User Guide

Academic Courseware:
Joyce Ryan
97
Vocabulary
24-bit Color — Also called “true color.” Specifically, 8 bits are allocated
for each of the Red, Green and Blue values, permitting 256 levels of
intensity per color. This translates into the ability to produce
16,777,216 different colors.
Alpha Channel — 32-bit graphics reserve 8 bits for transparency
information (alpha channel), and 8 bits for each of the three RGB colors.
Each element is represented by its own channel—Red, Green, Blue, and
Alpha channels. Corel Painter allows up to 32 separate alpha channels.
Alpha channels are also used to store masks and selections.
Animatic — An animatic is a moving storyboard, synchronized with
audio, used to sell a concept for animation.
Aspect Ratio — Refers to the relative horizontal and vertical sizes of an
image. For example, if a graphic has an aspect ratio of 2:1, this means
that its width is twice as large as its height. When resizing graphics, it is
important to maintain the aspect ratio to avoid changing the
proportions of the image. Aspect ratio is also used to describe the
dimensions of a display resolution. For example, a resolution of 800 x
600 has an aspect ratio of 4:3.
AVI — Short for Audio Video Interleave, the file format for Microsoft’s
video for Windows.
Bit Depth (Color Depth) — The number of colors that can be defined
by a specific piece of hardware or software. The terms “color depth” and
“bit depth” are used interchangeably. Color depth is sometimes
described as bit depth because it is directly related to the number of bits
used to define the color for each pixel.
Bitmap — Also referred to as a “raster image,” a bitmap is an array (or
grid) of pixels used to describe an image.
Cel — Traditionally, animation drawings were inked onto transparent
sheets of celluloid or acetate called “cels.” The cel was turned over and
painted on the back with special “cel vinyl” paints, resulting in flat
colors and an intact ink line.
Color Resolution — Color resolution represents the ability to
reproduce fine color detail, or fine gradations between colors.