At Walls Republic, customers can choose to create their very own custom wallpaper mural  from scratch. For those who have their own image that they want to use, you can simply look under the "File Upload" section and select your image file. Acceptable image files for custom wallpaper murals falls under one of two categories: raster images and vector images. In this article, we'll be talking about vector images, what they are, how they're different from raster images, and the benefits of using a vector image for your wallpaper mural. Let's get started!

What is a Vector Image?

Vector images are essentially digital or computer-generated images. The overall image is made up of a series of 2D curves and points. In this article, we'll be using this image of a bird as an example. Below, note the larger square points and the lines connecting them. All of these elements make up the shape of this vector image – the bird.

Vector images include a variety of different file types, such as:

.drw (vector file) .ps (Adobe PostScript) .svf (Simple Vector Format)

Some other common vector file formats that you may have run into are attached to popular design software, including:

.ai and .art (Adobe Illustrator) .cd and .cdt (Corel Draw) .org (OpenOffice)

Difference Between Vector Image and Raster Image

Vector images and raster (or bitmap) images are very different. At its core, vector images are a bunch of mathematical formulates that make up the entire image. On the other hand, raster images are made up of numerous small pixels placed in a grid formation.

In our day-to-day lives, we come across raster images a lot, such as the photos you take on your phone. Imagine a giant grid (like graph paper) – each individual square represents a pixel and each pixel contains specific information as to what color that part of the image should be. The difference between raster images and vector images can be seen when comparing both images.

See the difference for yourself! Open one of the photos you take in a photo editing program, like Photoshop, and try zooming in as far as you can. The more zoomed in you are, the more "pixelated" or blurry the edges of the photo image becomes. Eventually, you'll see the individual pixels or squares that make up the raster image.

Since raster images are made up of squares that each contain its own set of "information," raster image files are generally larger in size than vector image files. Compared to vector file types, most of us are way more familiar with raster image file types. These include

.gif, .jpg, .png, and .tiff

An example of a raster file type in Adobe Photoshop would be .psd. A raster image comes with its own set of benefits. Because each individual pixel contains color information, subtle gradations or variations in color can be more accurately represented.

Photographs that feature more complex compositions or shapes are better suited to this particular format. However, the major drawback with using raster images is that they are highly resolution-dependant. They are not very flexible in terms of editing the overall size of the image.

Benefits of Using a Vector Image

This brings us to the interesting benefits that vector images have and how it benefits you when creating a custom wallpaper mural. First, because vector images are essentially mathematical formulations, this means these types of images don't suffer the same resolution-dependant issues that raster images have. You can easily customize the size of the vector image without any loss in quality.

That bird vector image? Yes, you can scale up and make it fit a giant poster for your shop's window. The raster image of a bird, on the other hand? It can't be scaled up, but you can scale it to a smaller size, perhaps if you need an image for a business card. In addition, vector image colors can easily be edited. Colors are defined by the "information" within the pixel as is the case with raster images.

The lines or edges of a vector image remains smooth regardless of how the actual image is resized. If you zoom in a raster image, the edges look pixelated. In other words, you'll end up seeing the actual pixels.

Since vector images are composed of paths and lines that are based on mathematical equations, zooming in or out on the image means you still maintain the scale of your original image. In other words, unlike a raster image, vector images are completely scaleable, even when you're sizing the image up.

Using Vector Images In Your Custom Wallpaper Mural

Vector image files offers you the most flexibility when editing your custom wallpaper mural, since very precise changes can be made (and it can be made easily). One wallpaper mural style that benefits from vector images is anything that includes text, quotes, or numbers of any kind. Since you want the text to remain crisp and high-quality (rather than blurry or pixelated), it's best to design them as vector graphics. That way, you can resize the text without any loss in quality.

There are some unique ways to use vector images that may not have crossed your mind. Consider corporate business logos that are generally designed in a vector format in the first place. These tend to be used or printed in a number of places, such as on the business' site, a small business card, or a large poster.

Adding a company logo to a wallpaper mural can help unify the space and keep the business within the minds of consumers. If you’re interested in creating your own custom wallpaper mural with vector images but you're not sure where to start, why not give our in-house design team a call? We'd love to hear from you so be sure to share this article using the social media links below and let us know your thoughts.

Walls Republic Interior Design Blog - DESIGN ADVICE

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