Digital artifact
A digital artifact refers to an abnormality or distortion that occurs within digital visual information, which can affect any digital medium. These artifacts may arise during various stages, including the capture of images by devices like digital cameras or scanners, as well as during processing, interpretation, or display. Common manifestations of digital artifacts include issues such as "jaggies," which occur due to resolution problems, and other glitches that can lead to overlapping images or random color blocks. The advent of digital imaging technology has allowed for efficient storage and representation of visual information, yet it also requires advanced processing to function properly. Digital artifacts can result from hardware malfunctions, such as burnt-out pixels, or software issues, like improper file conversions. Additionally, video games are notorious for exhibiting glitches that can disrupt gameplay. To minimize the occurrence of digital artifacts, experts suggest using high-quality technology, ensuring compatibility during file conversions, and adjusting settings on imaging devices. Understanding digital artifacts is essential for anyone working with digital media, from casual users to professionals, as it can significantly impact the quality and accuracy of visual representations.
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Digital artifact
The term digital artifact generally refers to an abnormality in digital visual information. These artifacts may affect any digital medium and appear in almost any size, shape, or color. They may occur during the capture of the visual information, generally by scanners or digital cameras. They may also occur during the processing, interpretation, or displaying of the digital image.
Overview
Digital images are pictures that are created by numeric values. Each numeric value corresponds with a shade of black, white, or color that will fill in a tiny box called a picture element, or “pixel.” Digital screens contain thousands or millions of pixels, arranged side-by-side. When each pixel is filled in correctly, a viewer looking at the screen will not notice the tiny individual pixels but rather will see the overall digital image being presented.
The simplest digital images are black and white, or grayscale. Grayscale digital images first appeared in the 1920s, when newspaper companies sent image information to publishers via numeric codes. The technology slowly improved by the mid-1900s and then quickly increased during the Space Race of the 1950s and 1960s, when probes and other spacecraft began sending pictures back to Earth in digital formats. Medical advancements and the rise of the Internet also encouraged the development of new technologies and enhancements.
One of the major improvements was the development of RGB imagery, which is the type of digital display on most images. Each RGB image has three sets of information for three main colors: red, green, and blue. To create the digital image, the separate colors are overlapped to create a full-color picture.
Digital pictures are an efficient means of representing and storing visual information but require high-tech and extremely efficient processing to work correctly. Often, computerized devices that gather, process, interpret, or display this information experience various kinds of glitches that cause the images to transmit or display incorrectly. The term “digital artifact” may refer broadly to any sort of unwanted alteration in digital image data. In some cases, people also use the term to refer to other digital media, including audio and text.
Digital artifacts often appear on the means of capturing digital images, commonly digital cameras or scanners. This technology may malfunction for any number of reasons, from burnt-out pixels to difficulty processing complex visual patterns. The result is that information is captured incorrectly. People viewing the information may find that images are overlapped, scattered, or peppered with blocks of seemingly random colors.
Many other digital artifacts appear when accessing and viewing images. Computer monitors may fail to correctly interpret some digital data, leading to unusual and inaccurate displays. Digital media may be damaged to various degrees when files are converted; for instance, converting physical media to a digital file may lead to grainy visuals, skipping, and many other abnormalities, or a complete loss of function. Video games are also a well-known source of digital artifacts. So-called “game glitches” may cause flickering lights, pauses in motion, or on-screen characters to disappear or freeze unexpectedly.
Digital artifacts vary greatly and no single solution exists for them all. Experts recommend using the highest quality technology available and converting digital files to the most compatible formats. In some cases, digital artifacts may be avoided by altering settings on cameras or scanners or simply by avoiding patterns that are unlikely to transmit well into digital data.
Bibliography
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