vector graphics

what they are

click for a closer view

This approach to describing curves originated with the French mathematician Pierre Bézier (1910-1997), in his work of developing 3D models for Renault cars; and the curves still bear his name. Prof. Brian Barsky gives a drawing made by Prof. Bézier himself:

click for an animation, 70 Kb image"Chinese Opera", from Adobe Illustrator 8, Sample Art

Unlike a bitmap, or pixel-based, image, a vector image is described by paths and points, conveyed by the author's computer as a description of the angle of each curve, of how long, proportionally, it continues before changing direction, and so on.

The reader's computer reads that information and presents the design as it was described, keeping the same proportions at any size, and making a shape which always looks as smooth as the software can get the screen to show, or the printer to print.