Which Picture Format? Bitmap vs. Vector

bazman

I've just purchased my new scanner & really don't know what format to save my photos to.

The options I have include: EPS, TIF, WMF, PSD & JPG.

The Vector type graphics seem to be better, so I was considering going for WMF. However, some sites say that TIF is more suited to photos.

Can anyone help?

JDxtra

A best all rounder for scanned pictures would be a high quality JPEG.

TIFF would be my second choice - but the file sizes tend to be larger.

RicardoSmith

Bitmaps for photos, Vectors for computer generated drawings (as opposed to paintings).

JPEG uncompressed, or TIFs for photos. 24 bit PNGs are ok too.

bazman

Thanks guys.

Have decided to go with high resolution JPEG.

Lump

Bitmaps!? Go with Jpeg or tiff's

John

galactus

Just watch out that you're graphics editor isn't compressing the jpegs on the sly!

Lump wrote:

Bitmaps!? Go with Jpeg or tiff's

John

Jpegs and tiffs are bitmaps (as opposed to raster)

heggie

Ya mind telling me what scanner u have? i'd love one that can scan to vector, cheers.

Lump

I meant the .bmp extension.... Never mind.

JOhn

bazman

FYI, particularly for heggie:

I got one of the scanner from Aldi - it's a Tevion - not sure the exact model number, but I can get it if required. I'm pretty happy with it - although it's my first scanner so I've nothing to compare it to. It produces very impressive vector graphics. The quality from photos is excellent, but from film negatives is poor

heggie

ok thanks, so it definately does proper vector ? ie: u can mess around with the shapes in illustrator or whatever ?

bazman

Not sure what you mean by proper vector?

You can scan to EPS, WMF & other vector formats.

Illustrator? Mess around with shapes? Guess if you had the software you could.

If you want me to run a test on the scanner for you I can or PM if you want to see it in action before buying. I'm pretty sure it's still available in some Aldi stores for 70euro.

heggie

thanks for the help, yeh i just mean could it scan actual vectors, rather than a rastered image inside an eps. Cheers for the info, i'll read up on it some more.

Lump

My understanding is that a vector image is in different components. Ie if you scan a picture of a house, you can independantly move each window around and the triangle for the roof etc.

John

astrofool

i'd be very doubtful you could get a scanner that would vectorise a picture for you. If you could, alot of 3d modellers would be out of a job

maybe he's right tho...

heggie

its hardly 3d modelling to trace and make a vector!

aidan_walsh

heggie wrote:

its hardly 3d modelling to trace and make a vector!

3D modelling and vector tracing are both point-plotting. In fact, 3D models are made up of vectors, which when grouped describe polygons.

heggie

`yeh yeh very good well done, i know that, but one takes a hell of a lot more time, one is 2d, not 3d, should i go on? you know its different, no need to get smart

RicardoSmith

astrofool wrote:

i'd be very doubtful you could get a scanner that would vectorise a picture for you. If you could, alot of 3d modellers would be out of a job
maybe he's right tho...

Actually you can, even 3D scanners. I assume the Aldi scanner is scanning to bitmap but saving it in a vector file format as opposed to converting it to vectors. Many of vector formats can have bitmaps embedded into them. You can get some software to process a bitmap and convert it to vector. Its a bit hit and miss. Many packages can trace bitmaps and convert to vectors etc. Lots of animations packages can do this too. You can bring 2D vectors into 3D packages as polygons and export 3D vectors as 2D vector drawings. Theres nothing unusual about it.

As for bazman's original question uncompressed JPGS and TIffs are best. I'd advise you getting a decent book out of the library on photoshop and scanning/digital photography. Make the most of the scanner.