Purposes of image representation

There are clearly many different uses for images. For example, Cadbury’s use their logo on packaging, lorries, web sites, in print and on TV.

With what you know about 2D image formats, it should be clear that a logo should be a vector image rather than a raster image. Below is an example of enlarging a raster image – every pixel simply becomes larger, and the image becomes blocky (pixelated).

In contrast, if we enlarge a vector image, there is no loss of detail. In fact, the 4pt black border around the circle remains as a 4pt border even on the enlarged image.

As a rule, anything that is required in different sizes is likely to be a vector rather than a raster.

Product images on the other hand are likely to be raster images – things like photographs. The main exception to this is in pre-production, where images are most likely to be rendered to give an idea of how the product may eventually look.