M3 demonstrate the impact that file format, compression techniques, image resolution and colour depth have on file size and image quality.

In the screenshots provided you can see that the first image is not compressed and that the second however is. The following are all factors which help to compress a file, but at the users discretion and at the images cost. By altering a files format, for example changing a bitmap to a jpeg, can severely affect the quality of the image and if done to an extreme extent can make the image unclear and very pixilated. The resoloution of the image is lowered during the compression process and therefore can result in the image being pixilated and grainy. File compression can also be achieved by altering an images colour. By reducing the amount of colour in an image you can reduce its file size, but this reduces the quality of the image yet again. Cropping and resizing the image can save memory and can result in a not so greater loss of image quality.

The basic understanding is that the highter the quality and size of an image the larger the file size, and vice versa. The higher the resoloution and the more colour the image contains the larger the file is going to be. File formats are basically preset quality settings which detract certain qualities of an image to compensate for the amount of space in which the image is going to aquire.

M2 demonstrate the use of two advanced techniques in graphics manipulation

Firstly; i took the image when i visited Blackpool beach as you can see the original image is dull and un-interesting. To manipulate this image i initially altered the contrast and brightness of the photo drastically using Photoshop, I then grabbed each section of the image seperately, using the 'magic wand' tool i was able to select the majority of the sea and replace the original colour using the 'photo filter' tool using the 'deep blue' colour and changing the density to create different shades. Any remaining sea was then selected using the 'quick selection' tool and a different shade 'photo filter' was added and altered using the density measure to create an in-depth look mainly in the far background. To make the peaked waves stand out i defined their edges using the 'sharpen' tool and then then contrast to make them dark and stand out. To create a 'surreal' looking sky i selected each cloud individually using the 'magic wand' tool and added different shades and intensities of blues, violets and oranges through the photo filter tool. I then defined the edges of the clouds to make them stand out even more using the 'sharpen edges' tool, after this manipulation i altered the hue of the clouds using the 'hue/contrast' tool. To create final touches i selected the housing and pier line using the 'magic wand' tool and manipulated as much as possible by lowering the exposure level, lowering offset levels and highering the gamma correction on the 'exposure...' tool. I then flattened the image and altered brightness/contrast overall as a whole until i was happy with my final piece, i then lowered the image size and saved my image as a JPEG file.

M1 compare the limitations of at least two different hardware devices and two different software packages utilised for the capture, manipulation...

Paint & Photoshop.

Photoshop is a very in depth and complex graphics application with many of tools and advanced manipulation techniques at hand. The adobe suite is the industry standard for graphic manipulation and production which tells you already how advanced and professional this programme is. There are many tools that can be used in photoshop such as the alteration of hue, contrast, saturation, brightening, and lightening. There are also other very useful tools to name a few; the magic wand and the lasso tool. All of the techniques listed are professional and modern ways of graphic manipulation and production. Compared to paint it is easy to see that photoshop is utilised for advanced graphic manipulation. There are very basic features in paint such as the ability to crop and resize an image and to add text and auto shapes but other than this all other tools required to produce an advanced graphic are absent. Paint lacks tools such as layering and magnetic cropping, which amongst many are huge negative factors against this programme which is why Photoshop would be the definite application to use when in need of a professional grpahic manipulation, despite of its high price.

RAM - 512mb DDR (333mhz) vs 1gb DDR2 (667mhz)

immediately you can see there is a difference in the two stated peices of hardware. Firstly one is DDR and the other is DDR2 which basically means one is single channel memory and the other is dual channel memory, this results in faster process times and allows the system to have more applications running simutaneously. 512mb is clearly less memory that 1gb which will also affect performance as it cannot run as many applications or perhaps a single large application as efficient and fast as 1gb stick of RAM could. And lastly the speed of the RAM is different and almost double! this will obviously result in faster loading speeds and better fluency when running large programmes, perhaps a game for example. 512mb of RAM is just not enough to run a graphics programme as smooth as it would need to be, it would cause endless problems such as crashing and would often be very "laggy".

Processor - 3.2ghz pentium 4 HT (1mb L2 cache) vs Intel core 2 duo E8400 3.0ghz (6mb cache)

the limitations of the 3.2ghz p4 compared to the core 2 duo would be as follows;

1) the clock speed of the single core processor would not be able to process data as quick as the core to duo would maninly due to the fact the core 2 duo has 2 subcores allowing it to break down the data faster and more efficiently.

2) The cache comparison between the two processors would also be a large factor in limiation terms because it cannot communicate to other components as quickly therefore this could result in slower loads times, slow on screen performance and even crashing.

