Absorbency
The capacity of paper to absorb inks. Most common papers have a good absorbancy, however High gloss 'Photo' quality papers may take a while to dry.
Actual weight
The true weight of any volume of paper used to
determine price.
The weight of a paper is expressed in Grams per square meter (Gsm) and the higher the Gsm the heavier and of course
thicker the paper. A normal printer/photocopier paper will be 80-100 Gsm, card starts at about 150Gsm.
Additive Color
| The additive primary colors are red, blue and green.
These three additive colors represent the three main components of
white light in the additive color module. Black is produced by the
absence of the primary colors. In theory, any color can be created by
mixing these three colors.
When combined, red, green and blue light produce white light. This is the principal behind televisions and PC monitors. The CMYK process is subtractive colour |
 |
Alias
When the curves and other lines in a graphic becomes jagged, the resolution of the graphics file is too low. The graphic is then referred to as "aliased".
Alignment
The align command is used to adjust the position of objects or text in relation to each other. The various ways objects or text can be aligned are typically left, right, center, top and bottom.
Alpha
In the RGB color model, there is a fourth color component Alpha.This represents the opacity of the image. By altering the Alpha values, an image can be rendered from completely transparent to completely opaque.
Auto Trace
A function in graphic design software that automatically traces images. Paths are created along the edges of a scanned sketch. The paths are then cleaned up and the scanned file are discarded off. Now you have an outlined sketch of the image you scanned.
Anchor Point
Anchor points allows the user to manipulate paths to change it's shape. It (anchor points) appears along a path at every curve of a path and at the beginning and end of a path. Anchor points does not print out.
Animated GIF
A very basic animated image, used primarily in web design. Animated GIFs consist of a set of GIF images placed in sequence.
Animation
A series of graphic images pieced together in a timed sequence to give the appearance of continuous movement.
Anti-alias
Softening of the jagged edges in images that have become aliased.
Archival Paper
Archival paper is typically acid-free and has a quality lifetime of about 100 years or longer. This paper is used to keep critical records for many years.
Archiving Data
To archive data means to store copies of information for long periods of time.
Auto Trace
A function in graphic design software that automatically traces images. Paths are created along the edges of a scanned sketch. The paths are then cleaned up and the scanned file are discarded off. Now you have an outlined sketch of the image you scanned.
Banner
Banners are graphic images created to be placed as advertisements for products on websites.
Bevel
Bevel is a function in graphic design software that, when applied to an image, gives the image the appearance of being raised out of the surface. A common example is buttons on websites. The appearance of the bevel is created by the application of lighter and darker colors to the image.
Bezier curve
| The bezier (Pen) tool draws curved line segments that can be reshaped by changing its anchor points and/or direction lines. A Bezier curve is a mathematically defined curve used in two-dimensional graphic applications. The curve is defined by four points: the initial position and the terminating position (which are called "anchors") and two separate middle points (which are called "handles"). The shape of a Bezier curve can be altered by moving the handles. |
 A bezier curve |
Bitmap (BMP)
Bitmap images are resolution dependent, unlike vector graphics which are resolution independent. A bitmap does not need to contain a bit of color-coded information for each pixel on every row. It only needs to contain information indicating a new color as the display scans along a row. This means that an image with much solid color will tend to require a small bitmap.
Bleeding
Bleeding occurs when an image or printed color extends beyond the trimmed edge of a page, it is called a "bleed". Bleeding ensures that the print extends to the edges of the paper. The paper is usually trimmed to the desired size after printing. PC printers cannot print right to the edge of the paper hence do not have this problem.
Brightness
The brightness (light/dark) of an image, the intensity of a light source or colour luminance.
Burn
| A tool used (in Adobe Photoshop) to darken an area of an image. A technique familiar to photographers who would use a hole in a piece of card (or sometimes formed by their hands) to increase the exposure of an underexposed part of a negative as it's projected onto the photographic paper by the enlarger. The opposite is 'Dodge' |  |
Calender
To smooth paper by pressing it between rollers when manufacturedCanvas size
The full area of an image.
Cast shadow
Similar to a drop shadow but with added perspective to create the illusion of a third dimension.
Clipping path
A function that allows a shape to mask part of an image. The masked part of the image can be edited but won't let you work past the borders of the clipping path.
Cloning pixels
A tool in most good imageing software that copies a part of the image and places it elsewhere. It can be used to remove blemishes on a models skin, text on a scanned image etc. Often referred to as a 'rubber stamp tool,
CMYK
CMYK stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key (black), the four standard process color inks.
