Image Capture, Optimisation and Storage.

Capturing a digital image is essentially having an image on a technical platform such as a screen. This can be captured in many different ways from scanning, photography and also pressing print screen on your keyboard.

A scanner is a piece of kit that allows you to take an image or photograph on some paper and transport it onto another platform such as a PC. This is done by the scanner taking a series of images of the image being placed on the glass with a light underneath it to get a clear image. There are many different types of scanners on the market, there is the standard box scanner in which you place an image under a lid for it to take the copies. This is a low quality image and pixels are often dropped. Mouse scanners are becoming more common, these are scanner cameras built into the laser on the mouse which captures the image by rolling the mouse over it.

A bridge camera is similar to a regular film camera except they have the ability to store photographs inside the memory of the camera, this gives you the choice to transfer them onto the PC using a USB cable. They work similar to an eye in which light bounces off an image and returns back to the lens to create a solid photograph. The price can vary drastically between types of cameras, from £30 for a standard low pixel camera too up to £3,000+ for a higher quality professional bridge styled camera. Bridge cameras are far better if the user is working on a professional basis as they produce much better quality due to the higher resolution available on them. You also have the opportunity to fit special lenses onto the more expensive bridge camera which produce fantastic images, however this also comes at a higher cost, often more than the camera itself.

If you are considering working on digital art then a graphics tablet is a complete must-have purchase for anyone, they are the leading tool in digital art. There are many variations in brands but Wacom is currently the lead producer and they provide a large range from basic standard to high quality industry professional. The three main products from Wacom are Bamboo, Intuos and Cintiq, starting with Bamboo, it is a simple piece of kit that allows you to simply draw using the pen into photoshop or another software of your choice. There aren’t too many tricks in this one and it is pretty standard for any beginner. Recently the Bamboo tablet has changed its name to Intuos Basic and the traditional Bamboo is now used as a signature tool. The next tablet is Intous, these are a leap up from Bamboo and allow you to work on a higher quality more professional basis. They have options such as extra macro buttons that will just make life easier when producing art. They are sold roughly for £200+. The final one in the range I will talk about is the Cintiq, this tablet is the most professional piece of kit you can purchase but at a huge £3000 price tag you can definitely expect value for money.  Similar to the other tablets, the Cintiq essentially lets you draw digitally, however this tablet comes with a huge onscreen 24” display making it so much more convenient to draw on without always looking up to your monitor.

Digital graphics optimisation is cleaning up anything messy about the digital image, this could be the compression, the file type and also the resolution. It is essentially simplifying an image as a whole.

 The image dimensions are what make up an image and essentially how many pixels are in an image and how large it is. This is often spoken about in monitors, for example, you could have a 1080p monitor with an image resolution of 1920p. Simply put, the more pixels, the higher quality the image.

Compressing an image allows you to make the file size smaller, this is great for images that will be placed upon the internet. This is dealt with in Lossy or Lossless compression. The names are pretty self-explanatory but a Lossy Compression will lower the pixels of an image but will not take into consideration the quality and it is often reduced by a lot. Lossless Compression however does keep the optimum level of quality while also lowering the pixel count.

When considering optimising your images it’s very important to ensure the image has a correct name and also ensuring that you name the image with its file extension, this makes the process far less complicated and you can see immediately what you are dealing with.

Another consideration when working with digital images is the file size, this can be incredibly small or incredibly large, it is important to consider all these aspects because if someone if viewing your webpage and they are attempting to download an essential part of your site and the size is so huge that it takes them 30 minutes to see anything then I’m pretty sure they won’t be returning to your site any time soon. It is important to optimise an image where possible, not only for you but for others using the image.

Asset Managing Software in a shell is a an online cloud storage service that you will be able to store any files on, this is great if you are working on a large project with many people or if there is just an emergency with your own computer and you have a backup of all your files. This software is often sold at a price however there was a free version created by the creator of Linux, however if you are a registered company then you have to pay a license fee.

Computer Game Graphic Types.

2D Sprites

A 2D sprite is a flat image created on programs such as Photoshop. These are images that are placed into games and can be animated to act as characters or objects. Systems such as the NES thrived off graphics like this and they made them recognisable. They are often related to and used in retro games such as Mario, Metroid and MegaMan. However, games still use 2D sprites often in newer indie titles such as Super Meat Boy and Dust: An Elysian Tail. 

                                                     

3D Isometric Sprites

A 3D isometric sprite is also a 2D flat image however it is positioned in such a way that gives you the feel of a 3D image. Many games use this technique to give their otherwise simple 2D flat games something new. This style isn't used often anymore with the new technology.

Concept Art

Concept Art is the bases for every game. This is the initial design process for all characters, items and landscapes. These images are then passed onto other departments such as digital graphics so they have a set base to carry out the rest of the process, often concept art is sold for high prices and is seen as a collectible item.

Textures

Textures are another flat image that is created using Photoshop primarily but can also be created in various other software. We use textures to create a net for a 3D model in which you will flatten the 3D model and then assign the texture. There are three different types of texture. Colour, which is a basic colour application texture to your model, a Specular texture which is a type of text that allows you to places shining onto a model, it is shown in black and white but that is just so you can apply more accurately. There is also a Normal texture map which is the one to use for all the highly detailed texturing such as skin marks, and also effects on trees etc. 

User Interface

A user interface is how your game looks, the symbols shown on the screen that allow you to get to where you need to be, backpacks, save menus, options, anything you can see on the screen. It is really important that you get this right as a confusing interface isn't only really bad to look at but also extremely confusing and off-putting to new players who have been introduced to your franchise. You need an interface that isn't to hard that it will block out new potential players but also one that isn't condescending to experienced gamers.

Printed Media.

