Week 3 - Vector Graphics

Question 1

What are Vector Graphics made up of?

Answer 1

Made up of many individual scalable objects

Defined by mathematical equations instead of pixels

Question 2

What are vector graphics unsuitable for?

Answer 2

Photo-realistic imagery

Question 3

Why would we use vector graphics?

Answer 3

Vector graphics are far smaller than bitmapped equivalents
Can retain semantic information lost by bitmapped forms
Vector displays always look shiny and clean

Question 4

What is aliasing?

Answer 4

Modern displays are made up of discrete pixels so coordinate values can only be integers
This gives a diagonal or curved lines a “stepped” appearance

Question 5

What happens to aliasing as the resolution increases?

Answer 5

Jagged edges become less pronounced

Question 6

What is anti-aliasing?

Answer 6

To reduce the effect of aliasing the software can insert different intensities around the line to ease the jaggedness

Question 7

What are the vector primitives?

Answer 7

Lines, Rectangles, Ellipses, Regular Polygons, Polylines

Question 8

What is a Bezier curve?

Answer 8

Defined by 4 points (Start, end and two direction points)

Question 9

What is stroke and fill?

Answer 9

Stroke determines the properties of the lines that make up the vector graphics while fill determines the colour within the parameters of the lines

Question 10

What types of transformations can be applied to vectors?

Answer 10

Translation, Rotation, Scaled, Reflected, And other transformations such as Shear

Question 11

What are the resolution advantages of vector graphics?

Answer 11

Doesn’t cause aliasing problems like bitmap images when scaled

Question 12

What are true type formats?

Answer 12

Outline of characters as vectors to make scaling possible without aliasing

Question 13

What are the file formats of vector graphics dependant on?

Answer 13

The illustrator application used

Question 14

What is 3D modelling?

Answer 14

3D models projected on a 2D screen (Rendering and rasterisation)
Only approximate rendering of models is possible in real-time

Question 15

What is 3D modelling?

Answer 15

3D models projected on a 2D screen (Rendering and rasterisation)
Only approximate rendering of models is possible in real-time

Question 16

What is solid geometry(box modelling)?

Answer 16

Producing complex models from combining primitive objects using methods such as: unison, intersection and difference

Question 17

What is free form modelling?

Answer 17

When the surface of the object is made up of many polygons represented by vertices(coordinate points) and edges(lines connecting vertices)

Question 18

What is vector geometry data?

Answer 18

The “infrastructure” that the rendered scene is built on

Question 19

What is procedural modelling?

Answer 19

Forming the surface using a set of rules and applying an algorithm.
Examples:
Fractal distortion of landscapes
Modelling with metaballs