Color cast
A color cast changes the hue of a selected part (or the whole) of an image while keeping the saturation and brightness intact.
An Image taken under daylight and Tungsten light, the tungsten image has a reddish cast
Color correction
Correction to a color cast created by the scanner on the scanned image. The preview image on the computer display is adjusted. Color correction is usually done in CMYK.
Color map (color palette)
A display of all the colors available in a computer program.
Color model
A system used to describe and reproduce color.
Color palette
A set of colors that make up an image or animation. It is also the set of colors available to be applied to images.
Color space
Color space is a particular way to describe color. Examples of color spaces include: RGB, CMYK, HSB, CIE LAB.
Colorfastness
Colorfast dyes and inks do not fade in sun/bright light.
Composite image
A composite image is a graphic image (or photograph), made up of a combination of images.
Compound path
Illustration software enables users to create compound paths from two or more paths. A compound path is an image with a see-through hole in the middle. An example of a compound path is the shape of the letter "A". If you put an "A" or any image with a compound path onto a colored background, the background color shows through.
Continuous tone
| Black and white photographs often contain gradient
tones from black to white which are called continuous tones. To the right we see 16 step and continuous tone grayscales. |
 |
Contrast
The difference between light and dark areas in an image. The wider the tonal range is in an image, the lower the contrast will be.
Control handle
The handle that extends from an anchor point that is used to create curved shapes in a path. Stretching the control handle will effect the depth of the curve.
| The control handles on a circle and the effect of 'dragging' on them. |
 |
Crop
A tool that enables the user to trim away the edges or part of an image.
Dodge
| To bleach (lighten) a part or the whole of an image. A photographic term for holding back the exposure to overexposed areas of the negative while exposing the photographic paper. This could be achieved by placing a small circle of card on a piece of wire over the area to be held back. This tool exists in most good photomanipulation packages. The the opposite is Burn | |
DPI (dots per inch)
DPI is the number of dots (or pixels - PPI) that fit horizontally and vertically into a one-inch measure. The more dots per inch, the more detail is captured and the sharper the image.
Drop shadow
A flat shadow 'dropped' onto a parralell flat surface behind the object, giving the impression the obgect is floating above it. Cast shadows have a perspective.
Emboss
Embossing an image, gives it a three dimensional (3-D) quality. The 3-D effect is created with highlights and shadows on the edges of the image.
Also see bevel.
Exporting allows the user to save the file in another format to be opened in other programs.
Feathering
A graphic software tool used to make the edges of an image appear blurry.
Fill
A graphic software tool used to fill selected parts of images or their backgrounds with a color.
Filter
A filter is applied to images or art works to easily create special effects or to achieve a look that would be too difficult to create manually.
Flash
Vector graphic animation software from Macromedia that creates browser-independent graphics (graphics that look the same across all browsers). An advantage of Flash animation is that their download time are relatively fast.
Focaltone
A color matching system used for process color.
Folio
A printing term for the page number.Font
A font is a complete set of characters in a particular style and typically consists of a full letter set, number set and all other special characters you get by pressing the shift, control or option keys. Examples of fonts include "Arial", "Courier New" etc.
Foreground color
Color applied to objects in the foreground of the designed layout. You can fill in the color of these images with the painting tool, when the type is created or when the stroke command is applied.
Format text
Format text is a function available in most page layout software, allowing the user to change fonts and point sizes of all copy elements.
Four-color process
The printing process that reproduces colors by combining, cyan, magenta, yellow and black. If you look through a magnifying glass, you'll see that the printed image consists of dots in these four colors. These dots are printed on top of each other, next to each other or just close to each other, depending on the color and tonal values wanted. For example; by printing a blue dot over a yellow dot will give you green etc. To created the shadows in the image, all the colors (with or without black - depending on the intensity of the shadow) will be printed on top of each other to create a dark brownish color. The closer the colored dots are printed to each other, the darker it will appear. The further apart the colored dots are printed from each other, the lighter that part of the image will appear.
Freehand drawing tool
A tool found in Illustration software allowing the user to draw freeform shapes as if with a pencil.
GIF (Graphics Interchange Format)
| In the early 1990s the designers of the web adopted the GIF format for its efficiency and widespread familiarity. The vast majority of images on the Web are in GIF formats. GIF has its own inbuilt compression and can keep files sizes at a minimum. GIF files are limited to 8-bit (256 or fewer colors) colors and as such are quick to transmit. There are several different GIF formats, such as "GIF87a," or "GIF89a.", 89a having a transparent background. GIF supports interlaceing, the ability for an image downloading from the web to be built up from several 'passes', each adding more detail to the picture. |
 A GIF87a and a GIF89a. |
Gradient
A function in graphic software that allows the user to fill an object/image with a smooth transition of colors.
| Here we have three gradients, a black/white, a yellow/red and a three colour yellow/blue/red. |  |
Graphic background
In web page design, some web pages are designed with a graphic background on the web page and the text on top of the graphic. In most cases the graphic background can make the text hard to read.
