Digital Foundations

This course is designed to expand your artistic processes and give you strategies for effective use of digital tools. Here are some tips to get started.

Organize

Being organized will give you a stable foundation from which you can explore, experiment and discover in the world of graphics and animation.

Name and store your files in a predictable way, so you can find what you need when you need it.
Create folders for separate projects and stages of projects
Within your files, use layers effectively to keep your file organized. Label your layers clearly so that you can refer to your own files as guides for how to do things.

In a professional situation you may have to give your graphics project to someone else to work on, or you may have to send a file to a client. Keep your work organized so your coworkers or clients can navigate around your folders and files. Imagine that someone besides you needs to work on your files, on your computer.

Does the organization and naming of folders make it easy to find a specific file, and make it clear what those files are for?
Do your file names make it clear which files are more recent versions, or which are final versions?
When your files are opened in a graphics program, is the organization and naming of layers clear?
Can someone isolate important parts of the file by turning layer visibility on and off?

If the answer to any of these questions is no, your files are not organized.

Experiment & Observe

Experiment methodically, observe what happens, and take notes. In graphics software, there are multiple paths to any outcome. By exploring each of these paths, you will develop your own personal understanding of how a software's tools and shortcuts work.
Most software interfaces are designed to help you learn. If you hover over a tool, the tool’s name will appear. Certain tools even have short videos that will play. Label your files and layers in ways that make it clear to you how you created them.

Inspire

Create a personal collection of links, blogs, articles, videos, image sources, etc. to use as inspiration for projects and as notes for technical tips and info. Start with the tutorials on this site, and find resources that work for you. Make bookmarks of useful resources in your browser.

How to take a Screenshot

Ask

If you come across a word you don't know, a process you don't understand, or something you don't know how to do:

look through this course website for info, tutorials and links.
search online using simple terms that describe your question, such as "photoshop layer mask" or "alpha channel"
post a question on the Webex chat for your classmates and your instructor to see.
contact your instructor directly by Webex or email (djoneill1@ccri.edu).

Backup

It cannot be stressed enough to backup your files. After every work session, ensure that your files are stored safely AND backed up in at least one other location. Files that are left on shared computers can be erased at any time. This includes all all CCRI computer labs.

File Storage

You are responsible for having a place to store files and having those files available to work on during class and outside of class.
You cannot edit files that are stored on the cloud, unless you download them (in which case they are not on the cloud anymore).

Folder Hierarchy

Make a single folder for all files you create for this course. Within this folder, create folders for each unit and each project. Once you create this folder structure, do not change it. We will be working with linked files in this course. That means some of your project files will be linked to source files. The link is mapped by a file path. If you change the name or location of any folders or files on the path, the path is interrupted, and the file will have to be re-linked.

Naming files you turn in as coursework

Each file or folder you submit as course work must be named following this convention:

LASTNAME-name of assignment

You can add information after the project or exercise number, for example if you turn in multiple files for an assignment, or re-do an assignment:

LASTNAME-IconSketch-version2

Naming other files

Give each file you create a specific name so that you can identify it later.

Keep file names short and precise.
Do not use special characters in your file names. Special characters are anything besides letters, numbers, and dash (–) or underscore ( _ )
They can cause problems depending on where files are stored.
Do not use words that do not contribute to the meaning of the name, such as “the”, “a”, and “and”.
If using a date in the file name, state the date ‘back to front’ and in this format: YYYY or YYYYMM or YYYYMMDD
When including a number in a file name always give it as a two-digit number rather than one. For example "09" instead of "9".
Order the elements in a file name in the way that makes it easiest for you to find it if files are ordered alphabetically.

Pixel Dimension

Pixel Dimension refers to how many pixels high and how many pixels wide an image is. Higher pixel dimension means a richer image, with more detail and texture. When collecting source images pay close attention to pixel dimension. A source image with higher pixel dimension will be much more useful to you. Of course, there is a trade off, because higher pixel dimension generally means a higher file size (as measured in Bytes). When exporting your projects to PNG or JPG, balance the need for quality with the reality of file size.

Three Workflow Strategies

Enjoy the creative process and come up with imaginative possibilities, without worrying about losing your work.

