So the best it can do is a close approximation. It can create smaller, more detailed brush strokes than even the most talented artist but it is actually far worse at recognizing complex shapes.
#Vector and raster how to#
A good artist could get close but it would never be exact.Ī computer can do no better than an artist. This example shows how to display vector data as discrete points, and how to connect points with a great circle. Another artist can then follow the instructions to reproduce the same painting.Ī computer is very good with numbers so it can reproduce either type of image with ease but turning a raster image into a vector image is like asking an artist to take a grid of numbers and a color pallet, determine what shapes the numbers represent and then record the brush strokes he would have used to create them.Īnyone can fill in a paint by numbers picture but what shapes and brush strokes it would take to create the same picture is open to interpretation. He records every brush stroke by its location on the canvas, its shape, direction and size.
![vector and raster vector and raster](https://iimagedesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Bitmap_VS_SVG.svg_.png)
As it relates to elevation data, the raster approach involves measuring elevation at a sample of locations. Both strategies involve simplifying the infinite complexity of the Earth's surface. Each pixel is assigned a number representing a color and the computer just fills in all the pixels to display it.Ī vector image is like asking an artist to write down all the steps he takes to create a painting. The terms raster and vector were introduced back in Chapter 1 to denote two fundamentally different strategies for representing geographic phenomena. But with vector images, youre saying, 'fill the background with a left-to-right gradient that fades from blue to pink.' You can identify whether an image is raster-based or vector.
![vector and raster vector and raster](https://i.vimeocdn.com/video/366022803_1280x720.jpg)
A raster image is like a paint-by-numbers picture you played with as a kid. With raster images, youre basically telling your computer, 'this pixel should be blue, the next one should be purple, the one after that should be pink,' and so on.