The 3.2ghz processor would be able to handle a graphics manipulation programme if used alongside a strong rig but would still not function as fluently or as reliable as a core 2 duo processor would.

p6 explain potential legal implications of using and editing graphical images.

Copyright protects creative or artistic works. You should only copy or use a copyrighted work with the copyright owner's permission. You can copyright various work such as, literature, drama, music, art, layouts, recordings and broadcasts. Breaching the copyright act is an illegal criminal offence. Copyright does not protect ideas for a work. However, when an idea is fixed, for example in writing, copyright automatically protects it. This means that you do not have to apply for copyright.

Some images can be copyright free which mean the image can be used by anyone for any purpose at all. The following link is an example of copyright free work, http://www.copyrightfreephotos.com/.

Gaining permission for work which is copyrighted usually involves obtaining permission from the owner before it can be used for any other purpose. This permission usually involves a payment fee to the owner before the work can be reused.

If the work is not clearly copyrighted by an owner and is not stated as copyright free it is likely that whoever published it for example the publisher of the book or website is likely the rightful owner of that work.

p5 capture existing images using a digital camera and a scanner and edit them to a given user need.

Above: You can see the top image was the original picture which I drew by hand with a pencil and paper. I then scanned this so that I could gain access to it in photoshop. I then edited the image, firstly by removing all of the pencil lines which were not needed. I then decided that one of the table legs were too long so i edited the size of this too. I then used severla layers to make the cup look like it is filled with water and used two different shades of blue to emphasise this.

Above: The above image was caputred with a digital camera. I first imported the image into photoshop where I changed the contrasts. After this I decided that the image should be in black and white so edited the contrasts again to acheieve this. I then ammended random blemishes which were noticable on the original by using the smudge tool.

p3 define and document a client and user need for 3 related graphic images.

EASY DRIVE - Insurance Company.

Easy drive are a new insurance company which are primarily aimed at supplying insurance policies for young and new drivers. They require a logo which can be easily recognised weather it be advertised on television or in a newspaper. The logo needs to be appropriate but vibrant as the competition in this part of the business sector is very up tight so it is essential that it meets the user requirements. The logo must look very professional as it will be used for letterheads and important documents as well as being used to advertise what the company has to offer. Easy drive do not want several logos as they want their audience to be able to relate to their logo and instantly know who they are and what they offer. Easy drive have some specific requirements for the logo and what ever is not in the design brief below is left down to your creativity.

Colour scheme – there must be the colours red and black in the logo, black to present the company formally and red to get across that the company is aimed at new drivers, as in “L” for learner drivers which is a red letter. However they have stated that they will accept green, for the green “P” logo for new drivers, but red and green must not be used together is has got to be one or the other. It is essential that the colours can be used in black and white without distorting the image.

Logo – the logo must contain a small image, drawing, picture that should not be too large perhaps a learners or passed driving plate or something alike.

Size- the logo must be big enough to be easily recognisable but not too big that it can not be scaled down to be used clearly on letterheads.

APPLE - Computer Systems

Apple are a largely recognisable computer company that produce a massive range of IT hardware, from there portable entertainment systems (IPODS) to their own computer systems (MACS). They are in need of a design for their latest product, the new I-Phone. However it is a promotional poster that they are after from you. This poster is going to be displayed in all of their official Apple stores around the world to show customers what the new product is going to look like and a release date for the product. This date however is going to change for each time zone so this needs to be taken into consideration.

Colour scheme – Apple have strictly stated that the background on these posters must be black, with an actual photo of the product on it. However everything else has been left in the hands of the designer, which is you.

Logo – the Apple logo must be present on the poster in some shape or form, and it has to be the white apple logo.

Size - the poster has to be at least a metre (100cm) in length and 50cm in width. The I-Phone photo must take up the majority of the poster, and the logo must be easily recognisable from a distance.

Text- the company has requested small text, preferably a slogan added and defiantly the company website along with the release date which has already been discussed.

House right - Property Inspectors

House right are a council funded company which inspect new and used properties for people who wish to make major renovations and structural changes. They require a letterhead in which they can use when sending important documents to their clients. Due to the important of their work the letterhead needs to be very professional and have a high level of elegance. House right deal with a lot of wealthy people and the last thing they would want to do is to make their customers feel as if they are dealing with a cheap and inexperienced company.

Colour scheme- the colours can be anything as long as they look elegant and posh, ideally red and gold or navy blue and gold, however versatility is acceptable.

