Real World Print Production

Chapter Five. Vector Graphics

While raster images are made up of pixels, vector graphics are refreshingly pixel free. As such, vector graphics are not subject to the scaling restrictions that plague raster images (Figure 5.1). The smooth shapes of a purely vector drawing have no inherent resolution, so it can be enlarged and reduced with no penalty.

Vector art can be scaled up with no limit (bottom left). Raster images, however, don’t fare well at extreme enlargements (bottom right).

Figure 5.1. Vector drawings (top left) are mathematically generated smooth lines, whereas raster images (top right) are composed of pixels.

Vector File Formats

Since the ...