Equipment needed for a Graphic PC

9. Digital Camera

A digital camera is important for Graphics PC because if you wanted to take a picture of something, you would need a good Digital camera to take a quality image. The better the mega pixels, the better the quality of the image, normally use a charge-coupled device (CCD) which is a device for the movement of electrical charge, to capture the image.

Limitations of hardware

RAM

The industry standard for RAM is 4GB. This is what most computers will need to run. Gaming computers need more RAM than normal computers because the graphics card is more advanced and so needs more RAM to store data. For HD graphics, you need to have at least 2GB for each process, but you want to have at least 3GB. And you always want to leave at least 2GB for other tasks. The only limitation of RAM would be if you didn’t have enough RAM it would limit you to what you do on your computer, for example if you had 1GB of RAM and a task needed 2 GB, the task you are trying to do would take you a lot longer to complete because the RAM will run out of memory, and will slow the computer down.  

Processor

The industry standard for Processors is the Intel quad core. The processor works as the brain of the computer and carries out instructions. The more processors and the faster they are enable your computer to work faster and also allow you to multi-task. The limitations of processors are that if they are old or slow, they can limit you on how fast your computer will run and how much multi-tasking you can do.  Low CPU will slow down everything that is running because there is little CPU available to do anything else.

Hard drive

The industry standard for hard drives is 500GB. The more memory on the hard drive the more data it can store.  The only limitation of hard drives are that if you don’t have a big hard drive it limits you to how much data you can store on your computer because there won’t be enough space to store it.  A bigger hard drive is needed for a graphics computer because it is vital to have enough space to save all the graphics. Data saved to hard drive is non-volatile, and will be saved when you shut down your computer.  Data remains on the hard drive until it is instructed to be removed.

Graphic card

The graphic card is responsible for generating all the text and pictures that are displayed on your screen. The graphic card has a separate processor to cope with the images and text. The limitation of a graphics card is that if it isn’t a new one it would not be able to cope with higher resolution graphics, which would limit you to what you can do on your computer because if the graphic card is cannot cope with the images, the quality of the image will be lost.

Digital Camera

In a digital camera, the better the mega pixel resolution, the better the quality of the image, so the only limitation of a digital camera is that if they don’t have a high mega pixel, the quality of the image will be poor.

Software Packages

There are two types of graphics, Vector and Bitmap. Vector images are made up of many individual objects. These objects are defined by mathematical equations rather than pixels whereas Bitmap graphics use dots (pixels) to create the image. Vector images are mainly used to create logos, and bitmap images are mainly used for more personal pictures.

                                   

This is a vector image                                                this is a bitmap image

 Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is a graphics editing program. It has its one file format (.PSD), but can save the image in a variety of formats. Photoshop could be considered the industry standard as it is used around the world and the vast majority of graphic designers use the program.

There are a lot of advantages to using Photoshop, for example Photoshop has many extremely powerful tools, it has a lot of plug-ins, and it can make old photos look like new and it can do great tricks to photos such as adding a grimy effect to them.

Although Photoshop has many advantages, there is a limitation. The latest version (CS5.5) cost roughly around £650. Not only does this take away some of the advantages, there are many cheaper programs that can do almost everything Photoshop can do such as GIMP.

A disadvantage of phototoshop is that it is difficult to learn. Unless you will be using it daily, it could take a long time to learn. Another disadvantage to using Photoshop is that if you are un familiar with Photoshop, it is very easy to destruct images. Out of the two disadvantages I have looked at, I would say the one that stands out to me is that Photoshop can be a very destructive tool.

                               

This is the default format

Photoshop saves in.

                                            The effect of Photoshop

GIMP

GIMP is a free software raster graphic editor that is similar to adobe Photoshop. It offers some features of Photoshop without the pricey price tag. I would not consider this program to be an industry standard as it does not offer all the capabilities of Photoshop, and with big industries, they can afford to purchase Photoshop for a broader amount of image editing tools.

The main advantage of GIMP is that this program is aimed towards beginner graphic artists. It does not have some advanced features that Photoshop has, but if you are not a serious graphic artist, and don’t want to Photoshop, GIMP is a good alternative.

Although it is a good alternative to Photoshop, it does have a few disadvantages. GIMP has less Tools then Rival Programs such as Photoshop, it does not have CMYK

(Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key (black)) and it also has a high RAM usage.

GIMP’s Logo

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Illustrator is a graphics editor. It is a type of software that helps you create vector artwork such as logos for projects. I wouldn’t say adobe illustrator was the industry standard because it has cheaper competitors that can do the same as Illustrator such as Corel draw. It is marketed towards graphic designers.

Adobe illustrator has a few advantages such as it includes an excellent set of tools for vectorial design, it includes templates, and it works more efficiently with custom workspaces.

Adobe illustrator does have its benefits, but does have some drawbacks. For example, it has a lot of  competition from coral draw and other image programs, saved files can be large and  it is very expensive, and there may be cheaper or free alternatives (GIMP?)

Corel draw

CorelDraw is vector graphic editing software.  It is mostly used for logos and shapes. Corel is the abbreviation of Cowpland Research Laboratory. I would not consider Corel draw to be an industry standard because I think this is a powerful type of software, but I Photoshop is better so long as you can pay for it.

Corel draw is cheaper than Photoshop and therefore a good alternative; it allows you to change almost everything and it all so produces small-weighted files.

The two main drawbacks of Corel draw is that it's not usually the standard graphics program for printers and businesses because Photoshop stands in its way and also

Many people say that it is hard to use the first time as it is too complicated.

What can be achieved in Corel draw.

Paint.net

Paint.net is a free, but not open source bitmap application for windows. As it uses bitmap and not vector, it is mainly used at home, and not at businesses as using bitmap creates pixelated images. As it is a bitmap application it is not the industry standard.

 Paint.net is free which an advantage is, it has Lot of functions and it has a wide file format support.

The disadvantages of paint.net

are that its own file format is not efficient, it is not widely publicised and it is also limited to Windows only

Paint.net in action.