (Bitonal) Image
• These images have two possible
values of pixel intensities: black
and white.

• Also called 1-bit monochrome

image, since it contains only black
and white.

• Typical applications of bitonal

images include office/business
documents, handwritten text, line
graphics, engineering graphics etc.

• The scanned output contains a

sequence of black or white pixels.
Binary 1 represents a black pixel
and binary 0 represents a white
pixel.
Grayscale Image
• They contain several shades of
grey.

• Typical applications of grayscale

images include newspaper
photographs (non-color), magnetic
resonance images and cat-scans.

• An uncompressed grayscale image

can be represented by n bits per
pixel, so the number of gray levels
supported will be 2n.

• For example, 8-bit Grayscale

Image. It consists of 256 gray
levels. A dark pixel might have a
pixel value of 0, a bright one might
be 255.
Color Image
• They are characterized by the
intensity of three primary colors
(RGB).

• For example, 24-bit image or 24

bits per pixel. There are
16,777,216 (224) possible colors.
In other words, 8 bits for
R(Red), 8 bits for G(Green), 8
bits for B(Blue).

• Since each value is in the range

0-255, this format supports 256
x 256 x 256 or 16,777,216
different colors.
RGBA / 32-bit images
• An important point: many 24-bit color images
are actually stored as 32-bit images, with the
extra byte of data for each.
• Allows RGBA color scheme; Red, Green, Blue,
Alpha.
• Pixel used to store an alpha value representing
the degree of “transparency”.
Image Color Schemes
Various Color Schemes
• Several color schemes (also called color space,
models or formats) have been developed to
represent color mathematically.

• There are 4 commonly used color schemes :

• RGB Color Scheme

• CMY or CMYK Color Scheme
• HSB or HSI
(Hue,Saturation,Brightness/Intensity) Color
Scheme
• YUV Color Scheme
1) RGB Color Scheme
• Colors are represented by
a numeric triplet specifying
R, G and B intensities. This
model is convenient for
CRTs since the numeric
values can be easily
mapped to voltages for the
R, G, and B guns.
• Any color can be defined
by giving its R, G and B
values, or coordinates,
(red,green,blue). This is
referred to as an ordered
triplet.
2) CMY/CMYK Color Scheme
• CMYK (Cyan,Magenta,Yellow,Black) scheme is widely used
for color printing. To print a particular color on a white
page, one must apply inks that subtract (absorb) all colors
other than the one desired.

• Cyan, magenta, and yellow are the subtractive primaries

and are the complements of red, green and blue. Color is
specified by what is subtracted from white light (which is
the sum of R, G and B).

• Cyan subtracts red from white, and so on. Therefore, white

can only be generated on white paper. The conversion
between RGB and CMY can be done by using :  C  1  R 
 M  1   G 
     
 Y  1  B 
3) HSB/HSL Color Scheme
• Computer monitors display colors by emitting color dots (red,
green, blue).

• Creation of color is based on function of three characteristics:

> hue, saturation & brightness / lightness. (HSB / HSL)

• Colors are represented by a triplet representing hue (hue is

dominant color of a sample and is represented by an angular
value varying from red to green to blue at 120° intervals),
saturation (purity of the color) and brightness (luminance, or
intensity of the color).
HSB/HSL Color Scheme
• Hue:
It is the color sensation produced in an observer due to the presence
of certain wavelengths of color. Each wavelength presents a different
hue. Hue is based on a vector value moving from 0 to 360 degrees on
a color wheel.

• Saturation:
This is a measure of color intensity, for example, the difference
between red and pink. Although the two colors have the same
predominant wavelength, one may have more white color mixed in
with it and hence appear less saturated. (100% = pure color, 0% =
black, white , gray)

• Intensity / Luminance or Brightness :

This is a measure of the light emitted or reflected by an object.
Certain colors appear brighter than others as the human eye does not
respond in the same way to all colors. The human eyes see finer
details in image scene more because of brightness variations than
because of color variations.
4) YUV Color Scheme
• This is the basic color format used by
composite color TV standards (NTSC, PAL
and SECAM).

• Y represents the luminance/brightness and

can be thought of as containing black and
white or gray-scale information.

• U and V carry the chrominance or color

information. There are a variety of YUV-like
color models.

• The advantage of using YUV for broadcast

is that the amount of data needed to define
a television picture is greatly reduced.

• The disadvantage is that many colors that

appear on a computer display cannot be
recreated on TV.
Color Dithering
• Usually, digitised images are 24 bit,
16 million colour depth.

• If display system is limited to less

than 16 million colours, the image
must be transformed for display in the
lesser colour environment (color
dithering).

• Color Dithering – the process

through which colors are changed to
meet the closest available color based
on the available palette

• colors are substituted with closest

available colours (output device)

• The quality of dithering will depend on

the algorithm used to select the
closest color.
Image Processing
Image Processing
• Analyzing and manipulating images with a
computer. Image processing generally
involves three steps:

• 1. Import an image with an optical scanner or directly

through digital photography.

• 2. Manipulate or analyze the image in some way. This

stage can include image enhancement and data
compression.

• 3. Output the result. The result might be the image

altered in some way.
Image Processing Techniques
• Image processing operations may operate directly on
pixel data or on higher level features such as edges,
surfaces, and volumes.

• Image processing operations may be roughly divided into

six categories.

- Editing
- Point operations
- Filtering
- Compositing
- Geometric transformations
- Conversions.

• Support for a variety of image operations is now

becoming available in page layout and paint programs
(such as Photoshop).
1) Editing
• The most basic operation is changing
individual pixels.

