COMPUTER GRAPHICS 101
PREPARED BY
RICHARD NELSON
May 11, 2007
WHAT ARE COMPUTER GRAPHICS
We
know that computers only understand two things: zero 0 and one 1.
Therefore a computer must take a picture
and break it up into little squares called pixels and then convert each little
colored square into a series of zeros and ones that represent the color of that
pixel and how bright the color is. When you take a photograph and put it on a
scanner and convert it into a computer graphical image of the photograph that
is the process that is accomplished. And accordingly, when a picture is on the
monitor of a computer it is represented by a whole series of pixels. If you enlarge
that picture on the monitor enough you will see the evidence of the little
squares and the picture becomes what we call “edgie”.
STARTING YOUR
COMPUTER
IN THIS
INSTRUCTION WHEN IS SAYS CLICK IT MEANS LEFT CLICK
It is assumed in this graphical workshop
you already know how to start a computer system. However for the purpose of
review what follows are refresher instructions:
1. It is better to turn on (start)
the monitor first,
2. And then turn on the console (Computer)
But no harm will be done if you do
it the other way around. (I leave my monitor on all the time, so all I have to
do is to start the console).
HOW
TO DO IT
1.
Turn on the monitor by firmly but briefly pressing the button on the front
panel below the screen.
2. Then turn on the console (the
computer) by firmly but briefly pressing the power button located about half
way down on the front panel of the console.
Wait while the computer starts
up, it may take quite awhile. When it has finished, you will see the desktop
screen
STORAGE DEVICES
All computers have many choices
for places to store (or save) you pictures. These are all called storage
devices. Storage devices can be a folder on the hard drive, a flash drive, a
compact disk (CD), or a floppy disk. Floppy disks are almost obsolete. One of
the most used storage areas for graphics is a folder on the hard drive called
“My Pictures”. The My Pictures folder on the hard drive is called the default
folder for graphics on most computers. But you can also select where you want
to save (store) your pictures, like to a folder on the flash drive, or to a CD
or to a floppy drive. (We will not cover saving to a floppy drive or a CD in
this instruction)
GETTING A PICTURE TO PLAY
WITH
The National Gallery of Art
(www.nga.gov) has a variety of pictures that can be downloaded and used to play
with in this workshop. Actually any picture on the Internet can be downloaded
using the instructions below including pictures that are attached to your
emails. (Note it is necessary to use the www for the National
Gallery of Art)
JUMPING TO THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART
This instruction covers the two most common ways of jumping
to a web site on the internet
THE SURE
First
you must start the Internet Explorer software if it is not already running
To jump
(or transfer) to the National Gallery of Art web site,
1. Click
on File,
2. Click
on Open.
3. Type in
www.nga.gov
4. Peck
the Enter key or click OK.
JUMPING USING THE ADDRESS FIELD
This is an alternative way of jumping to
the National Gallery of Art
1. Locate the Address field near the top
of your monitor screen. There is already a web address there.
2. Put your mouse arrow on a clear
part of that field and click only once. That will highlight the address
that is already in the field.
3. Without doing anything, just type
in the address of the web site where you want to jump. In this case www.nga.gov
4. Now simply peck the Enter key once, and you should now jump
to that web site.
DOWNLOADING A PICTURE FROM THE INTERNET
The words picture and graphics are used interchangeably in
this instruction.
DIFFERENT WAYS OF DOWNLOADING PICTURES
There are several common ways of downloading a picture from
the internet.
One is to save the picture to a storage device on your
computer
Another is to copy the picture and then paste it to a word
processing document this is covered towards the end of this instruction.
A third way is the print the picture directly from the
internet. this way is covered towards the end of this instruction
DOWNLOADING AND SAVING YOUR PICTURE
1. Find the picture you want to download and save.
2. Put the mouse hand in the middle of the picture
you want to download.
3. Right click with the mouse.
You should get a menu. (You will always get a menu when you
right click)
4. Left click on the line that says “Save Picture As”
You will get a dialog frame called “Save Picture”.
SELECTING THE STORAGE DEVICE
A. IF YOU ARE SAVING TO THE HARD DRIVE (C:)
1. If you are saving to the hard drive do nothing. In this
case, the computer has already chosen to save in a default folder called My
Pictures
2. It is usually necessary to give the picture a
different name, so remove the name and type in a new name.
3. click on the Save button in the lower right
of the Save Picture display.
4. Your picture is now saved in the My Pictures
folder on My Documents
B. IF YOU ARE SAVING TO
It will be necessary to change to your flash drive in the
Save In box in the top of the Save As frame. To accomplish this do as follows:
1.
Click on the little
down arrow at the end of the “Save In” box,
2.
