Different types of computer game graphics

There are six different types of video game graphics, each is used at different times throughout a game and may be done by, a single person, a team of dedicated artists or a team dedicated to a single type of graphics design. One of the most famous background art teams are Creative assembly who made a impressive number of backgrounds for Total war shogun 2. They not only created 3-d backgrounds to simulate real battles, but also Japanese wood block painting.

Background art

Background art is art made for a games background, art like this is normally non-animated, and is normally made in programs such as Photoshop. This type of art depends on what type of environment the game is set in. It can be anything from Farms and Meadows to Cities and factories. The difference between Background and Foreground art is that there is rarely action in the Background (it's just meant to be a backdrop and can rarely be accessed by the player)The foreground is where most of the games action takes place. However this is not the case for all games as some games such as the virtual card game Hearthstone have made their backgrounds interactive. You are able to break windows,drop a bucket in a well and fire cannons all while waiting for your opponent. However this is not the norm.

2-d background art from a RPG game

Willowwisp.deviantart.com.

2D RPG game background by ~willowWISP on deviantART

In-text: (Willowwisp.deviantart.com, 2013)
Bibliography: Willowwisp.deviantart.com. 2013. 2D RPG game background by ~willowWISP on deviantART. [online] Available at: http://willowwisp.deviantart.com/art/2D-RPG-game-background-65228468 [Accessed: 26 Sep 2013].



The hills and forests are part of 3D background art      

however the foreground is where the battle is going on

 



In-text: (Unknown, 2013)
Bibliography: Unknown. 2013. [online] Available at: http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4103/4976808097_09562dd702_o.jpg [Accessed: 26 Sep 2013].


Texture art

Texture artists are responsible for making the textures within a game. These are then put onto computer-made 3D models made by model artists. Textures are used to simulate the roughness of sandstone, the smoothness of glass or the feel of cold metal. Texture artists must be able to imagine and study both real and fictional objects, so the user will feel more immersed while their playing a game about fighting in the final battle of the Second Manassas campaign or fighting on a abandoned alien spaceship, it's very likely texture artists will have to do both of these. Programs such as Maya or Blender are often used for this task.
http://www.blender.org/
http://www.autodesk.com/products/autodesk-maya/overview

The top image is the computer made 3-d model of this gun,

in the bottom image reflections, rubber grips and some scratches have been added making it look very realistic.

 

 

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Bibliography: Unknown. 2013. [online] Available at: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=341756&d=1207581638 [Accessed: 1 Oct 2013

 

As you can see this sword I made in Maya doesn't look very exciting

 

Pixel art

Pixel art is a digital art made with a raster art program such as Photoshop, (A Raster image is a image made up of lots of differently coloured pixels). A lot of the time they are used in old games (such as Mario), but they have also been used in Morden day games such as the Massive multiplayer game Habbo hotel, where players from all over the world can play together. think of a real life pixel art object.......Lego

"The term pixel art was first published by Adele Goldberg and Robert Flegal of Xerox Palo Alto Research Center in 1982.^[1] The concept, however, goes back about 10 years before that, for example in Richard Shoup's SuperPaint system in 1972, also at Xerox PARC."

En.wikipedia.org.

Pixel art

In-text: (En.wikipedia.org, 2013)
Bibliography: En.wikipedia.org. 2013. Pixel art. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_art [Accessed: 1 Oct 2013].



 

Pixel art of a tv from Habbo hotel as you can see you can see the pixels better as it's zoomed in more

 



En.wikipedia.org.

2xsai example.png

In-text: (En.wikipedia.org, 2007)
Bibliography: En.wikipedia.org. 2007. 2xsai example.png. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2xsai_example.png [Accessed: 1 Oct 2013].

User interface art

User interface art is art of the HUD (Heads up display) and any sort of menus that are in the game, artists try to incorporate the general theme and look of the game. If the game is about Samurais they could design the menus to have a Japanese feel too them possibly using wood block painting techniques just like Creative assembly did on Total war: Shogun 2

 

A scene from Total war: Shogun 2 showing off the HUD

 









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In-text: (Unknown, 2013)
Bibliography: Unknown. 2013. [online] Available at: http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/595806217332687839/6CEC651EA16B54F15FC539A90785CFC5BAED5D03/ [Accessed: 3 Oct 2013].


Start menus and pause menus also fall under the category of User interface  Start menus are normally the first thing you see when the game starts up they are the menu which will let you start the game, continue a game you have already started and pick various options for the game, such as difficulty, sound volumes, brightness and on PCs the quality of the visuals in game. Sometimes they may also let you see concept art, the original soundtrack and how they made the game. Start menus  are very important and if done well can give the general mood and feel of the game. Flash is often used to make these.
http://www.adobe.com/uk/products/flash.html

The start menu of the nuclear apocalypse game "Metro 2033" It is dark, eerie and allows the player to easily access the menu items.

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In-text: (Unknown, 2013)
Bibliography: Unknown. 2013. [online] Available at: http://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/437218-metro-2033-xbox-360-screenshot-main-menu-s.jpg [Accessed: 3 Oct 2013].

Print media art

Print media art is art mainly used for advertising and attracting people to the game, art that falls under this category are, the games packaging, the box the game is supplied in, manuals supplied with the game, the label on the game and posters used to advertise the game. Photoshop is most often used to create these images.
http://www.photoshop.com/

The box art here is aimed to draw people in and interest them, fans of the series are also alerted to this being the game they need.
In-text: (Unknown, 2013)
Bibliography: Unknown. 2013. [online] Available at: http://art.gametdb.com/ps3/coverfull/US/BLUS31011.jpg?1363355744 [Accessed: 8 Oct 2013].