Graphic design
Visual representation of an idea or concept. The term is used as a collective name for all activities relating to visual design, including web design, logo design etc.
Grayscale
Grayscale images contains black, white, no color and up to 256 shades of gray.
Greeked text
When viewed at a scale where the size of text is unreadably small, text is 'Greeked', showing the layout of the text.
Greeked text
GSM (gsm)
(Ac) Grams per Square Metre. This indicates the weight of the paper, simplisticly a 160 gsm would be twice as thick as 80 gsm, however, other factors such as the size of the fibers in the pulp and the amount of rolling in production and the amount of fillers (clays) in the paper must be taken into account.
Gutter
| The space between two columns on a page. |
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Halftone
In conventional printing, halftones are created by photographing an image through a screen. The
screen frequency, measured in lines per inch
Normal and halftone colour images. A closeup of a halftone colour image. Hexadecimal
Hexadecimal describes a numbering system containing 16 sequential numbers as base units. These numbers are used to color web pages for example,
red is #FF0000.
The "tag" for a blue background in a web page would be High-resolution image
An image with a high level of sharpness/clarity.
HLS
A color space consisting of hue, lightness and saturation.
HSB
A color space consisting of hue, saturation and brightness.
Hue
Hue is the actual color of an object. Hue is measured as a pure color (on the color wheel) in degrees, for example degrees/variations of blue which is from
a green-blue or sea-blue up to a purple-blue.
image assembly A hybrid image constructed from parts of other images.
Image map An image map is a single graphic image (on a website),
containing multiple clickable hyperlinks. Image Resolution Usually a definition of the dots per inch, however the quality of the monitor will have an impact in the resolution. Interlacing The ability for an image downloading from the web to be built up from several 'passes', each adding more detail to the picture.
Invert Reversal of the tonal values or colors of an image. On an
inverted image, black becomes white, blue becomes orange etc. Normal and reversed images.
Joint Photographic Experts Group
(JPEG) A widely accepted international standard for
compression of colour image files, sometimes used on the
Internet. Excessive jpeg compression
can cause poor image quality. Kerning
Adjusting the lateral (horizontal) space between letters. LaTeX Layers A function within graphic software that allows the user to
assemble, organize and re-edit their artwork. Leading
Refers to the strips of lead used to seperate lines of text when type was cast in lead. As text size was/is quoted in points (72 points=1"), leading was/is
quoted in points.
Letter spacing See
kerning. Light
To the right we see two lines of type, laid out as a typesetter would see them (can you read backwards?) The nearest is 24pt with a 12pt
lead, the furthest 24pt with a 24pt lead. Of course the term is still used today in good quality DTP packages, so you will not find the term in Ms Word (c).
Daylight may be considered to be made up of the three primary colours Red, Green, and Blue, although blue is by far the largest component.
| Most of the colours we see are those reflected from a surface, or in the case of the monitor you're reading this with projected towards us. leaves reflect green light and its this reflected light that gives them their colour. The Red and Blue light are absorbed. White paper reflects RGB in roughly similar amounts and so we see white. |  |
Avoid using normal household filament, and fluorescent lamps as they do not emit light at the right wavelengths to correctly show the colours you may want to view.
| Tungsten filament lamps emit a continuous spectrum peaking in the red area, and falling away in the blue. |  |
| Florescent lamps emit a different spectrum, with peaks at varying wavelengths depending on the type of lamp. Some tubes, particularly those made for the Aquarist trade will give a good approximation of daylight. |  |
Lightness
The lightness or brightness of a color.
Line weight
Line weight is a term referring to the thickness of a printing line. Sometimes shapes are drawn with a line weight of zero and then the fill color is used to define the shape.
Lithography
Sometimes called offset printing. Lithography relys on the fact that a wet surface will not allow oil based inks to adhere.
Lossless
A type of data compression where all the detail is maintained and no data is lost after file downsizing. Lossless compression is used in TIFF and GIF formats.
Lossy
A form of data compression where detail is removed as the file size are reduced. A common lossy compression method is JPEG.
Low-resolution image
A low-resolution image is a low-detail scan made from, for example a photograph.
