JPG, GIF, PNG, TIFF, BMP are all common raster image formats.Most digital painting programs and apps like ArtRage, Sketchbook, Layerpaint and Procreate are raster.Adobe Photoshop, GIMP, Krita, Corel Photopaint and Pixelmator are primarily raster (some have a few very basic vector tools too, but the images they create are raster).Web images and digital paintings are most often raster. The file doesn't know what those pixels mean. Raster images are just grids of pixels, like what comes out of a digital camera or a scanner. As mentioned, both Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop are graphics packages.(that's Illustrator on the left, Photoshop on the right) However, the kind of graphics you can create and edit using the two programs are different. There's also Adobe Lightroom ( what is Adobe Lightroom?) but that isn't the focus of this article. A raster image is essentially a bitmap, which is a selection of pixels organized into a grid and then colored to create the final image. It can be used to both create and manipulate raster images. Illustrator, on the other hand, is a vector graphics editor. A vector graphic is one that is composed of mathematical formulae.
These formulae are then converted into the image you see on the screen. So, while both packages deal with graphics, they deal with them in completely different ways, and even the graphics they are capable of creating and modifying are-in the main-distinct and separate.
This is the main difference between Photoshop and Illustrator, but we can drill down further by looking at what each program does best.īecause of the differences between the two programs, there is plenty that Illustrator can do better than Photoshop. Here is a small selection of Illustrator's main advantages when compared to Photoshop. It is a vector graphics program, after all! We've mentioned vector graphics already and this is the field in which Illustrator really shines.
To explain a little more about vector graphics, they are essentially images that are scalable to any size whatsoever, without degradation of the image. Have you ever noticed how scaling a photograph up can make it look increasingly more pixelated until all quality goes out of the window? Well, a vector graphic can be made infinitely larger or smaller and never lose resolution. This makes Illustrator perfect for creating images with flat colors and well-defined shapes. A brand logo is a good example of where a vector would be used. One great thing about Illustrator is the ability to use artboards. An artboard works exactly the same way a piece of physical paper would if you had it set out on your art desk in front of you. You can create multiple artboards and these can be oriented in any way you like. You can work across these simultaneously, which is a fantastic way to streamline your workflow and see your entire project coming together. Something you can do in Illustrator, which really isn't altogether possible in Photoshop, is illustrating.
The clue is in the name.īecause of the number of drawing tools available in Illustrator, you have ultimate control over the artistic process. This is important if you want to see your ideas come to fruition. The fact of the matter is that Illustrator is probably the most powerful digital art package out there. Which is why it's used by a wide variety of industry sectors, from graphic design to digital artists, and even filmmakers. While the results may not always be exactly what you are looking for, Illustrator is capable of creating vectorized versions of raster images using several of its built-in tools. You have the capability to trace a raster image, for example, applying several degrees of control to create a scalable vector that can then be used elsewhere. Just be aware that you're unlikely to get a like-for-like image because of the difference between vector and raster graphics. It is still a great tool to use to vectorize your raster-based designs, though. So, Illustrator can create nice shiny vectors, but Photoshop is literally bursting with powerful raster editing and creation tools. If you have a pixel-based image that needs editing, then Photoshop should be your go-to program. On their own, these pixels aren't much use, but put them together et voila, an image! It is a very powerful raster image creator and editor.Īs discussed, raster graphics are made up of pixels, each with their own individual position within a grid.
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