Then click on the
REMOVABLE (E:), (F:), OR (G:).
You should now see the removable disk (E:), (F:), or (G:)
in the Save In box
3. If you are saving to a folder on the flash drive, open the
folder, by clicking on the folder name, and then click on the Open button in
the lower right corner of the frame.
4. If you want to create a new folder, click on the Create a
Folder icon, now without doing anything type in a name for the new folder.
5. Click out in the white area of the screen. That will create
a new folder.
6. SEE BELOW FOR MORE DETAILED INFO ON CREATING A NEW FOLDER
C. GIVING YOUR PICTURE A NAME
There will be a suggested name for the file in the “File
Name” box. You will usually have to change it to something that better
describes the picture. This can be done by dragging over the existing name with
the mouse and typing in a new name.
BEFORE
YOU CLICK ON “SAVE”, NOTE WHAT IT SAYS IN THE “SAVE AS TYPE” BOX,
(SEE BELOW “COMMON COMPUTER GRAPHICS PROTOCOLS YOU SHOULD KNOW”)
Now left click the “Save” box. The picture is now
saved to the storage device whichever one you have chosen.
NOTE:
YOU SHOULD BE AWARE THAT CERTAIN TYPES OF PICTURES (GRAPHICS) SUCH AS JPEG OR
GIF CAN BE EASILY SENT USING EMAIL. BMP ARE GOOD FOR WEB PAGES.
COMMON COMPUTER GRAPHICS PROTOCOLS YOU SHOULD KNOW
Jpeg (jpg) = Joint Photographic Expert Group
Gif = Graphics Interchange Format
Bitmap (bmp) = BitMap
Tiff (tif) = Tagged Image File
Format
And several others that we talk
about in our Graphics Workshop
Jpegs and Gifs are best used for email because they are the
most efficient.
Most digital cameras take pictures in jpeg
CREATING A NEW FOLDER
To create a new folder either on your flash drive or hard
drive, do as follows:
· Find a little icon on the same
line as the Save In box. When you put you mouse arrow on it, it says “Create
New Folder”
· Left click on that icon, you will
be given a dialog frame to type in a name for the folder. THE FOLDER WILL HAVE
A TEMPRARY NAME “NEW FOLDER”. Now just type in a new name.
· Then peck the Enter key on the
keyboard. That will establish the new folder.
USING THE PAINT PROGRAM IN WINDOWS
Simple editing of a picture can be done using the PAINT
program found in Accessories. It is a basic computer graphics software package
that is always included free in the Windows programs.
To open Paint from the Start button:
1. Click on the Master Start button on the lower left of your
screen,
2. Then slide your mouse up to “All Programs” DO NOT CLICK. A
new menu will pop out of the side.
3. Slide up to Accessories and another menu will pop out to
the side. . AGAIN DO NOT CLICK YET. A new menu will pop out at the side.
4. Slide over to the Accessories menu, find Paint and left
click. That will open the Paint program.
USING PAINT TO OPEN A PICTURE THAT YOU HAVE SAVED
1. Once
you have opened the Paint program, click on File on the Menu bar and
2. Click on Open.
3. Go to the folder or floppy where you saved the graphics and
click on its icon. This can be done by clicking on the little down arrow at the
end of “Look In” box.
4. Click on the folder or floppy where you saved your picture.
Unfortunately the Open frame sometimes comes up in the Bitmap format.
5. So it is necessary to go down to the end of the “Files of
Type” box and click on the little down arrow, which will give you more options.
6. The option you will want to choose is “All Files”, and that
will give you access to all the files on the folder or floppy. (Note: you can
skip 4 thru 6 in most cases)
7. Now click on the Icon of the picture you want to work on.
That will highlight it.
8. Then click on the Open button.
AN
Go to your Desktop and open My
Documents
Open the folder where you saved
the picture
Right Click in the picture you
want to open, that will give you a menu
Left Click in Edit that will start
the Paint program with your picture in it ready for you to work on it.
ANOTHER
Go to your Desktop and open My
Documents
Open the folder where you saved
the picture
Find the picture and click on it
Go up to the Menu bar and click
on File, then go down and put your mouse arrow on Open With. A new menu will pop
out.
Go over to that menu and click on
Paint – your picture will not be opened in the Paint program ready for you to
work on.
USING PAINT TO RESIZE YOUR
GRAPHICS
1. Click on Image on the Menu bar,
2. Click on Stretch/Skew.
You will be presented with a screen where in the upper half
you can change the horizontal and vertical size by typing in new numbers.