Luminosity
The brightness of an area determined by the amount of light it reflects or emits.
LZW (Lemple-Zif-Welch)
A useful compression technique that compress images that contain large areas of single color, for example screenshots. This technique is supported by TIFF, GIF and PDF.
Magic wand tool
A tool in graphic software that allows the user to select parts of an image, for example areas with the same color.
| Here we see the magic wand tool used to select the petals on an Iris. Having selected them you can alter them without affecting the rest of the image. |  |
Margins
Guidelines in page layout software to show the user the body copy areas. It also allows the user to specify the dimensions. Margins/guidelines do not print.
Mask
See clipping path.
Master page
A feature found in page layout software that allows the user to create a consistent page layout. Repeating elements like page numbers are created once on a master. This allows the user to avoid adding the numbers to each page manually.
Monitor RGB
The working space that reflects the current color profile of a monitor.
Mouseover
A web graphics special effect that changes color on a graphic when you place your cursor over it.
Multimedia
Multimedia is a form of communication that combines text, still or moving images, sound etc.
Noise
Noise is a term used to describe the random occurrence of pixels that contain colors.
Noise can be added to an image to give an artistic effect.
Non-printing guides
Non-printing guides are alignment aids (rulers or margin guides) found within page layout software.
Non-reproducible colors
Non-reproducible colors are colors present in an original photograph, that fall outside of the gamut.
Object
An image usually consists of objects. If the user was to
create an image of a flower, the stem and leaves could be treated as objects
by themselves, or the leaves could all be treated as one object. In graphic
design images are usually built up, object by object.
Opacity
The density of a color or tonal value. The opacity of an image or object can range from transparent (0% opacity) to opaque (100% opacity). The ability to edit the opacity of individual objects allows the designer to create images that seem to flow into and through one another.
Outline
The outline is the outer edge of text or a graphic.
Page layout
An example of a page layout is the pages in magazines or brochures. Every single page layout was created on a blank page by placing text, text columns, images etc. on the page. The whole design of a single page in a magazine is a page layout.
Page size
A setting in graphic software that enable the user to define the size of the page s/he is creating their artwork on.
Pantone matching system
The Pantone matching system is used for specifying and blending match colors. It provides designers with swatches of over 700 colors and gives printers the recipes for making those colors.
A very small part of the 'Pantone' colour range shown in Coreldraw.
Paste board
A paste board is the area around a page surface in a page layout program. This area allows the user to put down elements that is to be used in the page layout.
The pasteboard
Path
A path is the shape of a single element in an illustration. A path will not show unless it has a fill or line weight assigned to it.
Patterned fill
A custom fill usually defined by the user. Care must be taken with patterned fills as like the example they can be difficult to read.
Pixel
The smallest picture element (used to display an image on a computer), that can be independently assigned a color.
PNG
Portable Network Graphics format. PNG (usually pronounced "ping"), is used for lossless compression. The PNG format displays images without jagged edges while keeping file sizes relatively small, making them popular on the web. PNG files are however generally larger than GIF files.
Posterize
A tool in graphic software that reduces the number of shades of gray or colors to a specific number.
A normal and 'posterised' image.
Postscript
Postscript is a Page Discription Language (PDL) understood by most good quality printers and importable into better quality Graphics packages. The greatest advantage of a PDL is that images produced can be re-scaled without any loss of quality, unlike bitmapped images.
PPI
Pixels Per Inch. A measurement of the resolution of a scanned image.
Primary colors
The primary colors are combined to produce the full range of other colors (non-primary colors), within a color model. The primary colors for the additive color model is; Red, Green and Blue. The primary colors for the subtractive color model is; Cyan, Magenta and Yellow.
Printable color
See Gamut
Quark Express
Quark Express is page layout software used mainly for magazine and brochure layouts.
Quick mask
A screen display mode in Photoshop in which a translucent colored mask covers selected or unselected areas of an image.
Rasterize
An image is said to be rasterized when converted from vector image to a bitmapped image. When opening a vector image in a bitmap-based editing program, you are usually presented with a dialog box of options for rasterizing the image.
Resample
A function available in image editing that allows the user to change the resolution of the image while keeping its pixel count in tact.
Resolution
The resolution of an image is an important factor in determining the attainable output quality. The higher the resolution of an image, the less pixilated it will be and the curves of the image will appear smoother.
RGB (Red, Green, Blue)
| RGB is the model used to project color on a computer monitor, ot tv. By mixing these three colors, a large percentage of the visible color spectrum can be represented. |
Addative, or RGB colours |
Rich Black
Rich black is produced as a printing process by combining the printing inks CMYK.
