Saya kenal istilah "vector" dalam desain mungkin sekitar taon 2001 (setelah saya diterima kuliah di informatika atmajaya jogja). Kala itu saya sering searching mencari berbagai sumber yg bisa jelasin... "apa itu gambar yg sering dipakai untuk film kartun, anime, komik, dll"... Jenis gambar vector seringkali dikombinasikan dengan foto atau "bitmap".
Berikut beberapa sumber yg saya rangkum sederhana :
VECTOR adalah sekumpulan objek dalam garis atau bentuk tertentu yang dapat didefinisikan secara matematis, diisi warna, dan memiliki resolusi bebas. Karena itu, vektor bisa diperbesar dalam ukuran berapa pun tanpa kehilangan resolusinya. Ini adalah kelebihan vector, kita cukup membuat file vektor yg relatif kecil untuk menghasilkan file bitmap yg beresolusi berapapun!! huh?
BITMAP adalah objek grafis yang tersusun atas pixel. Setiap pixel atau sering disebut bit dalam objek tersebut memuat data informasi berupa warna yang akan ditampilkan.
Berbeda dengan vektor yang memiliki resolusi bebas, bitmap memiliki resolusi tetap. Sehingga bila diperbesar akan berakibat pada menurunnya ketajaman resolusi. Karena vektor jauh lebih unggul dalam menghasilkan resolusi berapapun, sering kali desainer melakukan perubahan format bitmap menjadi vektor. Proses ini disebut dgn TRACING. Tracing ini bisa dilakukan dengan beberapa software. Misalnya Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia Freehand, Corel-Draw, Xara X ataupun software khusus tracing seperti CorelTrace... hmm klo saya sering menggunakan software yg terakhir!!
Diferensiasi antara Vector dan Bitmap Image :
Vector,
- Relative lebih fleksibel untuk diedit
- Bersifat resolution independent, kualitas gambar tetap baik tanpa bergantung resolusinya
- Size file-nya relative kecil dibandingkan hasil export file misal dalam bentuk *.bitmap, *.tiff, *.jpeg. Jadi walaupun sebuah gambar berbasis vektor diperbesar, ketajamannya dapat dikatakan tidak berkurang.
- Vector image juga sering digunakan di dalam dunia design grafis dan multimedia
- Kelemahan, kurang realistik atau kurang memenuhi ciri objek sebenarnya
- Semakin kompleks image yang digambar semakin besar size filenya dan semakin lambat lambat pula proses yg dikerjakan prosesor
- Tipe gambar : EPS dan CGM, dalam file project Corel berkestensi *.CDR
Bitmap,
- Bersifat Resolutions dependent, kualitasnya tidak tergantung pada resolusi
- Bitmap diperbesar melebihi ukuran normalnya akan tampak pecah
- Tipe file : JPG, JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIF, TIFF, PCX, dan PNG.
- Membutuhkan size file yg lebih besar dibanding file bertipe vektor untuk kualitas yang sama.
:: SOFTWARE
Adobe Illustrator
=> software komputer grafis berbasis vektor data. Software ini dipergunakan oleh kalangan seniman dan desainer, dari berbagai macam bidang seperti desain grafis, desain tekstil, illustrator, percetakan, web designer dan lain sebagainya.
Macromedia Freehand
Sama halnya dengan Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia Freehand ® adalah software grafis berbasis vektor data. Dibuat oleh Macromedia, Inc.
CorelDraw
Software grafis berbasis vektor data produksi Corel Corporation. Dalam beberapa versi, CorelDraw juga menawarkan satu paket dengan Software untuk mengolah Bitmap-Corel Paint, TRACE, CAPTURE , dll...
Adobe Photoshop
Ini adalah software paling populer dikalangan profesional olah foto. Dengan software ini para ahli melakukan olah ulang atau retouching pada gambar/foto sehingga gambar yang dihasilkan bisa seperti yang dikehendaki. Saat ini Photoshop tidak hanya dipergunakan oleh kalangan seniman dan desainer, tapi juga bidang lain seperti kedokteran, pertanian dan bahkan astronomi.
:: File yg perlu kita kenal :
The Windows bitmap (BMP) file format was developed as a standard for representing graphic images as bitmaps on the Windows operating system
JPEG is a standard format developed by the Joint Photographic Experts Group, allowing the transfer of files between a wide variety of platforms, using superior compression techniques. JPEG supports 8-bit grayscale and color depths up to 32-bit CMYK.
GIF is a bitmap-based format designed for use on the Web. It is highly compressed to minimize file transfer time and supports images with up to 256 colors. The GIF format provides the ability to store multiple bitmaps in a file. When the multiple images are displayed in rapid succession, the file is called an animated GIF file. For Internet use, you can also save images to the JPEG and PNG formats. If you want to publish an image to the Web and you are not sure which format to use, see To save and optimize a bitmap to Web-compatible format.