Printed Media is very important when creating a game. It is what your potential customers are going to see before anything else and you must make sure that your game box art stands out and gives them a taste of what your game is going to be about without spoiling anything. Alongside this alot of successful games now produce guides with other companies, this not only gives people playing your game help in game but will also open you up for a ton of advertising opportunities. Games these days now provide game shops such as GAME with large cardboard cut outs of main characters to advertise their games.

File Formats.

Pixel.

A pixel is a single small square of information that is used in a collection to create an image. It is the smallest part of an image. In games pixels can be used in many ways, all games contain them however some games choose to highlight the use of pixels more than other games who choose to use more realistic graphics.

Image Resolution.

Image Resolution is the information an image contains and is used in reference to Raster Images.

Pixel Colour Intensity.

This is a variable factor in a pixel that makes up for the colour and how bright the pixel is. It uses a RBG chat for base colours. This also includes CYNK.

Pixel Colour Intensity Storage.

Pixel Colour Intensity is stored in the RGB, this is the amount of colour in each of the sections, such as the number of red, the number of green and the number of blue.

Compression.

Compression is the process in which an image is scaled down to a smaller sized format. Compression is important for digital imagery as it allows for an image to be compressed into a size that is a lot smaller and a lot easier to download. A lossy compression is the process in which unused data is discarded and lossless compression is the opposite, it will ensure that all data remains for future use, however it will give you a larger compressed file in comparison.

Types of digital graphics.

The image above shows the difference between a vector and raster image file types.

 

 

This above image shows how compression can effect a high quality image, this shows a full compressed file.

A raster is a file that is made up of lots of tiny dots of colour, there are a large amount of different colours that create a final image. When you download an image from the internet it will most likely be a Raster image and will be in the most common file format, Jpeg. A raster image when zoomed in on will become distort and blurred, you will see a large amount of different colours. .BMP file doesn’t use any compression so it is a huge file, the quality of the files are really high though and you’ll mainly see these on computer graphics such as textures for 3D models. GIF files aren’t as high quality and they are in a lossless format, unfortunately they only provide 256 colours, so they are mainly good for lineart and simple drawings, they allow for animations though!

A TIFF file uses a lossless format also, they have large files and you are able to store additional information into them. These are ideal for photos as the file quality is so high. JPG is the most common file format and is often used for all different types of media, in images you can compress a JPG to many different sizes, however, the lower you compress the file the lower quality the image will be.

A vector image is a file type with numerical values, this means that unlike a raster image you will be able to zoom into large details of an image without it blurring. There are file types that produce Vectors and the most common is PSD and FLA

A PSD image is a Photoshop Document, this is the file that is used for creation in photoshop, being a PSD means the image is in vector form, you are able to zoom into the image to create minor details and change individual pixels. They can store many various additional information such as Layers, Fonts and Textures. It is a source file and doesn’t compress.

A FLA is a very similar file to a PSD in which it is a raw source file in which you will create images in FLASH software. It is a vector image. It will store extra information such as animation.

An .AI is an adobe illustrator file, this again is a raw file similar to .FLA and .PSD these files once finished are exported and compressed, they are best compressed as a PNG or another vector file or they will lose a large amount of their quality.

 

Visual Art Styles in Games

Photorealism

Photorealism is an art-style that is becoming more commonly used in the video game industry as time
progresses, this is a visual that is so realistic that you could believe it was just filmed or photographed from real life. The detail into every section is incredible and makes games look like Hollywood Blockbusters. This visual style is becoming more and more accessible now with the likes of the Cry Engine being on the market, allowing people to create stunning visuals such as games like Crysis 3 and the Call of Duty franchise. The aim of Photorealism is to immerse you into the point in which you wouldn't be able to tell if it was reality or not.

Cel-Shading

Cel-Shading is a very unique and quirky style of art, one which has many people on either side of the fence, you will either really enjoy the bright vibrant styles it has, or you will completely hate the cartoony graphics it
gives. Cel-shaded games look like 2D images which have been molded and rendered in a 3D environment. Many mainstream games have used this style, most notably, the Boarderlands series which is incredibly popular, another game which uses this style incredibly well is the hidden gem from Sega in Sonic's shadow, Jet Set Radio Future, both games were recieved very well graphically. The Legend of Zelda has dug its claws into the cel-shading market, with the releases of The WindWaker and Skyward Sword however these games weren't received as well as other titles in the series, and are often considered the worst games from the franchise, I personally really enjoy the cel-shaded art style they have and The WindWaker and Skyward Sword are two of my most favourite Zelda titles.

Abstract

When you see an Abstract art style in this date you can pretty much expect to be playing an indie-title, it is a
style that has become a niche in that market and it isn't often the big boys will play around too much because this style is very personal, if not always the art styles of an abstract game are created by one or two people and are often on a 2D side-scrolling bases, the likes of LIMBO, Super Meat Boy and Castle Crashers. It is a very retro art style and is how games used to be played back in the day on the SNES, however it is still a popular market to date and an abstract indie game can still be as beautiful as a full-motion photorealistic game. Abstract games allow you to break the mold of reality, you will see really out there graphics such as pieces of meat that can run about and climb. Similar to exaggerated, but far more outlandish.

Exaggerated

Exaggerated art styles are anything that is above and beyond what is "normal". You see a young girl in a
game with eyes the size of melons? It's exaggerated. Most cartoon based games such as Super Mario and other brands such as Anime-style games will use this art-style. It is most popular in Japan but is becoming ever more popular in the west. Games such as Pokemon, Spyro and Crash Bandicoot will also use this visual style. You wouldn't really find a little purple dragon with huge eyes that can talk in a game like Call of Duty so it's important that you keep the exaggerated characters in the exaggerated worlds.