digital graphics

What is a pixel?
A pixel is a small dot of colour that in large doses that put together to make a low quality image. The pixel is the smallest addressable screen element that can be seen, each pixel has its own address and its address is it coordinates. Each pixel can have its own colour so it is a large file if you have a high resolution because there is so many different colours in each file.

What is a bitmap?
A bitmap is an image that looks amazing at the right size but when it is zoomed in on its quality fades in till all you can see is pixels. Bitmap images are usually used for Internet pictures that are small files that are quick and easy to download.

What is a vector?
A vector is an image that looks amazing at its right size but even if you zoom in to a section of the image the quality stays the same and doesn't show any pixels. Vector images are used for high detailed jobs like if you work in a taxi service you need to get the logo for a small flier and a large taxi size so you need an image that is not going to lose quality when zoomed in on.

What is a JPEG?
A JPEG is a bitmap image file because if it is used to much it loses quality this makes it a lossy image, but it has a small image size.

what is a PNG?
A PNG is a portable network graphics that is also an bitmap image that is used for Internet use and not for saving loads and has a lossless compression so you can save as much as you want without losing any detail or colour.

What is a GIF?
A GIF image is graphics interchange format that is a bitmap image that supports up to 8 bits per pixel that allows up to 256 distinct colours. This type of graphic also allows for animation that is a good thing to use for internet bloggers.

What is resolution?
The resolution of an image is the amount of pixels that image has, the more pixels/resolution of an image would make the image a higher quality e.g. HD image or now even a Blu ray image. The resolution of an image also changes if the image is for printing that needs 300 DPI (dots per inch) and an image that only needs to be on a computer only needs 72 DPI because it doesn't need to change size so it stays the same.

2D sprites

2D sprites are models that are made up of pixels that can be seen if you zoom in.
2D sprites also means you measure by 2D coordinates of an isometrics sprite.

3D sprites are where you can see around a corner. A 3D sprite also is measured by 3D coordinates one vertical, one horizontal and one depth.

job roles

Concept artist

Concept art is a baseline that is a rough idea or sketch for the 3D modelers and concept artists to use instead of just making their own idea that is wrong to the story line of the game and makes the whole situation fail. The modeler or artist will enhance and make changes to these rough drawings and make them game worthy.

Texture artist

Texture artists are a big part of the games development because they pun colour and texture on everything in the whole game. Texture artists work aside the concept artist because they need to get the colours and detail just right to the idea of the artist.

3D modeler

A 3D modeler is the person who makes the ideas from a concept artist into an animatable computer images that can be sent to the animator and makes sure all the the marks and all the extremely small detail.

The different types of graphics that are used in computer games

The first of these are cel shaded graphics.

cel shaded games include Afro samurai, Borderlands and the Simpson's game (DS version only) this is where the all the video games detail has large black outlines around it.

abstraction graphics are like some games because they have strange creatures with limbs that would never be normal in reality like resident evil games as shown in this picture.

exaggeration graphics are where something is made to be much larger that they are in life like gears of war 3 with Dom and Marcus with there arms about 4 times the size of an normal mans as shown here.

But on the other hand there is photo realism graphics that's goals are to make the scenery and detail as realistic as possible as in the games crisis and operation Flashpoint dragon rising.

what is 2D and 3D?

2D is a two dimensional image that has no layers so you can't see the characters front and can only go from one side of the page to the other and as you can see in the picture that there is no intense map detail or any in game roundness there is just flat rectangles and pixels so there is no need to be spending ages on the game you just need to make sure you have a slight resemblance to what it's supposed to look like.

2D is used in old video games such as Mario, sonic and metal slug, it is a simple style of graphics because it doesn't need depth but it does have height and depth and can be run by a piece of low quality hardware.

3D is a third dimensional image that has layers and depth as in call of duty and fallout games you see the alley in front of you and you can see your characters arms and guns as they shooting and reloading the weapon as the gun comes up to the screen you can see the magazine drop and the other can be entered.

Street fighter IV is a game that shows that there is no boundaries between 2D and 3D because this shows the player that you can use both at the same time. when you are playing games like street fighter or mortal kombat you can see that they use 2D to fight one on one till the players life goes down till nearly empty then you can do a super finishing move that changes the screen into 3D and shows the whole detail of the game.

my favourite box art

I like the box art of borderlands because it has a lot of detail of what’s to come.


It shows the psycho pretending to shoot himself through the head and the blood splatter shows scenes of the bandits in their car and spiderants chasing after them.

In the far background you can see a large mining ship that is controlled by a mental mercenary that tries to kill off the completion that comes to the area of borderlands that has nothing to do except taking over his lair.

I also like the box art because it could be taken as the psycho could be you pretending to shoot the memories of the horrors he has faced through his travels to find the vault of alien treasures. It also shows the clans sign you have when you start on the back.

The target audience is adults that are in to sin city sort of graphics but with colour. I think it does hit the target audience because it shows there’s going to be killing because of the person on the front is even pretending to shoot him self.