The Portable Network Graphics (PNG) file format is an excellent file format for lossless, portable, and well-compressed storage of bitmaps. It takes up a minimum amount of disk space and can be easily read and exchanged between computers. The Portable Network Graphics format provides a replacement for the GIF format and can also replace many common uses of the TIFF format. The Portable Network Graphics format is designed to work well in online viewing, such as on the Web, and it’s fully streamable with a progressive display option. Some Web browsers do not support all formatting and features. You can export images to the Portable Network Graphics file format if you want to use transparent backgrounds, image interlacing, image maps, or animation in your Web pages.
The Tagged Image File format (TIFF) is a raster format designed as a standard. Almost every graphics application can read and write TIFF files. There are many variations of TIFF, considering that TIFF supports six different encoding routines and three different image modes: black and white, grayscale, and color. Uncompressed TIFF images may be 1, 4, 8, 24 bits per pixel. TIFF images compressed using the LZW algorithm may be 4, 8, or 24 bits per pixel. TIFF files can save RGB, CMYK, and Lab color mode information, but not duotones.
The Adobe Photoshop (PSD) file format is the native bitmap file format for Adobe Photoshop.
The Adobe Illustrator file format (AI) was developed by Adobe Systems, Incorporated for the Macintosh and Windows platforms. It is primarily vector-based although later versions support bitmap information.
Portable Document Format (PDF)
is a file format designed to preserve fonts, images, graphics, and formatting of an original application file. Using Adobe Acrobat Reader and Adobe Acrobat Exchange, a PDF file can be viewed, shared, and printed by Mac OS, Windows, and UNIX users.
ANSI Text (TXT) — is a vector format that stores ANSI characters. This format is able to store text information but not formatting information, such as the font type or size. When you import a TXT file to, or export it file from CorelDRAW, only the text is transferred. If there are graphic elements in the file, they will not be imported or exported.
CALS Compressed Bitmap (CAL) — is a bitmap format used mainly for document storage by high-end CAD programs. It supports a monochrome (1-bit) color depth and is used as a data graphics exchange format for computer aided design and manufacturing, technical graphics, and image processing applications.
Corel Presentations (SHW) — the SHW file format is a native format for Corel Presentations.
Corel R.A.V.E. (CLK) — the CLK file format is an animation file native to Corel R.A.V.E.
CorelDRAW Template (CDT) — the CDT file format is for a CorelDRAW template file.
GEM Paint (IMG) — is a bitmap format that is the native bitmapped file format of the GEM environment. IMG files support 1 and 4-bit paletted color. and are compressed using an RLE method. IMG was a common format in the early days of desktop publishing.
MacPaint Bitmap (MAC) — is a bitmap format that uses the file extensions MAC, PCT, PNT and PIX. It is the format used by the MacPaint program that was included with the Macintosh 128. It supports only 2 colors and a palette of patterns. It is used mainly by Macintosh graphics applications to store black-and-white graphics and clipart. The maximum size for MAC images is 720×576.
Macromedia FreeHand (FH) — the FH format is the native vector file format for Macromedia Freehand. Corel graphics applications only support Macromedia FreeHand versions 7 and 8.
Microsoft PowerPoint (PPT) — the PPT file format is native to Microsoft PowerPoint.
OS/2 Bitmap (BMP) — This type of bitmap file is designed for the OS/2 operating system.
Rich Text Format (RTF) — is a text format that stores plain text plus text formatting such as bold. When you import an RTF file to, or export it from CorelDRAW, only the text is transferred. If there are graphic elements in your file they will not be imported to or exported from CorelDRAW.
TrueType Font (TTF) — file format was created jointly by Apple Computer and Microsoft Corporation. It is the most common format for fonts used in both Macintosh and Windows operating systems. The TTF file format prints a font as bitmaps or vectors depending on the capabilities of your printer. True Type fonts print as they appear on screen and can be resized to any height.
Visio (VSD) — VSD is the Visio drawing format. It can contain bitmaps and vectors.
fDunkz! dr berbagai sumber
Seringkali brand-brand ternama menyampaikan pesan dalam promo produknya berupa ilustrasi karakter. Karakter tersebut bisa berupa manusia, remaja, anak-anak, binatang, atau... karakter-karakter aneh yg diciptakan Sang Ilustrator. Karakter tersebut bisa diciptakan sangat expresif.. senang, sedih, marah, kagum, dll. bahkan benda matipun bisa dibuat sangat hiperbolis dengan menambahkan unsur "hidup" didalamnya.. misalnya seperti Iklan Nokia ExpessMusic di atas. 
