Learning about sharp and soft images
Images can be either sharp or soft. Sharp is the opposite of soft. A soft image has less pronounced details, while a sharp image has more contrast between pixels. The more pixels the image has, the sharper it is. We can soften the image, in which case it loses information, but we cannot sharpen one; in other words, we can't add more information to an image.
In order to compare sharp and soft images, we can visit the following website, where we can convert bitmaps to vector graphics. We can convert a bitmap images such as .png, .jpeg, or .gif into a .svg in order to get an anti-aliased image. We can do this with a simple step. We work with an online tool to vectorize the bitmap using
http://vectormagic.com/home
. There are plenty of features to take into account when vectorizing.
We can design a bitmap using an image editor and upload the bitmap image from the clipboard, or upload the file from our computer. Once the image is uploaded to the application, we can start working. Another possibility is to use the sample images on the website, which we are going to use in order to see that anti-aliasing effect.
We convert bitmap images, which are made up of pixels, into vector images, which are made up of shapes. The shapes are mathematical descriptions of images and do not become pixelated when scaling up. Vector graphics can handle scaling without any problems. Vector images are the preferred type to work with in graphic design on paper or clothes.
Go to http://vectormagic.com/home and click on Examples, as shown in the following screenshot:
After clicking on Examples, the bitmap appears on the left and the vectorized image on the right. The bitmap is blurred and soft; the SVG has an anti-aliasing effect, therefore the image is sharp. The result is shown in the following screenshot:
