Session 8 Lesson Plan
4 Be able to create and modify graphic images to meet user requirements
User need: client needs as distinct from user needs; identifying target audience;
user requirements; constraints, eg house style, image size, intended use, file
size, production costs, timescale;
output media
Reviewing: check against client need and user need;
proofing;
image resolution;
file formats; other, eg speed of loading
Vector Graphics
Shapes
Anti-aliasing
Parts of a typical flatbed scanner include:
- Charge-coupled device (CCD) array This is the image sensor used in digital cameras
- Mirrors
- Scan head
- Glass plate
- Lamp
- Lens
- Cover
- Filters
- Stepper motor
- Stabilizer bar
- Belt
- Power supply
- Interface port(s)
- Control circuitry
Scanners are hardware appliances that allow a PC to convert a picture or graphical object into digital code that allows the computer to display and use an image. A scanner has the ability to translate an unlimited number of analog voltage levels into digital values.
Resolution
This shows how sharp and detailed the scanner can read. The scans are measured in dots per inch (dpi). With higher resolutions, the sharper the image, but more memory is required to scan the file.
Types of Scanners
Flatbed scanners have a glass window where the item to be scanned is placed on top of while the head moves past the item. This method is similar to a xerox machine.
Handheld scanners are small, portable scanners that depend on a human operator to move the head across the object or image to be scanned.
Use a scanner to scan in magazine photographs which can then be imported into the pictures of the buildings.
- Insert your pendrive
- Load the Paperport application
- Scan in the item
- Drag the item to the pendrive from paperport
Client and User Needs
What the client wants and what the user needs.
The Client pays for what they decide their client needs, but is this what the user really wants and really needs.
Clients and users may have different needs from digital graphics.
The client is the person or organisation that has commissioned and will pay for the job so their needs are the most important. Their needs might include such aspects as:
- keeping to a corporate style
- using file formats that are compatible with their software
- keeping within their guidelines for file sizes that are appropriate for website download times and any other bandwidth or storage considerations.
The user is anyone who sees the digital graphics.
Their needs include:
- images having enough resolution to make the picture quality acceptable
- images that clearly convey intended information.
Identifying the target Audience
Identifying the target audience is important because it will help you to be clear about who will be seeing the completed images and why. Understanding this makes a big difference to the effectiveness of images, as knowing the reasons for creating them will help you to target them better.
When the images are near to completion, you can show them to people selected from the target audience for feedback on how well they meet the user needs.
User Requirements
Most graphic productions have constraints to help make the production practical and useful.
Constraints may include:
- house style — so the graphic fits in with the rest of the
document and other publications from the client
organisation - image size — to ensure that the graphic meets requirements such as acceptable load times for web pages or acceptable resolution for printing
- intended use — to make sure the graphics are appropriate for their target audience
- file size — particularly important for web page load times, but may also be an issue if the graphics are to be delivered on CD-ROM or other media where there is a limited amount of space
- production costs — to keep within budget and to not make work unprofitable
- timescale — as an image completed after the rest of a job is published is of little use.
Output Media
The output medium is whatever is used to convey the image to the end user.
Output media include:
- paper
- vinyl
- textiles
- display
- plates (for printing).
Anti-aliasing
Anti-Aliasing is a method of fooling the eye that a jagged edge is really smooth. Anti-Aliasing is often done in games and on graphics cards.
The letter on the left is a blown up letter a with no anti-aliasing. The letter on the right has had anti-aliasing applied to it. In this blown up form it looks like its simply blurred but if we reduce the size down to a more standard size you may see the difference.
Now look closely at the two letters. You can still tell that the letter of the left is jagged but the letter on the right looks a lot smoother and less blurry than the example above. Remember I have only shrunk the image down back to normal size and have not altered anything else to the image at all. Anti-Aliasing brings a much more pleasing image to the eye by making the image worse!
