John Greenwood
California State
University
Channel Islands
Capstone Project
Fall 2005
PAGE 9

 
       Introduction       
    The New Media    
       Internet 101       
   New Media Artist   
         NET.ART         
 The Original Replica 
     NET.ART, Inc.     
     Interactive Art      
   Art Technologies   
  Selling Art Online   
       Conclusion       
      Bibliography      
 

 

Examples of Digital Image Formats.
Click on Images to Enlarge.

 


High Resolution JPEG

 


Low Resolution JPEG

 


GIF Image

 


Vector Image
Courtesy of Phirebrush


 

NET.ART TECHNOLOGIES

PART 1

The three pages in this section will briefly discuss the technologies and crafts that are most widely used to create NET.ART. These brief comments and definitions are not intended to be complete explanations. Links are provided if the reader wishes to pursue these topics in more depth.

The Digital Image

Reduced to its basic form the digital image is made up of thousands of dots known as pixels (picture elements). These are generally thought of as the smallest element of an image. Pixel manipulation is one of the primary tasks of the digital artist and is the basis for almost all image manipulation. The list software that is available to the digital artist is almost endless and growing almost daily. Software companies like Adobe, Macromedia, Corel, Alias and hundreds of others make products for photo editing, digital drawing, animation, 3D art and animation, video creation and hundreds of other artistic functions.  The digital image is at the heart of most net art. The artist that uses the internet as a conduit to display his handiwork will doubtless be skilled in the design, creation and manipulation of these images.

Click here for an in depth discussion of pixels.

Click here for information on Pixel Art.

 

There are two basic types of digital images, Raster and Vector. Understanding the primary differences between these two types of images is an elementary in understanding the digital image. Raster images are also known as bitmap images. As the name implies this type of image is created by digital mapping. A rectangular grid is mapped bit by bit to determine the characteristics of each pixel. This image can then be reproduced by using the information from this digital map. Raster images are best suited for photographs and high quality graphics.

 More Information on Raster Graphics.

 

Vector graphics are created by using mathematical formulas to determine the location of points, and to determine how those points are connected using lines or curves. This is also known as geometric modeling. The shapes created by this method can be filled with colors, gradients or patterns to create images. Vector images are best used for geometric shapes, simple cartooning and composite drawings. Because vector images do not require bitmapping the file size is typically much smaller than a raster image of the same dimensions. This makes vector images a good choice for simple 2D animation that must be transmitted over a connection with limited bandwidth.

 More Information on Vector Graphics.

 

There are three graphic file formats that are universally recognized by nearly every web browser on the planet. These are commonly known as The Graphics Interchange Format (GIF), Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) and Portable Network Graphic (PNG).

More Information on Graphic File Formats

GIF is a lossless compression format. It is the oldest graphic file format on the Web, and consequently has excellent browser support. The GIF compression format support up to 8 bits per pixel, which means a maximum of 256 colors (Compression: Optimizing Web Graphics).

 

JPEG is a lossy compression format. It is designed for compressing either full-color or gray-scale images of natural, real-world scenes.  It works well on photographs and lifelike complex artwork. JPEGs support 24-bits of color allowing for 16.7 million colors. JPEG images are supported in all modern browsers (Lane).

PNG is a lossless format that uses full color support and error detection. It can store detailed, complex images without data loss. It works well with photographs and lifelike artwork. The PNG format is not supported by all browsers (Compression: Optimizing Web Graphics).

Graphic Arts
“The modern graphic arts industry is on the cutting edge of innovation in digital imaging, data management, computer technology, and communications.” (Learning Center). Graphics are the most common type of art on the net and are an essential of all forms of NET.ART. Michael Rush, referring to NET.ART, stated “…graphic design plays an integral role in this developing art form.” (p. 197).  Design is an integral part of the artistic process and graphic artists and designers create the majority of the internet art that is produced for commercial websites. Rush also observed that “…computer graphic artists…assist visual artists from other media in adapting to the computer.” (p. 197).

Website Design

Despite some opinion to the contrary the craft of web design has evolved into its own artistic domain, or perhaps a sub-domain of NET.ART. It is not uncommon for a single web page to contain photographs, animation, images and text. Each medium carefully arranged on this electronic canvas and combined with color to present a specific type of look, feel and aura. The use of text as an art form is not a new idea. This has been done in logos and advertisements for centuries. But the webpage is unique in the fact that it combines all these mediums as an attractive interface for generic and often changing text. The design and creativity of a web page will greatly influence the impact the page has on the reader. This new artistic procedure, like most disciplines, has developed its own language and tools. Terms like Stickiness (which refers to how long an individual user stays on a web site) and Eyeball Hang Time (which is a measurement of website loyalty) are examples of this new language (Manovich, p. 161). The tools and technologies of the website designer include What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) website development software programs, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Java and Javascript, Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Dynamic HTML, Extensible Markup Language (XML), Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML), Visual Basic, Active Server Pages (ASP) and an ever growing list of software and Internet technologies.

 
TECHNOLOGY PART 2 >
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Introduction | The New Media | Internet 101 | The New Artist

NET.ART | The Original Replica | NET.ART, Inc. | Interactive Art

Net Art Technologies | Selling Art Online | Conclusion | Bibliography