Concept art

Concept art is usually the start of the design process, it can even be the start of a entire game if it provides a good idea. Concept art is when the art team start thinking about how the character, weapons and environments around them look like, this starts by them getting a rough description from the team who makes the game then sketching this out on paper. From here then can continue to shape and change their ideas until they get the right fit. This is important for making sure they have the right design before they decide to make it into the game.





Concept art for the game metal gear solid rising it has views from the back and front and loads of notes.

File extensions

PSD file: A PSD file is a layered Photoshop file, this stand for Photoshop document and is the default file type that Photoshop saves your documents as. This can be converted into JPEGS and other types of files later on.

Jpeg: Jpeg is a common file format and one of the most used, it is a form of lossy compression The standard was established on March 1, 1991 in a meeting at C-Cube Microsystems. A Jpeg compression is best used on photos and paintings of realistic scenes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JPEG_File_Interchange_Format

http://www.ntchosting.com/web_hosting_images/jpeg-example.jpg

BMP: A BMP image also known as a bitmap image file, is a Raster type image format it is a type of lossless image. A BMP is capable of storing 2D digital images in both monochrome and colour, in various colour depths.

A BMP. image type



http://lbvagrant.com/images/desktops/a-m/Bliss.bmp

GIF:

Gif (pronounced jif) is a type of file format used online, it is a Bitmap (or Rasta) image format produced by
CompuServe in 1987 and used widely on the internet mostly on image sharing sites such as 4chan. The format is made to support up to 8 bits per pixel for every image, this allows it to have a choice of 256 colors for every frame. Unfortunly because it only supports only 256 colors it’s unsuitable for being used for color photographs. Gifs are a lossless type of file meaning that the file is bigger but it does not lose any data.


PNG:
PNG (pronounced Ping) is short for Portable network graphics, it is a form of lossy data but is intended to give a trade off between the user loosing data and file size. It is intended to replace GIF.

TIFF:TIFF or Tagged interface format file if a file extension for storing images  it is very popular with graphic artists.

Lossy: Lossy compression is when the file sacrifices image quality for a smaller file size. It is commonly used for compressing multimedia data such as audio, video and still images streaming videos such as those on YouTube are commonly compressed using Lossy compression.

Lossless: Lossless compression is when the file is larger but has all the image quality.  It is commonly used for where it is important the original document and the compressed copy are the same. For example source code, programs which execute and text documents, PNG and Gif only use this sort of compression type.

 Scanner: A scanner is a type of device which allows you to upload pictures or drawings onto a computer, they do this by first having the user place the photo face down on the glass plane. A lamp is used to illustrate the document The entire mechanism (mirrors, lens, filter and CCD array) make up the scan head. The scan head passes slowly over the document, reflecting the document onto a angled mirror onto another angled mirror reflecting the original image to a lens. The computer then communicates with the printer using software called a driver to transfer data from the lens to the computer.

Digtical camara: A digital camera is a device letting you take pictures by using very small sensors about the size of your fingernail, on top of these sensors there are millions of of photosensitive diodes, the more of these the better the image quality. There are many different types of cameras:


Compact cameras: Compact cameras are among the smallest types of cameras the lens can not be changed out and are mostly point and shoot.

Compact system: A compact system camera is like a DSLR camera but combines the DSLRs many functions and lenses with the portability of a compact camera.

DSLR:

DSLRs are the biggest and more complex cameras available, you can swap out the lenses and buy expensive equipment such as flash guns, while you can still use it in point and shoot mode most people who use it are professional

Tablet: A tablet is a input device which inputs a drawing done by a person into the computer. There are lots of different types of tablets which differs the way they work.


Passive tablets: Passive tablets are the most common type of tablets and work by sending electromagnetic signals from the tablet. The stylus will then act as a antenna that receives these signals, it then generates another electromagnetic signal which tells the tablet where the pen is.

Active tablets: The main difference between passive and active tablets is that in active tablets there are batteries in the stylus.

Vector: Vector graphics are made by using objects, the computer does this by calculating points. As they are made out of objects instead of pixels they will not blur when zoomed you zoom in. This is often used for cartoons. The disadvantage with this file format, is you can't really create real life images.

A vector image

Raster: Raster graphics use lots of individual squares called pixels, this allows  your photos to look realistic. However you are not able to zoom in very far as the image will pixelate if you zoom to far. The file size is also larger then vectors.

Optimizing:
Target image output: Whatever your uploading you want the best quality images at the right size, to do this you must know your formats  (see above for formats). This is important as the file size matters, if you were to perform a presentation, having hundreds of high quality images will look good but will have a huge impact on the storage space on your hard drive.

image bit depth: This refers to the number of bits used to make up a singular pixel in a bitmap image.


Examples of image bit depth.
Source: http://110073268unit78.wordpress.com/tag/target-image-output/

Image resolution: Image resolution is the amount of detail a image has, in bitmap or Raster images,  it is the number of pixels per square inch. Higher resolution always means the image will have more detail, higher resolution images are genially preferred for video games. As it makes the graphics perform better, however this makes the system have to work harder to display the image. A larger resolution also takes up more memory then a similar image with a  smaller resolution.
 s
A 6000×4200 image
Source:http://110073268unit78.wordpress.com/tag/target-image-output/





















A 500 x 450 resolution image, as you can see there is less detail and if you zoom in you'd see a lot of pixels.