Graphics Packages Essay, Research Paper

Graphics Packages

Graphics is a word used for all the different types of artwork, such as photographs, graphs, charts etc.

Graphics packages

Graphics packages may not be as detailed as you think. It can be a simple paint package, which has features of shading, drawing line diagrams and many other simple but effective features. These packages can be an alternative to complicated DTP packages. As it is very difficult to draw with the mouse, many people scan the drawings on the computer and now there are software packages, which do not use a mouse.

New equipment used by professionals so that they can get pictures from a variety of places. A video grabber lets you get pictures from the television or a video camera and you then can alter it on your computer. A digital camera is also very popular as you can take pictures and then put them on your PC and alter then. This also means that you do not have to pay for the developing cost. You can also use clip art for pictures.

Bit map vector graphics

When using a graphics package the graphics file can have the image represented as a:

1.Bit map

2.Vector image

A bit map files makes every dot or pixel on the screen has a single bit of information in a file. If it is in colour, you then need to store additional bits. The disadvantage to this is that if you want to alter anything you have to change it at a pixel at a time. When you enlarge an image, the number of pixels stays the same.

In vector graphics, the lines are stored as equations on the computer. They are stored in vectors. The advantage of vector graphics over bit map files is that it is easy to alter things without any loss in resolution. When you enlarge an image, the number of pixels increases to the proportion of the image. CAD packages use vector images.

Clip Art

Clip Art is a collection of copyright-free drawings which you can place on your drawings. The drawings on clip-art look very professional, as they have been drawn in detail.

Presentation software

Pictures let you give ideas and concepts a better understanding than only words. Good presentations use things such as slides and transparencies to express views. A projector could be used for a large audience or a rolling slide show could be produced on a computer for smaller audiences.

Multimedia presentations

These presentations are useful for training students as the students can see demonstrations and interact with the software. There are many different types of packages, for multimedia presentations, that suit each person needs.

Colour

If you want to print out your graphics then you will need a printer. An ink-jet printer is not that expensive if you need one or you could buy a laser printer which is a better quality but tends to be quite expensive. If you do not have a colour printer then you do not need to worry about colour in the design. If you use black and white on screen then it will come clearer if you have a black and white printer.

Computer aided design

Engineers, architects, etc use CAD, short for computer aided design, so that they can produce high quality drawings. You can have plans of houses, maps, 3-D plans of a room etc. CAD lets the designers to make changes quite easily. They packages even let you rotate the images at different angles. The most popular CAD package is AutoCAD, which is quite expensive but there are many cut down versions available here are the advantages of using CAD:

1. It can save time

2. It enables you to produce accurate scale diagrams

3. It is easy to alter images

4. You can produce a 3-D image, which is useful for diagrams of rooms, buildings etc.

5. Images can be saved on disk and retrieved later

6. Drawings can be scaled up and down

Garden design software

This is one-specialist applications of designs of software and it enables gardeners to place their plants and features like pond and paths and see how the 3-D garden would look like. You even can see the garden at different seasons.