Logo – the logo must not contain an image as it has got to look very professional so stylish text with perhaps a gold wavy line would fit the criteria greatly.

Text – the text used in the logo have already been discussed in the above briefing.

P4 - Image design and production to meet the clients requirement.

EnCert Image.



EnCert are a new energy company who have requested for a new image design which will act as the companies logo for their website. Mainly they issue certificates to home owners to show just how green ( environmentally friendly) there house actually is. However this is only a legal requirement for houses with 4 bedrooms or more.



Logo Requirements.



There are certain requirements set by my client, which I must meet, so to help me do this I have produced a list below of the essential needs that the logo must provide.

• The image must firstly look professional and give the viewer an in site into what the company is about.




• By researching company logos within the same market such as NPower and British Gas I have found that they use corresponding colour schemes such as blue for gas and green to emphasise on the fact that they are concerned with the environment.




• The logo must have an elegant feel to it, as the certificates issued by encert are only for homeowners which have 4 bedrooms or more therefore this instantly tells me that customers are going to wealthy, therefore my logo cannot look cheap.




• Finally I need to meet certain colour requirements. Green is a definite, as this instantly shows the company is all about being "green." I have also decided that I will use blue as the colour contrasts well with green and also brings a sense of formality to the logo.

Final

Here is my EnCert logo design.

Technical Specification

My image is firstly a text layer which contains all of the text "EnCert" I then inserted four circular green images which correspond with energy. After this I aligned my text to centre with the four images I had previously inserted. I then matched the "en" text with the same green as the inner shade of the circular images. For added effect and to make all of my colour scheme correspond I underlayed the border green and shadowed it on the letters "en" which you can see on the image above. Finally I used a formal blue for the word "cert" to show a sense of formality, which I thought would be best used on the "cert" word as this is the professional side of the company.

Evaluation

As you can see my logo looks very professional and modern along with looking "clean" The image shows both sides to the company and this can easily be seen through the corresponding green font to the energy images, and the blue font which relates to the formal side of the company, which is the fact they issue certificates.








Microsoft Image

here is my logo design for the windows operating system known as Windows Vista. As you can see I have made my design clear and can easily be seen to advertise the name of the OS. The techniques I have used here include layering to get the text over the keyboard. I have the filled the background with an appropriate grey shade to make the image contrast wity both the keyboard colour and the text colour.



Burger Image















As you can see here is my burger advertisement. I have included an image of a burger obviously to advertise exactly what I entend to retail. The header contains the name of the burger which gets straight out to the audience. The free range logo is also layered over the burger to show that all products used are free range and obtained in a cruel-free way. I have also inserted some text to give a brief description of the product I intend to sell.

Upgrading a digital graphics computer system

Identify two graphics-related hardware upgrades to the system described below. Describe the potential benefits these upgrades will bring when working with graphic images.

System specification

Intel Pentium D 'Dual Core X2' CPU (5.3 Ghz)
VIA Chipset 1066 Mhz Motherboard - slots available: AGP8x (1), PCI (3), RAM (2); ports available: LAN (1), USB (6)
512 MB RAM
80 GB HDD (SATA300)
18X DVD+/-RW Dual Layer & Dual Format
onboard UniChrome PRO 3D Graphics with 64 MB shared memory
mouse and keyboard
15" flat screen
cheap inkjet printer

The first and obvious upgrade to this computer system would be to change the existing onboard UniChrome PRO 3D Graphics with 64 MB shared memory with a dedicated more adequate graphics card. The graphics card which is already installed in this system is very poor, it has small memory which is also shared meaning the system is constantly going to be relying on the RAM whenever you are using a graphics application, this will result in very slow performance. I would replace this component with a ATI Radeon HD 3850 Pro Turbo 512MB GDDR3 (AGP) graphics card. This would drastically improve system performance, firstly because the card is dedicated and doesnt require any of the systems RAM also because the speed of the card is 720MHz which allows fast trasnfer between the graphics card and the systems other components. Secondly this card uses the AGP interface slot which makes it fully compatiable with the motherboard already installed in the system. This price of this card (£155.09 ) isn't particulalry expensive for what it is and compared to the other cards available.

My next alteration would be to the systems RAM. I would upgrade the system to 2GB DDR2 (Corsair 2GB DDR2 Value Select PC2-5300C5 Dual Channel Kit (2x1GB) ) which would cost £29.36. This is considerably cheap and will benefit the system greatly. With a dedicated graphics card and 2GB of DDR2 RAM the computer will be able to function very efficiently and won't rely on shared components. Loading times would be reduced due to the memory upgrade, as well as the ability to run more applications at once.

