Vectors hold various advantages over bitmap/pixel. First is that obviously the quality/resolution of the font can adjust to the device or screen specs and will not become blurry or pixelated when zoomed in upon. This is useful especially for websites. Moreover, lots of commercial art are also drawn in vector to accommodate different print sizes and quality. Secondly, gradients and other aesthetic styles can be computed with more accuracy, resulting in more design flexibility. Lastly, the file size of a vector may be smaller than that of a bitmap, as all the information needed to reconstruct the visuals are stored in equations. Similarly, it may be faster to output a vector as you can skip the rendering step and directly output the numbers.
weinatalie
This example helped me understand vectors a lot better. Raster images are both based and represented with pixel data; if you display an image on a high resolution screen, it will show up smaller because it is composed of a set number of pixels. Meanwhile, a vector is essentially just the underlying math defining a line from one point to the next. While vector graphics can be represented with pixels, they do not have a set number of pixels. Therefore, a vector graphic displayed on a screen can simply be drawn with more or less pixels depending on the resolution of the display; it will not be automatically resized. There are still some use cases in which raster images are preferable to vectors, such as in digital photography. This is because only raster graphics can capture detailed colors and shading.
noah-ku
Seeing this slide reminded me of the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator, where you can easily make Bezier curves for vector art. It's interesting to see this math concept be applied in other fields outside of computer science like graphic design. I never realized that the idea of Bézier splines is based on a form of parametric equations that interpolate between points using control handles to determine the curve's direction and intensity.
aravmisra
These are all really cool points. One of the interesting uses of vector design is, as mentioned above, physical design. I recall reading an article a while back about how graphic designers for office spaces actually need to receive their art/assets in vector form so that when the company logo is plastered on the wall/building, it can be scaled without being blurry. Another physical application is laser cutting! I encourage anyone who's interested in that (or has used the Jacobs center machines) to check this out: https://baisonlaser.com/blog/vector-files-for-precision-laser-cutting/
snowshoes7
These points are certainly pretty interesting. Personally, a lot of my knowledge of Bezier curves coming into this class comes from my experiences using photoshop/illustrator to design fonts as a hobby, which is something I did fairly often when I was younger. In this way I think graphics topics are pretty interesting, since you have the ability to gain intuition surrounding topics like these without necessarily having to have the appropriate mathematical background to understand it--this ultimately means that topics like Bezier curves end up being quite useful in a lot of ways in these areas.
eugenek07
At first, I wondered why vector fonts might be useful, especially since with set font sizes, you could make your work a lot less computationally intensive by utilizing rasters for fonts. However, all the above comments make total sense. Especially with more artistic fonts and even with standard fonts, you want the same quality however small or large you make it, especially for large posters. Bezier curves utilized within vector fonts would definitely be a lot more computationally and memory efficient.
Vectors hold various advantages over bitmap/pixel. First is that obviously the quality/resolution of the font can adjust to the device or screen specs and will not become blurry or pixelated when zoomed in upon. This is useful especially for websites. Moreover, lots of commercial art are also drawn in vector to accommodate different print sizes and quality. Secondly, gradients and other aesthetic styles can be computed with more accuracy, resulting in more design flexibility. Lastly, the file size of a vector may be smaller than that of a bitmap, as all the information needed to reconstruct the visuals are stored in equations. Similarly, it may be faster to output a vector as you can skip the rendering step and directly output the numbers.
This example helped me understand vectors a lot better. Raster images are both based and represented with pixel data; if you display an image on a high resolution screen, it will show up smaller because it is composed of a set number of pixels. Meanwhile, a vector is essentially just the underlying math defining a line from one point to the next. While vector graphics can be represented with pixels, they do not have a set number of pixels. Therefore, a vector graphic displayed on a screen can simply be drawn with more or less pixels depending on the resolution of the display; it will not be automatically resized. There are still some use cases in which raster images are preferable to vectors, such as in digital photography. This is because only raster graphics can capture detailed colors and shading.
Seeing this slide reminded me of the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator, where you can easily make Bezier curves for vector art. It's interesting to see this math concept be applied in other fields outside of computer science like graphic design. I never realized that the idea of Bézier splines is based on a form of parametric equations that interpolate between points using control handles to determine the curve's direction and intensity.
These are all really cool points. One of the interesting uses of vector design is, as mentioned above, physical design. I recall reading an article a while back about how graphic designers for office spaces actually need to receive their art/assets in vector form so that when the company logo is plastered on the wall/building, it can be scaled without being blurry. Another physical application is laser cutting! I encourage anyone who's interested in that (or has used the Jacobs center machines) to check this out: https://baisonlaser.com/blog/vector-files-for-precision-laser-cutting/
These points are certainly pretty interesting. Personally, a lot of my knowledge of Bezier curves coming into this class comes from my experiences using photoshop/illustrator to design fonts as a hobby, which is something I did fairly often when I was younger. In this way I think graphics topics are pretty interesting, since you have the ability to gain intuition surrounding topics like these without necessarily having to have the appropriate mathematical background to understand it--this ultimately means that topics like Bezier curves end up being quite useful in a lot of ways in these areas.
At first, I wondered why vector fonts might be useful, especially since with set font sizes, you could make your work a lot less computationally intensive by utilizing rasters for fonts. However, all the above comments make total sense. Especially with more artistic fonts and even with standard fonts, you want the same quality however small or large you make it, especially for large posters. Bezier curves utilized within vector fonts would definitely be a lot more computationally and memory efficient.