State of CT-Grade 8: Digital Media Task 2-21-2012 Handout A4: Digital Media Vocabulary

Digital Media Task: Memory Collage

Digital Media Vocabulary

Artifact: In digital graphic applications, unwanted visual anomalies or defects generated by an input or output device, or by a software operation, that degrade image quality. (see also "aliasing" and "moiré pattern")

Asset : A digital asset is any item of text or media that has been formatted into a binary source that includes the right to use it. A digital file without the right to use it is not an asset. Digital assets are categorised in three major groups which may be defined as textual content (digital assets), images (media assets) and multimedia (media assets) (van Niekerk, A.J. 2006).[1]

Blending modes: an option to change the way a layer interacts with underlying layers based on certain qualities.

Capture: Acquiring information, such as an image, with a scanner or digital-camera device.

Collage: Collage involves the creation of artworks that include elements that have previous existence as separate items. They may be found elements, transformed elements, or elements created entirely by the artist. Digital collages may be defined as digitally created artworks that involve the bringing together of separate images (which may or may not have existed in non-digital form and which may or may not have been created or altered by the artist) and digitally "pasting" them in place in order to create a new work. Digital collages may also contain digital drawing, digital painting, or other digital media.

In both montage and collage, multiple sources are used to create a single image. In montage, the disparity of the sources in invisible. In collage, the disparity of the sources is visible, sometimes so much so that the whole is fractured into separate elements contained within a single area.

Digital Compositing: The process of digitally assembling multiple images to make a final image, typically for print, motion pictures or screen display. It is the evolution into the digital realm of optical film compositing.

Copyright: Legal basis for the owner's control of the usage of his images or artworks.

Crop: To remove part of an image.

DPI: Dots per inch. A measure of the detail of a print. "Apparent dpi" refers to the fact that the eye perceives a giclée as having greater detail than in does in physical reality.

Digital: Type of data consisting of (or systems employing) discreet steps or levels, as opposed to continuously variable analog data.

D igital C ollage: The process of electronically simulating traditional collage techniques by pasting together disparate images into a cohesive visual whole, resulting in a new image.

Feathering: A technique in many image-editing programs that allows for the softening of the edge around a selection.

JPEG – A standard for compressing image data developed by the Joint Photographic Experts Group, hence the name JPEG. Strictly speaking, JPEG is not a file format, it's a compression method that is used within a file format, such as the EXIF-JPEG format common to digital cameras. It is referred to as a lossy format, which means some quality is lost in achieving JPEG's high compression rates. Usually, if a high-quality, low-compression JPEG setting is chosen on a digital camera, the loss of quality is not detectable to the eye.

Layers: In Adobe Photoshop, individual images can be manipulated independent of the entire image, but are still integral parts of the image. They are essential for non-destructive editing.

Opacity/Transparency: A layer’s opacity determines to what degree it obscures or reveals the layer beneath it. A layer with 1% opacity appears nearly transparent, whereas one with 100% opacity appears completely opaque.

Pixel: The smallest programmable unit of a computer image. Term derived from pi(x)cture element. Refers to the simplest or smallest element of a digital image.

Raster Graphics: Graphics created by individual pixels. (bitmap). Adobe Photoshop is an example of a raster graphics program.

Rasterize: Conversion from a vector image to pixel data.

Resolution: PPI/DPI refers to the quality of an image and is generally determined by the amount of pixel data.

Vector Graphics: Graphics that have been created using geometric formulas. The text tools in Adobe Photoshop are examples of vector graphics.

Sources:

The Glossary of Digital Art and Printmaking, ndi.com/DAPT T F/glossary.html

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