• Image editors also support cutting, copying, and

pasting selected groups of pixel. A selection
might be a simple rectangular sub-image or an
arbitrarily shaped region.

• Selections are either drawn by the user or

calculated by software (for instance, by
examining color differences between
neighboring pixels).
2) Point Operations
• A point operation consists of applying a function to every pixel
in an image (or selection).

• The function is such that in calculating a new pixel value, the

only image data used is the pixel’s current value and
exclude the neighboring pixels.

• Examples include:

• Thresholding: A pixel is set to 1 or 0 depending upon

whether it is above or below the threshold value. This creates
monochrome (binary) images which are often used as masks
when compositing*.
* Compositing: creating new images or moving images by
combining images from different
sources – like real- world digital video,
film, synthetic 3-D imagery, 2-D animations,
painted backdrops, digital still photographs, and text.

• Color correction: An image may be modified to increase or

reduce contrast, brightness, and to strengthen or weaken
particular colors.
3) Filtering
• Filter operations, like point operation, involve
applying a function to every pixel in an image or
selection.

• The function determines a pixel’s new value

based on its current value and that of
neighboring pixels.

• Depending on the definition of the function,

filtering is used to blur or sharpen the image,
introduce distortions, and produce a variety of
special effects.
4) Compositing
• Image compositing is the combination of two or
more images to produce a new image.

• Alpha channels are frequently used to control

blending and masking.

• In general, compositing is specified by

mathematical relationship between the various
images. For instance one image might be
produced from the sum of two existing images.

• A very large variety of effects are possible.

5) Geometric Transformations
• Basic geometric transformations include
displacing, rotating, mirroring, and scaling an
image.

• Other geometric transformations include

skewing (slanting) and warping (an example of
warping is mapping a rectangular selection to
an arbitrary four-sided polygon)
6) Conversions
• With the variety of image formats available, there
is a frequent need to convert from one format to
another.

• Fortunately, there are a number of public domain

software packages which handle many format
conversion tasks. In addition, image processing
software will usually import and export images in
a number of formats.

• Besides format conversion, there are other

operations that can be considered forms of
conversion. These include image compression
or decompression, changing color schemes
(or models) and changing image depth or
resolution.
 Graphic File format
• Due to the number of choices available in
determining image representation, it is not
surprising that a number of image formats
have evolved. Some examples of image
file formats used for storing images are

• GIF (Graphics Interchange Format)

• Bitmap
• PostScript
• JPEG
• TIFF (Tagged Image File Format)
• TGA (often called Targa)
• PNG, and etc.
Graphics Interchange Format
(GIF)
• 8-bit per pixel, bitmap image format commonly used by the world
wide web.

• Uses lossless compression technique.

• Compress line art well

• Image can have transparent portion

• Interlaced images possible

• Animation possible (Jasc Animation Shop )

• Can only have a maximum of 256 colors

• Does not compress photographs well

• Copyrighted format such that developers must pay royalty

Windows Bitmap (BMP)
• Bitmapped Graphics Format.

• Most common format containing pixel by pixel value.

• Platform independent

• Support up to 24-bit color depth

• No compression

• A 32-bit version with integrated alpha channel has been

introduced with Windows XP. (support transparency)

• No animation
Joint Photographic Expert Group
(JPEG)
• Commonly used standard method of compression for
photographic images.

• Support a maximum of 16.7 million colors

• Compresses photographs well

• Possible to select compression ratio versus quality

• Progressive (interlaced) images possible

• Lossy compression technique: Losses some image

information.

• Degradation of image possible with repeated editing and saving

• No transparency

• No animation
Portable Network Graphic (PNG)
• No color information lost

• Can use all color depth - supports more than 16.7

million colors

• Compresses well- Lossless Compression Technique

• Image can have transparent portion

• No animation
Other Graphic File formats
• RAW Graphics File Format (.raw)
A flexible basic file format for transferring files between
applications and computer platforms. This format consists
of a stream of bytes describing the color information in the
file.

• Tagged Image File Format (.tif, .tiff)

TIFF is mainly used for exchanging documents between
different applications and different computer platforms. It
supports the LZW method compression for image types.

• Truevision Targa (.tga)

Developed by Truevision Inc. TGA files is a file format that
will support images suitable for display on Targa hardware
but is supported by many applications on a wide range of
platforms.

• Z Soft Paintbrush (.pcx)

Bitmap graphics file format, originally developed by Z-Soft
for use with PC-Paintbrush. This file format is now used and
generated by many applications and scanners.
COMMON VECTOR FORMATS

• Adobe Illustrator file (.ai)

• CORELDraw file (.cdr)
• Enhance Metafile (.emf)
• Encapsulated PostScript file (.ps)
• Macromedia FreeHand file (.fh)
• Macintosh PICT (.pic or .pct)
• ShockWave Flash (.swf)
• Scaleable Vector Graphic (.svg)
• Windows Metafiles (.wmf)
Summary
1. Types of graphics
- bitmap graphic
- vector graphic
2. Resolution
- Image resolution
- Display resolution
- Colour resolution
3. Graphic file size = Height X Width X (Colour depth / 8)
4. Types of images
- Binary/Bitonal image
- Grayscale image
- Colour image
- RGBA/32-bit image
Summary
5. Image colour schemes
- RGB colour scheme
- CMY/CMYK colour scheme
- HSB/HSI colour scheme
- YUV colour scheme
6. Colour dithering is the process through which colours are
changed to meet the closest available colour based on the available
palette.
7. Image processing techniques:
- Editing
- Point operations
- Filtering
- Compositing
- Geometric transformations
- Conversions