Vector-Bitmap Conversion

Overview Before you begin converting graphics formats from vector files to bitmap files, you might want some background information about both types of graphics. The Internet contains a wealth of information about graphics formats, their uses, and how to convert them to different formats. Rasterization--that is, the process of converting a vector graphic image to a bitmap--is a common feature performed by most vector graphics software programs. Many third party software packages are also available.

Graphics File Format Information The article “The Best File Format for You” by Kirk Knoll provides an excellent overview of many different graphics file formats as well as their use on the Web and how they are printed. Information specific to bitmap and vector formats can be found at http://idlastro.gsfc.nasa.gov. Additional information, including guides and FAQs, can be accessed at either this or this About.com Web page. 

Vector to Bitmap Conversion Resources Most of today’s graphics editing programs use a native graphics format that can be converted easily to many different file formats. An excellent article about converting image formats is found at graphicssoft.about.com. 

Visit the Wikipedia.org Web page for a concise definition of the term “rasterisation”. Converting image files from vector to bitmap, vector to vector, and bitmap to bitmap are the topics of the following page: texturespublishing.com/butterflies/graphics.htm. Another good resource for vector to bitmap conversion can be found at www.sketchpad.net/porting.htm.

Vector to Bitmap Conversion Software Are you looking for image file conversion software? If so, go to any of the links found in the list below. You’ll find many different image format conversion resources. There are both free and commercial programs available.

• dmoz.org/Computers/CAD_and_CAM/Raster_to_Vector 
• www.debabelizer.com/Internet/Equil/products/DeBabelizer/index.htm 
• www.square1.nl/TGC-SITE/products.htm
• www.snowbound.com/image_conversion/conversion_overview.html

Additional Links Many of the special effects that are used for enhancing vector images require that the vector image (or animation) be converted to a bitmap image. Visit the Adobe technical guide for more information on this subject. The page www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/mxr/gfx/utils-hi.html contains an enormous amount of resources including source code, utilities, and FAQs.