"Vectors and Graphics" Syllabus
At left is the full course outline for the Vectors and Graphics seminar.
The seminar is revised and updated regularly, and can be geared to meet your particular requirements and interests.
1. Colour
- Electromagnetic spectrum
- The colour wheel: Primary, secondary, complmentary, and other colours
- Colour-blindness and design
2. Digital color
- True Colour: Colour that isn't really true
- Indexed colour and colour-lookup tables
- Grayscale is 8-bit, too
- 16-Bit: Avoid it if you can
- Process colour (CYMK) and printing
- HSB (or HSL) : The convenient model
- CIE L*a*b : Powerful but obscure
3. Bitmapped graphics
- A map of bits
- Resolution
- Bitmap resolution
- Anti-aliasing
- Editing bitmaps
- Bitmap editing programs
4. Vector graphics
- Defining "Vector"
- Applications of vectors
- Editing vectors
- Postscript
- PostScript and Encapsulated PostScript
- Vector editing programs
5. Using vectors and bitmaps together
- Vectors and bitmaps are complementary
- Dingbats!
- Bitmap-to-vector tracing programs
6. Bitmap compression and file formats
- Why compression?
- BMP, TIFF, GIF, JPEG, WMF, PICT
- When to use each format
- Using compression to your advantage
- Performing dithering
7. Creating graphics for print
- Bitmaps: For screen captures and photos
- Vectors: For schematics
- Mixing vectors and bitmaps
- Setting a bad example
- Importing screen captures
- How not to import a screen capture
8. Creating graphics for online help
- How much colour, how many bits?
- Size and memory
9. Creating graphics for the WWW
- How much colour, how many bits?
- Size and memory
- What formats and why?
- Resizing graphics in web pages
10. Fonts: A special kind of vector
- Bitmapped fonts: The beginning
- Outline fonts: The next step
- TrueType versus Adobe Type 1
- For print, stick to Type 1 fonts
- The anatomy of Type 1 fonts
- Adobe Type Manager
- Removing TrueType fonts from docs
11. Adobe Acrobat
- PostScript is ill-suited for electronic distribution of docs
- Adobe Acrobat
- Adobe Acrobat tips
- Acrobat and printer drivers
- Acrobat and Microsoft Word 97
12. A look at digital video
- How does a movie get inside a computer?
- Video compression
- Digital video file formats
- Picking a digital video format