ONLINE GLOSSARY

0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Click on a letter to browse through the Glossary terms.
To download a printable version of the entire Glossary, click here.

• Vector-Based Art. Line drawings and other object-oriented art created with a computer in such a way that they are not composed of individual pixels. All computer drawing programs (both CAD and computer illustration programs) generate vector-based art. A vector drawing object is created by storing the start, middle and end points, as well as direction or path information and also various properties of the object such as stroke color and fill value. This permits the program to draw the object on screen dynamically when needed, meaning vector-based objects can be modified quite easily. Since the amount of information being stored is minimal, vector-based artwork can sometimes take up as little disk space as a word processing document. In stark contrast, digital images stored as pixels take up much more memory and are much more difficult to modify since each individual pixel must be changed in order to alter the appearance of the image. See also Bitmap Image.
  
  
• Vertex. The point where two sides of a multigon meet, a point where two lines that form an angle between them converge, or the point where three or more sides of a three-dimensional object such as a geometric solid meet.
  
  
• Vertical Axis. An axis running from the top to the bottom an object, defined by a line that extends through its geometric center.
  
  
• Vertical Plane. An alternate term for the frontal plane of projection.
  
  
• Visual Perspective. A natural phenomenon that allows the eye to perceive three dimensional objects. Perspective also creates dramatic visual distortion, the amount of which depends both on the size of the object and how far away it is from the viewer. The closer an object gets, the more perspective distortion increases. Orthographic projection was developed to eliminate all visual perspective from blueprints so objects in the drawings can be accurately measured.

BUY THE BOOK

Return to Book Summary Page

0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Click on a letter to browse through the Glossary terms.
To download a printable version of the entire Glossary, click here.

All written content on this page © 2007 Charles Adams. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Reproduction, in whole or in part, is prohibited without written permission from the publisher.