For example if you want to enlarge you picture by 50% type
in 150 in both the horizontal and veridical spaces and then click “OK”
If you want to reduce the size of
your picture by 25%, type 75 in both the horizontal and vertical space and
click “OK”
The Paint software is very
limited compared to some graphics packages but within its limits it is very
useful.
CROPPING GRAPHICS USING PAINT
Open the paint program like so:
Click on Start> slid to Programs >slide to Accessories> slide to Paint
and click. (If Accessories does not appear, it is necessary to expand the
Programs menu by clicking on the double down arrows at the bottom of the Program
menu. That will enlarge the Program menu).
On the Paint program open, the
graphics that you want to crop
1. Click on the dotted rectangle just below Edit on the
Menu bar.
2. Starting in the upper left of the graphics you want to
crop, drag from upper left to lower right and you will see a dotted box around
the part of the graphics you want to crop. If you mess up click, and start
over.
3. Now go to Edit on the Menu bar
and click on Copy. That will put just the cropped part of the graphics in the
Clipboard of RAM.
PUTTING YOUR CROPPED PICTURE ON
ANOTHER COPY OF PAINT
1 Open a second copy of the Paint
program as above.
2 Once in Paint go up to the Menu
bar and click on Edit.
3 Come down and click on Paste.
The cropped graphics will appear
on the screen. If you like at this point, you can save the cropped picture.
ADDING A PICTURE TO WORD
WORD-PROCESSING
To do this you must have copied
the graphics image to your Clipboard as
above,
1. Open MS Word.
2. Peck the Enter Key three times
to get the cursor down a little.
3. Go up to Edit on the Menu bar
and click,
4. click on Paste
I a few seconds the graphics
picture will appear on your Word processing. You can add other graphics or text
any place on the Screen where the Cursor is.
If you want to add more
pictures to your word processing screen repeat the whole process using another
picture. .
WARNING!
You should be aware that if you change the type of graphics
protocol from the original, it could change the quality of the output, also the
size of the graphics in bits. Changing the quality will change the printer
output. Also changing the protocol and the bits could change how long it takes
to send on email and to download the picture at the receiving end. Bitmap
protocols take a lot of space and time to transmit on the Internet. Also every
time you save a jpeg file with a new name it causes some deterioration.
COPING A PICTURE FROM THE INTERNET
It is easy to copy a picture from
the Internet as follows:
1. Right click on the picture.
You will get a menu. (You will always get a menu when you right click)
2. On that menu left click on
Copy
That will put a copy of that
picture on your clipboard ready to paste.
With the graphics image still on
your Clipboard,
3. Open MS Word.
4. Peck the Enter Key three times to get the
cursor down a little.
5. Go up to Edit on the Menu bar and click,
6. Click on Paste
In a few seconds the graphics
picture will appear on your Word processing. You can add text any place on the
Screen where the Cursor is. Or you can
add other graphics to what you already have.
CHECKING OUT YOUR GRAPHICS ON YOUR DISK
USING “MY COMPUTER”
Click on the Start button and then click on the “My
computer
Find the storage device where you saved your picture,
and open it by left clicking on it and then pecking the Enter Key. If you saved
it to a folder on this device, again left click on the folder and then peck the
Enter key. You should now see the identification of the file where your picture
is saved.
PRINTING A PICTURE FROM THE INTERNET
It is easy to print a picture
from the Internet as follows:
1. Right click on the picture.
You will get a menu. (You will always get a menu when you right click)
2. On that menu left click on Print
Picture
That will send the picture to
your printer
In a few seconds the graphics
picture will be printing.
+++++
DOING A PRINT SCREEN
There are several ways to do a print screen depending on
what computer you are using. You might have to try more than one to get the
results you want.
USING THE ALT KEY AND
PRINT/SCRN KEY TOGETHRE
(NOTE: THE PRINT/SCRN KEY IS
USUALLY IN THE UPPER RIGHT OF YOUR MAIN KEYBOARD)
Have the page you want to screen
print on your screen. Hold down the Alt key and while still holding it down
peck the Print Scrn key. This will put a copy of the screen on the clipboard.
Now open the appropriate software package (usually word processing software) to
paste the screen print to. This will usually be your word processing program.
And from here you can change it or save it or print it out.
ANOTHER WAY TO SCREEN PRINT
USING THE SHIFT KEY
Have the page you want to screen
print on your screen. Hold down the shift key and while still holding it down
peck the Print Scrn key. This will put a copy of the screen on the clipboard.
Now open the appropriate software package (usually word processing software) to
paste the screen print to. And from here you can change it or save it or print
it out.
YET ANOTHER WAY IS TO JUST PECK THE Print Scrn key and see what
happens. This sometimes works.
FILED IN COMPUTER GRAPHICS FOLDER