2D in multimedia
To indicate the whole of digital graphic design, the term “2D” is used. It is visual multimedia production without the 3rd dimension of depth.
Designing in 2D requires creativity and the means of production are diverse such as:
– a scan of a drawing on paper
– a drawing made in a graphical vector editor such as Illustrator or Inkscape
– a drawing or edited photo made in Photoshop or Gimp
– an animation like “animated Gif”, in Flash or an animated film.
The consumer finds 2D design in the traditional printed matter such as newspaper, magazine or as a clothing print. But also in games, cartoons or in websites such as logos, backgrounds and pictures.
For a graphical multimedia production, use is generally made of:
– vector drawing (with lines, curves and geometric objects)
– grid drawing (in a color grid or bitmap)
– photo editing (digital editing of photos from scan or digital device)
Vector drawings show sharp lines and precise color infills, are quickly and precisely scalable and have a small file size, making them easy to handle in the development environment. In addition to creativity, drawing with vectors also requires geometric insight.
For applications, vector images are exported as PNG or SVG. This latter offers the vector format for applications in browsers such as websites and is supported by most browsers except IE8 and below.
Raster drawing requires a skill that is roughly equivalent to traditional drawing. Export formats include BMP, PNG and GIF
Photo editing does not require drawing skills, but rather a feeling for position, light, color and filtering. Known format is the Jpeg compression.
In this section of the website you will find techniques, news, tips and more information about 2D in multimedia.