Rich media
Rich media are banner ads that use technology more advanced than standard GIF animation, for example; Flash, Shockwave, Streaming video etc.
Rotate
A function within graphic software that enables a user to rotate an image or pixel by any number of degrees.
Royalty-free photos or images
Intellectual property like photos and graphic images that are sold for a single standard fee. These can be used repeatedly by the purchaser only, but the company that sold the images usually still owns all the rights to it.
Rulers
Alignment or measurement aids found in page layout software.
Rulers and Guides (blue lines)
Sans serif
Saturation Saturation is the color intensity of an image. A color
with high saturation will appear brighter and more vibrant than the same
color with low saturation. Colors in grayscale images have no saturations
(white, grays and black). Scaling images See resizing. Selection Selection refers to an area of an image that is selected
(isolated) so it can be edited while the rest of the image is protected. Selective color correction
adjustment A setting available in graphic software that allows the
user to adjust a specific color in an image. For example, you can remove the
blue in green grass without affecting the blue of the sky. Shadow detail Shadow detail refers to the amount of detail contained in
the dark areas of an image. If the shadow is lightened too much in an
attempt to expose more detail, the risk is there to decrease the overall
contrast of the image. Subscript/Superscript Characters placed above, or below the main text, these are commonly used in scientific, or mathmatical expressions. Subscript and Superscript Subtractive color A term describing the three subtractive primary colors;
Cyan, Magenta and Yellow. As opposed to the three additive colors; Red, Blue
and Green. Subtractive, or CMYK colour Addative, or RGB colours Swatch A collection of colour samples, usually printed on card, often as a book. The paint sample cards in DIY stores are swatches.
A very small part of the 'Pantone' colour swatch in Coreldraw.
A group of typefaces that do not use serifs, the small extensions at the tips
of characters. Helvetica, Avant Garde,
Arial, and Geneva are all sans serif fonts . Examples of Serif fonts are,
Times Roman,
Courier,
Book Antiqua, and
Palatino. Recent
studies have concluded that sans serif fonts are more difficult to read.
Text wrap
A term used in page layout software, referring to the way text can be shaped around the edges of images.
Thumbnail
| A thumbnail is a small version of the original image. The thumbnail is available in Windows and other packages, such as AcDsee provide an image cataloging application that also allows you to create an image library. |
 |
TIFF (Tagged Image File Format)
A common graphic file format used for saving bitmapped images such as scans, photographs, illustrations and logos.
Tint
| A color is tinted by adding white to make the color. To the right we see some tints of Red, Green Blue and Yellow. The use of shades of the same colour in a scheme is called Monochromatic colour. |  |
Tolerance
Tolerance is the range of pixels a tool in graphic software operates in. In other words the range of shade or color pixels a Magic Wand selects etc.
Tonal distribution
Tones can be redistributed during the scanning or image editing stage, to lighten dark images or to darken light images.
Transparent background
| Images can be produced with clear (transparent) backgrounds. Such pictures are often used on websites. See Gif |
|
True color system
A true color system is a 24-plane graphics sub-system which produces the entire range of 16.7 million colors.
Unsharp masking
A very sophisticated sharpening method that sharpens images without the graininess that appears with most other sharpening methods.
Value
With reference to color, the term is used to describe brightness.
Vanishing point
an imaginary point at which drawn objects dissappear into the distance, getting smaller as they do.
Vector graphic
Vector graphics are drawn in paths. This allows the designer to resize images freely without getting pixilated edges as is the case with bitmapped images. The vector format is generally used for in printing while the bitmap format is used for onscreen display.
White point
The white point, on a monitor, is the combination of RGB at full intensity.
White point adjustment
A white point adjustment determines the amount of highlighted detail in an image.
Xerography
Xerography, now commonly called photocopying, was invented by Chester F. Carlson and called "electrophotography". He first patented it in October 1937. Later he sold the rights to a small firm called Haloid, who came up with what they thought a more appropriate name, "Xerography" from the Greek words xeros for "dry" and graphos for "writing". Haloid named its first photocopier the XeroX Model A. In 1958, Haloid officially changed their name to Haloid Xerox, and finally to Xerox in 1961.
YIQ
A color model sometimes used in television broadcast systems. Colors are seperated into a luminance (Y) and 2 color values (I and Q).
Zoom
Most imaging software allows you to adjust zoom in order to "move closer" or "move further away" from an image. Ususally when you open an image, the zoom level is set to 100% (actual size).
© primerpc.com 23:53 13/01/2006