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Glossary

Glossary

Animated GIF (or animation):
An animated GIF or an animation is just that: an animated cartoon that brings life to projects such as Web pages and greeting cards. It is called a GIF because it uses the GIF file format. Hemera® provides thousands of animated GIF images in The Big Box of Art® collections.

Bitmap:
"Bitmap" (or BMP) is used in the electronic storage of images. Bitmap images are made up of pixels (or "bits") that store color information, which not only shades an object but informs its outlines. A bitmap can be any size, depending on the number of pixels it contains. Its resolution is fixed so it can't be resized or manipulated without losing image clarity. Some popular bitmap formats are JPEG, GIF and TIFF. A common synonym for bitmap is "raster".

Boolean:
A type of query logic that is used by many search engines to refine search results. When you perform a Boolean search, you use keywords to sift through a database. Boolean searching allows the combination of keywords with connecting terms called operators. The three basic operators are the terms AND, OR and NOT. Boolean also uses 'wildcard' keywords and parentheses.

Clipping Path:
A clipping path is a vector line that outlines the separation between an image and its background. It assists designers in "clipping" an image from its original background and inserting it seamlessly into a new context.

Color Model:
A color model is a standard code of colors used by graphics and printing professionals to represent the same colors that we see in the real world. The RGB (Red-Green-Blue) and CMYK (Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-Black) are two of the most popular color models used for onscreen and printed images. Hemera uses the LAB color model to process raw digital files.

Digital Photography:
Digital cameras record images electronically and store them as an electronic file that is often manipulated later in a software program. Because digital photography uses electronic memory rather than film emulsion, results are instantaneous. Traditional analog photography must be scanned and converted before it can be retailed online, but Hemera provides only original digital images, reducing our production cost and sale price.

Digital Watermark:
A digital watermark is an imprint used to brand images as property of an online retailer. The imprint is removed once the image is sold. The visual content found on Hemera Image Express™, for instance, contains a transparent Hemera watermark, preventing the use of that image in design without sale.

DPI:
One of the ways in which resolution is expressed is DPI (dots per inch). It refers to the number of pixels representing one square inch of image information. A high DPI results in greater image detail for printing purposes, but it also means larger file sizes and memory usage. For example, a 1"X1" image at 72 DPI contains 5,184 (72x72) dots (pixels), while the same 1"X1" image at 300 DPI contains 90,000 (300x300) dots.

EPS:
A popular image format and image file extension. "EPS" stands for Encapsulated Postscript, a format used to import/export Postscript language files between programs. EPS prevents incompatibility between applications, and allows a format's original features to show true in another environment.

GIF:
A popular image format and image file extension. "GIF" refers to the Graphics Interchange Format of images, a popular image file used on the World Wide Web. Common GIF images are illustrations or utilities graphics such as buttons, headings and logos. GIF files normally don't require a lot of storage space.

JPEG:
A popular image format and image file extension. "JPEG" (jay-peg) stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group, the organization that developed the format. The JPEG (or JPG) format is widely used because it can reduce an image file size by as much as ten to one without losing a lot of image quality visible to the naked eye. The JPEG compression rate is adjustable depending on the user's needs, but the more it is compressed, the more the image quality may be compromised.

LAB:
The LAB (or CIELab) color model, developed in 1976 by the Commission Internationale d'Eclairage (CIE), maintains excellent image quality and true colors because it contains all the colors perceived by the human eye. LAB is the color model of choice at Hemera.

Mask:
Made up of bitmap image data, a mask is used to define a selection of applications, such as layers or channels. "Pre-masked" images have already gone through this process and possess a transparency.

Photo-Objects images:
Photo-Objects® images are photographic images of people, animals, plants and objects that have been pre-masked, or cut from their original background so they can be inserted quickly into any project. Hemera Photo-Objects images come with their own transparency and clipping paths. They are designed to be used as easily as traditional clip art, for a more professional, polished look.

PhotoFont:
PhotoFonts are regular fonts into which realistic photo textures, such as candy or balloons, have been inserted. Users create PhotoFonts themselves with PhotoFont Maker, a free application included in many of our retail products. PhotoFont Maker gives your fonts added impact so headers, banners and titles really stand out. Our PhotoFonts have transparency, so they are used in much the same way as our Photo-Objects images.

Pixel:
"Pixel" is the common term for "picture element", the smallest part of television, monitor or photographic images. There are thousands of picture elements in any digitized photograph (a 1"x1" square inch image at 72 DPI contains 5184 pixels). Pixels are the units that are manipulated in photo editing software. In bitmap images, the more pixels, the higher the resolution. Enlarging a pixel-based image too much can compromise its quality.

Raster illustration:
Another name for "bitmap".

Resolution:
Resolution refers to the quality of a photographic image based on number of pixels, the output image size and, most of all, the number of lines per picture height. The more pixels or number of lines per picture height, the better the resolution and the finer the clarity of the image. Hemera Image Express offers photo images in two resolutions: 1MB (low) photos for home, Web and office use, and 15MB (medium) photos for professional-quality printing

Royalty-Free:
A royalty-free image is an image that can be used repeatedly by a designer or graphics enthusiast, without having to pay for every usage or reporting each usage for legal documentation. All Hemera images are royalty-free.

Stock Photo:
"Stock photo" is what creative professionals call the photographs they use in their designs. A stock photo isn't shot for a particular ad or design - it's purchased from an existing collection because it happens to suit the designer's need. Hemera offers professional stock photos on AbleStock.com, Image Express, and packages other stock photos in The Big Box of Art family of products.

Textured Photo:
At Hemera, a textured photo is a regular photograph that has been treated in an abstract way to give customers' designs a unique look. A textured photo was once a JPG image that was reformatted with transparency. The Big Box of Art family of products contains thousands of textured photos.

TIFF:
A popular image format and image file extension. "TIFF" is an acronym for Tagged Image File Format, a complex but flexible file format used to store digital images. TIFF can compress large images without losing information in the process or causing damage to the file. TIFF picks up where JPEG may leave off when it comes to larger files requiring greater compression.

Transparency:
"Transparency" refers to the extra space in and around a photographic image that has been cut from its original background. For instance, if you cut ("mask") the image of a jug from a photograph, you will still see parts of the original background through the handles of that jug. Those empty spaces need to convert to your new background when placed in another document, and transparency allows you to do this seamlessly.

Vector Clip Art:
Drawn images that are 100% scalable, meaning they can be re-sized to fit your designs but won't lose their resolution (image quality). Our vector clip art is in WMF format for Windows® and EPS format for Macintosh®.

Web Graphic:
Our Web graphics are icons that users need to complete the look of their Web sites: buttons, arrows, text boxes and a variety of symbols. Hemera Web graphics are GIF images included in The Big Box of Art family of products.





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