Software

PAINT SHOP PRO - Paint Shop Pro is a raster graphics editor, which in later editions became a vector graphics editor too. Corel is the company behind the paint shop pro series. Used alot by home computer users due to the low price in which it is retailed at due to the lack of content compared to programmes such as photoshop. However there are many third party applications and downloads avaible which contain features similar to those in photoshop, so this software is very useful and fully expandable.



PHOTOSHOP - Currently the leading commercial editing and manipulation software available for graphical production, photoshop features alot of content used by a wide range of people, from professionals to home users. Developed by adobe, photoshop hosts hundreds of editing features from simple light filters to layers, which allow the image to be cut up and edited on top of the existing image without affecting it. The standard save format in photoshop is alot larger than standard formats such as .jpg, as it uses its own specific file type (.PSD).



Here is my example of using layers in Photoshop;













As you can see I have inserted a film character on top of this office image, however he is layered behind the desk partition.

Image Types

BITMAP IMAGES - A bitmap image is simply a drawing built up of pixels. Each individual pixel has its own colour which produces an image. Alternatively a bitmap image can be called "raster graphics."

VECTOR GRAPHICS - Vector graphics are an alternative to bitmap images, which is the representation of images as in an arrangement of pixels, as it is usually used for the representation of photographs. Vector graphics tend to be very accurate too. There are various advantages with using vector graphics, firstly saved files are small, secondly, when vector images are re-sized it does not affect the quality of the image and does not pixelate it.

Computer Harware

RAM - it is essential for the computer system to have a large ammount of RAM, perhaps 2GB DDR2 minimum. This would be needed when using large graphics files (which are usually large as standard) in software used to edit and manipulate such files. A system with poor ram, for example, 512KB of standard DDR would struggle to run such programmes and would crash often, as well as increasing loading times drastically.

PROCESSOR - the processor is what performs the desired tasks and calculations so it is very important that it is of a good specification. Core components to look out for when chosing a processor include, a high amount of cache (prefferably, 2mb L2), and the amount of cores the processor has, if it has more than one, and finally the clocking speed ( at least 2.0ghz if using a dual core, or a high 3.6ghz HT single core).

GRAPHICS CARD - this component is also an essential when using a computer system for graphics design or similar applications. firstly it is important the graphics card is dedicated and of a good memory size, for example a nvidia 8800 gt (512mb GDDR3) would be adequate. Also when looking for a suitable graphics card make sure to take attention of the speed of the card and not just the memory, as a card which can produce visually stunning graphics can also have a slow transfer speed, which can result in lag. Intergrated graphics ( sometimes called "shared") are not advised as they use the systems RAM because they tend to not hold enough memory to produce desired modern day graphics.

HARD DRIVE - graphics files tend to be very large in size so it is essential that the hard drive is of a large size too. Alongside the actual files being large, you also need space to store install graphic applications and software. It is also important that the hard drive is of a fast speed so that files can be recalled quickly and efficiently.

Flash Drive

Mainly used via USB. a flash drive can transfer data to various computer systems within a network.

Storeage Devices.

Flash cards can be used to store videos or still images taken or recorded by a digital camera.

Digital Camera.

A digital camera can be used in various types of ways, firstly it can record videos, and secondly, more obviously it can take still images. If desired the images or videos can then be uploaded to a computer system and edited or stored with appropriate software.

Graphics Tablet.

A graphics tablet allows the user to draw in an almost near natural format by using an electronic pen, which results in a digital image, which would be viewed by using a monitor (see more about monitors above.)

Scanner

This device is used to scan an existing image for example a printed photograph, which can then be edited, copied and then printed dependant on what the user wishes to do.

CRT & LCD Monitors

A computer monitor is used to veiw images which are produced/generated by the computer itself. This is obviously useful in relation to graphics as it enables you view any images which have been created. There are two types of monitors commonly used. CRT is one of these monitors, which is the older type of monitor. The acronym stands for Cathode Ray Tube. CRT monitors have a faster refresh rate and can produce higher resoloution and non fixed resoloutions, where as LCD monitors can not, they tend to have a fixed resoloution rate and the refresh rate is not as fast, however they are alot smaller in size. LCD is an acronym for Liquid Crystal Display.

The mouse

The mouse is used via using the cursor which is displayed on the screen. This can then be used to control what needs to be selected. Some selections can be through the click of the mouse buttons which is known as an analogue selection or through using the optical movement, which usually determines the position of the cursor on screen.