Vector & Bitmap (Raster) Images - DRAFT

For our purposes, image files come in two varieties – bitmap/raster and vector. Bitmap images may have file extensions such as:

• .JPG
• .JPEG
• .BMP
• .TIF
• .TIFF
• .GIF
• .PSD

The images in these files are made up of individual pixels (picture elements); these are the individual colored dots that make up the image on your screen (referred to as resolution). These tiny dots come together to form the larger image that you see on your computer screen. As an example, let’s look at the following bitmap image, which is one taken from our website:

If we enlarge a portion of the same image, you’ll see that the overall resolution has decreased as the image size has increased:

The individual pixels became physically larger without enhancing the image clarity

Vector images are made up of many individual and scalable objects; the objects that make up vector images are defined by mathematical equations rather than individual pixels. Vector images may have file extensions such as:

• .AI
• .EPS
• .CDR
• .DXF

These objects can consist of lines, curves, text, colors and outlines - changing the attributes of the object, such as color does not affect the actual object. You’re also free to change the object, for example from a circle to an oval or from a square to a rectangle without changing the attributes of the object, all this can be accomplished with a mouse click or two. Let’s look at the same image from our website as saved in it’s original vector format:

It looks the same at the original size, however if it’s enlarged:

The vector image has lost none of the clarity as they’re not resolution dependent like their bitmap counterparts; we can make them as large (or small) as we want without sacrificing clarity or quality.

Vector images have many advantages, especially when it comes to the sign and graphics industries. If the logo on your business card is a vector image, it will be equally as clear when scaled to the size of your sign, banner, magnetic, decal or vehicle.

The primary disadvantage when comparing bitmap to vector images is photographs or images with photo-realistic imagery, vector images cannot depict the continuous subtle tones of a photograph.

Vector images primarily originate from computer software. You can’t scan or photograph an image and save it as a vector file without using special conversion software that converts the pixels into the mathematical equations required by vector images. On the other hand, vector images can be easily converted to bitmap images by a process called rasterizing, using this process you define a final output size and resolution of the image and save it as a bitmap image. The process of rasterizing can be imagined as taking a photograph of a black and white or color cartoon image.

If you want a photographic image on your sign, a bitmap image is ideal, if not the only option. If it’s your company logo, most often the original designer of the logo will have designed it using vector image based software. For all image uploads to your custom sign, banner, magnetic or decal we always recommend you have a vector image! If one is not readily available, please visit our page for further details.