ABSTRACT
Pixels versus vectors Digital photographs are constructed with pixels and as such are resolution-dependent. You can scale up a pixel image, but as you do so, the finite information can only be stretched so far before the underlying pixel structure becomes apparent. Objects created in a program like Adobe Illustrator are defined mathematically, so if you draw a rectangle, the proportions of the rectangle edges, the relative placement on the page and the color it is filled with can all be described using mathematical expressions. An object defined using vectors can be output at any resolution. It does not matter if the image is displayed on a computer screen, or as a huge poster, it will always be rendered with the same amount of detail (see Figure 12.2).
