3d Image Extension

[Andree Vandestreek]

Unlessyou're a graphic designer by training (like me), chances are you've never needed to understand things like what separates a TIF from a PDF or a PSD. While the large variety of image formats may seem overwhelming, there is a method to the madness.

Raster images are constructed by a series of pixels, or individual blocks, to form an image. JPEG, GIF, and PNG are all raster image extensions. Every photo you find online or in print is a raster image. Pixels have a defined proportion based on their resolution (high or low), and when the pixels are stretched to fill space they were not originally intended to fit, they become distorted, resulting in blurry or unclear images.

In order to retain pixel quality, you cannot resize raster images without compromising their resolution. As a result, it is important to remember to save raster files at the exact dimensions needed for the application.

Vector images are far more flexible. They are constructed using proportional formulas rather than pixels. EPS, AI and PDF are perfect for creating graphics that require frequent resizing. Your logo and brand graphics should have been created as a vector, and you should always have a master file on hand. The real beauty of vectors lies in their ability to be sized as small as a postage stamp, or large enough to fit on an 18-wheeler!

If you're not sure whether you have a vector version of your logo, here's a little trick for you: Call the company that printed your business cards or the vendor that embroidered your logo on a shirt. Often they'll have a vector file of your logo that they can send to you for your records.

Have you heard your designer talk about DPI or PPI? DPI stands for "dots per inch" and PPI translates to "pixels per inch." These units of measure are essential for determining if the density of pixels in an image is appropriate for the application you are using.

The biggest thing to note when determining what DPI or PPI you require is if you are using an image for print or web. Websites display images at 72dpi, which is low resolution; however images at this resolution look really crisp on the web. This is not the case for print. Best practices for printing an image will require it to be no less than 300dpi.

JPEGs might be the most common file type you run across on the web, and more than likely the kind of image that is in your company's MS Word version of its letterhead. JPEGs are known for their "lossy" compression, meaning that the quality of the image decreases as the file size decreases.

You can use JPEGs for projects on the web, in Microsoft Office documents, or for projects that require printing at a high resolution. Paying attention to the resolution and file size with JPEGs is essential in order to produce a nice-looking project.

The only reason that the two extensions exist for the same format is because .jpeg was shortened to .jpg to accommodate the three-character limit in early versions of Windows. While there is no such requirement today, .jpg remains the standard and default on many image software programs.

GIFs are most common in their animated form, which are all the rage on Tumblr pages and in banner ads. It seems like every day we see pop culture GIF references from Giphy in the comments of social media posts. In their more basic form, GIFs are formed from up to 256 colors in the RGB colorspace. Due to the limited number of colors, the file size is drastically reduced.

A TIF is a large raster file that doesn't lose quality. This file type is known for using "lossless compression," meaning the original image data is maintained regardless of how often you might copy, re-save, or compress the original file.

PSDs are files that are created and saved in Adobe Photoshop, the most popular graphics editing software ever. This type of file contains "layers" that make modifying the image much easier to handle. This is also the program that generates the raster file types mentioned above.

If a designer saves your vector logo in PDF format, you can view it without any design editing software (as long as you have downloaded the free Acrobat Reader software), and they have the ability to use this file to make further manipulations. This is by far the best universal tool for sharing graphics.

The EPS extension is more of a universal file type (much like the PDF) that can be used to open vector-based artwork in any design editor, not just the more common Adobe products. This safeguards file transfers to designers that are not yet utilizing Adobe products, but may be using Corel Draw or Quark.

Adobe Illustrator is the industry standard for creating artwork from scratch and therefore more than likely the program in which your logo was originally rendered. Illustrator produces vector artwork, the easiest type of file to manipulate. It can also create all of the aforementioned file types. Pretty cool stuff! It is by far the best tool in any designer's arsenal.

Files from both Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator can be combined in InDesign to produce content rich designs that feature advanced typography, embedded graphics, page content, formatting information and other sophisticated layout-related options.

A RAW image is the least-processed image type on this list -- it's often the first format a picture inherits when it's created. When you snap a photo with your camera, it's saved immediately in a raw file format. Only when you upload your media to a new device and edit it using image software is it saved using one of the image extensions explained above.

RAW images are valuable because they capture every element of a photo without processing and losing small visual details. Eventually, however, you'll want to package them into a raster or vector file type so they can be transferred and resized for various purposes.

As you can see from the icons above, there are multiple raw image files in which you can create images -- many of them native to certain cameras (and there are still dozens more formats not shown above). Here's a brief description of those four raw files above:

Working with images is a lot more complicated than you'd think at first glance. Hopefully this guide has provided a better understanding of the standard file types and which are most appropriate for your project.

As Art Director at Quintain Marketing, Jessie-Lee brings a unique blend of graphic design skills and marketing and social media knowledge. In addition to her design skills, Jessie-Lee has extensive experience in the design and implementation of social media strategies including blogging, and the use of platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Image assets allow advertisers to upload rich, relevant visuals to complement their existing text ads. Image assets can help drive performance for advertisers, with compelling visuals of products or services that enhance the message of their text ads.

To best represent your products and services, you can upload up to 20 diverse, high-quality images that are relevant to your keywords. Image assets must follow a strict set of creative guidelines without exceptions. Make sure you review the guidelines below before creating your image asset to avoid disapprovals. Images must also meet Image assets format requirements.

Note: By creating image assets, you're confirming that you own all legal rights to the image and have permission to share the image with Google to use on your behalf for advertising or other commercial purposes.

Both advertiser-uploaded image assets and dynamic image assets adhere to strict quality and relevance checks to ensure a great experience. When dynamic image assets are enabled, the image assets that you provide and dynamic image assets will both be eligible to serve.

Form a good balance between the amount of effort it takes to create the image assets and its performance by adding at least 4 unique and relevant images at either the Ad Group level or Campaign level.

Make sure to add images relevant to the queries they'll be eligible to show for, the text ads they'll show with, and the landing page the final URL directs to. Images need to be relevant in the same way as headlines and descriptions.

When you focus your content in the center to 80% of the image, it helps the user to keep a track of what your image is about. Simple backgrounds emphasize the essence of your content as well. Learn more about Image assets format requirements.

You can find inspiration by experimenting with the way your image asset looks. Make use of a wide variety of creative styles including product imagery, lifestyle imagery, and creative visualizations of abstract concepts.

Good choice for both images and animated images due to high performance and royalty free image format. It offers much better compression than PNG or JPEG with support for higher color depths, animated frames, transparency, etc. Note that when using AVIF, you should include fallbacks to formats with better browser support (i.e. using the element).

Support: Chrome, Edge, Firefox (still images only: animated images not implemented), Opera, Safari.

Good choice for lossy compression of still images (currently the most popular). Prefer PNG when more precise reproduction of the image is required, or WebP/AVIF if both better reproduction and higher compression are required.

Support: Chrome, Edge, Firefox, IE, Opera, Safari.

PNG is preferred over JPEG for more precise reproduction of source images, or when transparency is needed. WebP/AVIF provide even better compression and reproduction, but browser support is more limited.

Support: Chrome, Edge, Firefox, IE, Opera, Safari.

Note: The older formats like PNG, JPEG, GIF have poor performance compared to newer formats like WebP and AVIF, but enjoy broader "historical" browser support. The newer image formats are seeing increasing popularity as browsers without support become increasingly irrelevant (i.e. have virtually zero market share).

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