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Making vector graphics Even if youve never heard of the term "vector graphics," its probably safe to say that youve seen them in action fairly frequently. Have you ever considered making vector graphics, but werent sure what the best software to use would be? Were you overwhelmed with the choices? If you find yourself nodding your head eagerly in agreement, or even if youre completely lost, read on!
Most people have seen what vector graphics are capable of while surfing the web when they come across a Flash animation. There are a large number of methods for making vector graphics, and multiple different programs to enable you to do so. Some of the options carry a price tag, while others are completely or temporarily free.
Flash itself is a program created by a company called Macromedia, designed for the purpose of creating vector graphic based animation sequences with audio capability. It is extremely popular, and how most people become introduced to this particular subject. Macromedia also produces a image editing only program called Freehand which will allow you to work with vectors without considering the added complexity of animation. Another popular potential choice is Adobe Illustrator. Both of these options have a very die hard following of those who swear no other program comes close, and with some simple searching youll be treated to a plethora of tutorials, videos, hints and tricks for visualizing anything you could possibly imagine. The downside to these programs is that they both cost money, however, and a substantial sum at that. Fortunately, trial versions can often be found on the web sites of companies that offer image editing programs for sale. Try them out to see what you may like or dislike about them, and compare with some of the competitors before you commit to any one particular program. Before you decide to open up your wallet or purse though, you should give some of the free altårnatives a fair shot. When it comes to software, the saying "You get what you pay for" doesnt always apply. There are a variety of open source programs that are fully functional and will serve the average users needs. Inkscape is one such creation, and many find that is as full featured or even more so that its commercial counterparts. The open source community, while generally smaller, is very friendly and helpful. Open source users seem to be more willing to share information than many groups. Plenty of tutorials are also available for this program if you take the time to look. Now you may be asking, "Why would I choose to make vector graphics?" There are some distinct advantages to be had over pixel based rendering here. To understand how vectors work, think about geometry class way back in the day and how you could create specifically sized and shaped geometry using a formula. This is essentially how vectors work. If you want a circle in a certain place, the size, location. and color of the circle are stored as variables, and certain steps are taken to make calculations to "draw" the figure in real time. How can this be beneficial? Pixel based images are static, and when manipulated in different ways distortion occurs. Have you ever seen an icon on your desktop that looked like its quality wasnt on par with the others? Its because your computer is displaying a small icon and scaling it up to make larger. The level of detail remains the same, even though the pixel resolution increases. Because of this, when you download a typical icon set for Windows XP, for instance, there will be two versions of each file; one small, and one large. Since vectors are calculated in real time, should you want to increase the size of an image you have created, you can do so without distortion. A scaling formula is applied to the initial formula that draws your circle to make it larger, and the circle is literally redrawn right then; the resolution of the image is increased without distortion. This is what makes it so especially useful for animation. Through the world of computers we have learned that nearly anything can be represented and executed mathematically, and the creation of two dimensional images is no different. Curves, circles, polygons, lines, and even text can be rendered in various combinations of mathematical formulas. As you can imagine, when rendering a very complex image, your computers CPU will be working hard. Now that you know the freedom afforded to you by the magic of making vector graphics, go download an editor like Inkscape and start messing around. If you got through this entire article then its obvious you want to!
