TOPIC OUTLINE

Intro to Digital Images

Intro to Computer Graphics
Raster
Vector
Intro to Color Theory
RGB
CMYK

INTRODUCTION TO
DIGITAL IMAGES

HOW DIGITAL IMAGES WORK, AND IN

PARTICULAR THE CODE TO MANIPULATE
THEM

IMAGE DATA

You see images on computers all the time. Here we will

look behind the curtain, seeing how images are put
together. What looks like a whole image to us, in the
computer is a structure made of many little numbers.

 Thematic Aside:

this will echo a common theme in computer science -what looks like an organic complicated whole, is
"atomized" in the computer ... made up of a very large
collection of very simple elements.

 An image is a grid of little square "pixels"

Each pixel is a small square that shows a single color
An 800 x 600 image is 800 pixels wide by 600 pixels high,
480,000 pixels in all (0.5 million pixels)
Digital cameras today produce images with several million
pixels per image, say 8000 x 6000 for 5 million pixels
The color of each pixel is set by three colors: red, green
and blue.

INTRO TO
COMPUTER
GRAPHICS

WHAT IS COMPUTER
GRAPHICS?
Computer Graphics is the use of computers to display and
manipulate information in graphical or pictorial form,
either on a visual-display unit or via a printer or plotter.

2 TYPES OF
COMPUTER GRAPHICS

Vector Graphics
Raster Graphics

RASTER GRAPHICS
composed of pixels
more commonly called bitmap images
A bitmap is basically an array of pixels with values
indicating the color.
The bitmap sizes are defined in pixels.
BMP, TIF, GIF, JPG, PNG and most other graphics formats
are raster graphics.
Since the sizes are measured in pixels, the print
dimension depends on the resolution of the printer.

 Other formats use compression algorithm to reduce the

file size without causing great visual degrading, but
remember the barcode is read by machines other than
human.
Overall, you need to keep the physical size unchanged
otherwise you will run into problems.

VECTOR GRAPHICS
composed of drawing paths
use mathematical relationships between points and the
paths connecting them to describe an image.

A vector graphic contains the drawing instructions other

than the color value in pixels.

Other vector graphics formats include EPS (Encapsulated

PostScript), SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) format.
usually are easily modified within the creating application
and generally are not affected detrimentally by scaling
(enlarging or reducing their size).

 It is important to understand the difference between these

two types before you choose the graphics format to save
the barcode image.

RASTER

VECTOR

COLOR
MODELS

 an orderly system for creating a whole range of colors

from a small set of primary colors.
There are two types of color models, those that are
subtractive and those that are additive.
Additive color models use light to display color
subtractive models use printing inks.
Colors perceived in additive models are the result of
transmitted light.
Colors perceived in subtractive models are the result of
reflected light.

THE TWO MOST COMMON

COLOR MODELS

RGB Color Model(computer display)

CMYK Color Model(printing)

RGB COLOR MODEL

Additive color model
For computer displays
Uses light to display color
Colors result from transmitted light

Red+Green+Blue=White

CMYK COLOR MODEL

Subtractive color model
For printed material
Uses ink to display color
Colors result from reflected light

Cyan+Magenta+Yellow=Black

 Notice the centers of the two color charts.

In the RGB model, the convergence of the three primary

additive colors produces white.
In the CMYK model, the convergence of the three primary
subtractive colors produces black.

RGB

CMYK

REFERENCES
http://www.stanford.edu/class/cs101/imageintroduction.html
http://mdn.morovia.com/kb/Vector-Raster-Graphics10615.html
http://www.sketchpad.net/basics1.htm
http://www.allgraphicdesign.com/graphics/comptutergrap
hics101.html