Graphic Packages

A graphics package is an application that can be used to create and manipulate images on a computer.

There are two main types of graphics package:

Painting packages

A painting package is a graphic application that can be used for processing photographs by manipulating features like colors, effects, brightness, etc
A painting package produces images by changing the colour of pixels on the screen.

Advantages

The main advantage offered by this type of graphic is that it can be used for adjusting and beautifying photographs

Disadvantages of painting packages

Examples of graphics packages that produce bitmapped images include:- MS Paint, PC Paintbrush, Adobe Photoshop and JASC’s Paint Shop Pro.

A drawing package produces images that are made up from coloured lines and shapes such as circles, squares and rectangles.
When an image is saved it is stored in a vector graphics file as a series of instructions, which can be used to recreate it.

Main advantages of vector graphics are:

They use less storage space than bitmap graphics;
Each part of an image is treated as a separate object, which means that individual parts can be easily modified.

Disadvantages of drawing packages

include CorelDraw, Micrographix Designer and computer aided design (CAD) packages such as AutoCAD.

Drawing straight lines and ‘freehand’ lines;
Drawing regular pre-defined shapes like squares, rectangles and circles using a special ‘tool’;
Entering text and changing the style and size of font;
Changing the size of an object, or scaling;
Rotating objects in either clockwise or anticlockwise by specifying the direction and angle of rotation;
Stretching objects either horizontally or vertically. ‘Flipping’ an object either horizontally or vertically.
A paint palette from which different colours and patterns can be chosen.
A fill option for colouring in a shape or area on the screen with a colour or pattern from the paint palette.
Most graphics packages have a built-in library of clipart pictures.
Zoom or magnify is a feature that allows an area of the screen to be seen close up for detailed work.
Special brushes such as an airbrush can be used to achieve different paint effects on the screen.
In most graphics these features are chosen from a toolbar or tool palette where they are displayed as icons.

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