CD: (compact disc) A 4 3/4" disc used to store audio or visual images in digital form. This format is usually associated with audio information.

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1 Computer Art Vocabulary Bitmap: An image made up of individual pixels or tiles Blur: Softening an image, making it appear out of focus Brightness: The overall tonal value, light, or darkness of an image. Browser: A program (e.g., Netscape, Explorer) that allows users to access the Web. Brush: In graphics software, a defined point used as a cursor, to create strokes of various widths and sizes on the monitor.. Canvas: The blank space the computer creates for the digital artist to paint on Cartridge: A removable storage device (tape or disk). Also refers to what holds the ink supply for an ink-jet printer. CD: (compact disc) A 4 3/4" disc used to store audio or visual images in digital form. This format is usually associated with audio information. CD-R: (compact discs-recordable) Storage discs that allow users with a special drive to record onto it. CD-RW: (compact disk-rewriteable) Storage discs that allow users with a special drive to rewrite a CD. Clip art: Ready-made artwork that can be used free of any royalties Clone: Making a copy of an image to use as a virtual tracing paper. CMYK color: The standard primary ink colors for four-color printing: cyan, magenta, yellow, and key (black) Cursor: A small marker or symbol displayed on-screen and used to position text; in drawing programs, the current on-screen position of a selected menu command. Digital: Expressed in digits. Computers process digital information in Os

2 and 1 s. Digital camera: An input device that works as a normal camera but captures the image as digital data rather than on conventional film. The camera either saves direct-to-disc, or images are transferred via cable to computer. Display: The visible picture on the screen or monitor, also the screen itself. Download: To transfer files to one computer from another via a modem. Dpi: (Dots per inch) Standard measurement of printable information contained in a digital image. Drive: A device that reads and writes data, and then puts it onto a storage medium, such as a diskette. Duotone: Printed image made by printing two colored inks. DVD: (digital versatile disc) The size of a CD, a two-sided disc that holds 4.7 GB of information per layer, enough for a minute movie. With two layers on each side, it can hold up to 17 GB of information. A DVD-ROM player can also play CD-ROMs. Edit: Changing all or part of an image or text. Feather: Softening a selection's edges or smoothly blending areas with tonal contrast. Fiber optics: The technology of transmitting information through plastic or glass fibers. File: A collection of related data (text or graphics) stored on disk. File formats: The way the digital file has been saved to computer disk. Filters: Plug-ins that work within a host software to create special effects or help production. Flatten: Flattening a multi-layered document. Flash drive: A small USB storage devise that takes the place of floppy, Zip, and Jaz disks and can hang on a key chain. It can be bought with 16 to 500 MB of memory.

3 Font: A set of characters and symbols, such as an alphabet, in a particular size and style. GIF: (graphic -interchange format) Extensions that refer to compressed graphics files, which are limited in color and found on on-line services and the Internet. Gradation: Smoothly blending two colors over a distance. Gradient: Smooth blending between two or more colors. Graphics tablet: An input device, also called a digitizer tablet that is an electronic board. The user draws on the board, which causes the cursor to move across the monitor in an equivalent position. Halftone: System used in conventional printing to print shades of a color using a dot screen. Hard copy: A printed or plotted copy of the computer's output (text or graphics). Hard disk: (the computer's main storage space) Inflexible magnetic disks with greater storage capacity and faster accesses than a floppy, or diskette; can be internal or external. Hardware: The physical equipment of a computer system, including the keyboard, CPU, monitor, and printer. Hue: The name given to any particular color, such as red, green, blue. Icon: An on-screen image or symbol that represents a command, function, document, or application. ISP: (Internet service provider) Online Internet providers. JPEG: (joint Photographic Experts Group) A format that compresses an image. Keyboard: An input device with alpha-numeric keys by which users type information into the computer. Laser: Usually refers to a specific kind of light beam.

4 Laser printer: A printer whose output, either graphics or text, is created by a laser beam that traces the image onto paper with toner. Lasso: Tools used for freehand selections LCD panel: (liquid crystal display) About the size of a laptop computer, a panel used with an overhead projector to project an image from computer and/or video to wall or screen. Letter quality printer: An impact printer that produces documents in much the same way as a typewriter. Levels: Adjustable controls of an image's overall tonal content. Used for increasing or decreasing contrast Lighting effects: A range of filters that create the appearance of lighting the artwork Line art: Bit depth of an image created using only black and white with no grayscale information memory. See also download. Mask: Digital tool used to mask off or protect areas of the painting Memory: The main internal storage area of a computer where instructions for an in-use program are temporarily kept. Menu: A displayed list of options from which users select an action to be performed. MHz: (megahertz) A measurement for the speed of the computer processor. MIDI: (musical instrument digital interface) Computer systems that create, record, and play back electronic music. Mirror: A menu option that allows users to have strokes made on one section of the screen mirrored exactly on the opposing half, or a selected section of the screen. Modem: A device that enables the computer to transmit and receive information over a telephone line. Monitor: The computer screen. The user's interface with the digital canvas

5 Mouse: A small, box-like input device with a roller ball on the underside. As the user moves the mouse across a flat surface, the cursor moves across the screen. MPEG: (Moving Picture Experts Group) established to develop standards for moving pictures, audio, and their combination, this group is involved in developing standards for digital, video, and audio compression. Negative: Inverting an image giving opposite tonal and color values Opacity: The transparency of an image, usually measured as a percentage of the opaque image Output: Information transferred by the computer to an external device such as the screen, printer, or plotter. Page: An area of memory sufficient to hold one full screen of information. Paint program: A software package that allows users to draw freehand directly into the computer, with an input device. Palette: A selection of colors available in a graphics display system. Photomontage: Making a collage using photographs as base materials PICT: A Macintosh file format for moving graphics files between various programs. Pixel (picture element): A video image-forming unit. The more pixels per screen, the finer the images that can be drawn. See also resolution. Plug-in: A small program used within a host program to help production or create special effects RAM (random access memory): Memory where information can be easily written or retrieved; often refers to computer memory (I 6M RAM, 32M RAM). Rasterize: To convert image into pixel information Resolution: The detail of a display screen, as defined by the number of pixels the screen is capable of displaying. The higher the resolution the

6 finer the detail of the image, usually in dpi or ppi Saturation: The purity of a color, or the amount of gray in any given color. Saturation ranges from pure color to gray Save: Command for saving digital files to computer disk Scan: To analyze data. Scanner: A device that turns an image into digital form for input into the computer. Software: The programs that tell the hardware what to do. You'll want to get a variety of software programs that will be used for specific purposes. They range from very basic (Art Dabbler) to extremely complex (PhotoShop). Window: The area that the digital information is viewed in within the monitor area