Images

A large part of using modern computers involves sending pictures and films to each other,
along with using a graphical user interface. All of this involves computers saving and
processing images.
This section will cover the two main image types: vector and bitmap, along with some
compression techniques.

A comparison between a vector and bitmap representation

of an image.

Bitmaps
Bitmap Graphics - a collection of pixels from an image mapped to specific memory
locations holding their binary colour value.
Pixel - the smallest possible addressable area defined by a solid colour, represented as binary,
in an image

This

example shows a Bitmap image

with a portion greatly enlarged, in
which the individual pixels are
rendered as little squares and can
easily be seen.

Resolution
Image Resolution - how many pixels an image contains per inch/cm.

Screen Resolution - the number of pixels per row by the number of pixels per column.
Sharper

Blurred image

The higher the resolution, the more pixels are available. Therefore the sharper the image.

Example: Calculating screen resolutions

Using the diagram above we are going to work out how many pixels are required to display a
single frame on a VGA screen.
Checking the resolution:
Height = 480
Width = 640
Area = Width * Height = Total Pixels
Area = 640 * 480 = 307200

Exercise: Calculating screen resolutions

1. What is a Pixel?
2. What is Image Resolution?
3. What is Screen Resolution?
4.
What is the resolution of a 100 pixel by 70 pixel image?
5.
What is the resolution of a 30 pixel by 40 pixel image?
6.

If I have an image resolution of 700 pixels, and the height is 35, what is
the width of the image?
7.
What is a benefit of having a higher resolution image?
8.
What might be a drawback of having a very high resolution image?

ANSWERS:
1. The smallest possible addressable area defined by a solid colour, represented as binary,
in an image.
2. The amount of pixels an image contains per inch/cm
3. the number of pixels per row by the number of pixels per column
4. 100 * 70 = 7000 pixels
5. 30 * 40 = 1200 pixels
6. 700 / 35 = 20 pixels
7. higher resolution images are able to display more detail, providing crisper images
8. It will require a lot of space to store it. Meaning you'll quickly run out of memory, or it'll take
a long time to transmit images across the internet or other data route.