Non-destructive Editing

As you work on a project, you will be editing, adjusting source images, drawing shapes, and more. Without paying attention, this process can destroy information. For example you could turn a source image from color to black and white and not be able to change it back. Throughout the semester we will practice non-destructive editing techniques. These include layer organization, adjustment layers, and keeping unedited versions of your source images on separate layers.

Versioning

Versioning refers to how you store different versions of a project. All methods of versioning rely on organization and labeling. You can version inside a project file, by keeping versions of a project on separate layers or layer groups. You can version by saving versions of your project as separate files. It's important to note that an export file (PNG or JPG) is not a version. Export files do not have layers and cannot be edited in the same way as a project files.

Backup

It cannot be stressed enough to backup your files. After every work session, ensure that your files are stored safely AND backed up in at least one other location.

File Formats

Digital image files come in different formats. One way to categorize them is into Raster and Vector files. Another way is to look at Project Files versus Export Files. Know and understand the many formats available – their functions, features, and capabilities.

File size is measured in Bytes. A file that is 150 KB is 150 kilobytes. 1000 KB is a Megabyte (MB), and 1000 MB is a Gigabyte (GB). Working with digital image files requires balancing file size with image quality. You want to save your images in formats that retain their image quality. You also want to keep files as small as possible, to they do not take up space and slow down your computer. Familiarity with the various file formats will help you achieve the right balance for each situation.

File extensions are the letters after the period at the end of the filename, which provide a simple way of identifying the file format of each file. File extensions are also used by the operating system to associate file formats with specific programs.

Native file format refers to the default file format that an application uses to create or save files. Most software create their own proprietary file formats, which can only be used by their own software, at least initially. When you save in an applications native file format, you will be able to access all the adjustments you made in that application.

The native file format for Gimp is XCF
The native file format for Adobe Photoshop is PSD
The native file format for Inkscape is SVG
The native file format for Adobe Illustrator is Ai

Project files are files with well organized and labelled layers that show all the work that goes into a project. These are generally in a software's native file format, so they are fully editable. When you share a project file, you are sharing the ability to completely edit your project. For each assignment in this course, you are required to turn in a Project File in the native file format of the software you use. This is so your instructor can see how your file is constructed and all the work that you put into it.

Export Files generally do not have layers, and are simpler and smaller (in terms of Bytes) than Project files. When you share an export file, you are sharing an image of your project. Examples of export files include JPG and PNG, which can also be called image files.

Vector File Formats

Vector files are built by mathematical formulas which describe the contour, color, and other characteristics of each shape int the file. Vector files are scalable, meaning they retain quality when resized. Vector files are ideal for images with clean edges and flat color.

Note that even if you are working in a Project file which is Vector (such as an SVG file in Inkscape or an Ai file in Illustrator), you will often export to a raster file, such as a PNG or JPG.

SVG is often used in web design and is the native file format for Inkscape.

Ai is the native file format for Adobe Illustrator. Ai files can only be opened with Adobe Illustrator

PDF is designed to store more than just images, and is usually used for documents with text and multimedia. PDFs are useful if you want to share a raster or vector image with the general public, but also still want to edit it from within the Adobe software ecosystem. Most browsers can open them and even without a browser, Adobe provides a free Acrobat Reader to open PDFs.

Effects of resizing compared across three common file formats.

Raster File Formats

A raster file is built on a grid of pixels, and the color and other information for each pixel is stored independantly. This makes them ideal for images with complex and shifting areas of color, such as photographs. Raster images lose quality when resized; they are not scalable.

JPG is ideal for photographs and other images with rich textures and gradients. JPG uses lossy compression, which reduces the files size, but also means that data is lost from the image each time you save it. JPG does not support transparency (no alpha channel).

PNG useless lossless compression, so the files are larger than JPGs. PNGs have an alpha channel and support variable transparency, so a file can have a partially transparent areas.

GIF is an older file format that has a limited number of colors, so it is not ideal for rich gradients or textures. GIFs support simple transparency. Most importantly, GIFs are the only image file format that play as an animation.

HEIC is a recent image file type adopted by Apple, meant to to compress file size efficiently. One problem is that many applications cannot open these files. If you have an iPhone and you want it to stop saving your photos as HEIC, go to Settings > Camera > Formats and select Most Compatible. Photos will not be saved as JPG, which any applicaiton can open. You also want to save your images in formats that retain their image quality.