Clipart: Difference between revisions

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; Free
; Free
* [http://www.free-clip-art.com/ Free Clip Art]
* [http://www.free-clip-art.com/ free-clip-art.com]
* [http://www.clipart9.com/ Clipart9]


; Commercial
; Commercial
* [http://www.graphicsfactory.com/ Graphicsfactory]
* [http://www.graphicsfactory.com/ Graphicsfactory]
* [http://www.prodraw.net/cartoon/ Prodraw] (some free bitmaps)


=== Bitmaps only ===
=== Bitmaps only ===


* [http://www.school-clip-art.com/ School Clip Art] (only bitmaps)
* [http://www.school-clip-art.com/ School Clip Art] (only bitmaps)
* [http://www.inki.com/clipart/textlist.php Inki's Clipart]


== Other Links ==
== Other Links ==

Revision as of 18:46, 28 August 2007

Definition

Clip art, in the graphic arts, refers to pre-made images used to illustrate any medium. Clip art is divided into two different data types represented by many different graphics file formats: bitmap and vector art. Clip art vendors may provide images of just one type or both. (Wikipedia)

This article is also part of the Flash tutorials.

Formats used in repositories

The most common bitmap formats for clipart distributed on the web is *.jpg, *.png, and *.fig. But one may also find *.bmp (for smaller things), or TIFF and TGA.

Most common vector formats are:

  • Adobe's EPS (Encapsulated PostScript), also the related PDF format.
  • Microsoft WMF (Windows Metafile) and its variants
    • EMF - Enhanced Metafile)
    • WMZ - Compressed Windows Metafile
    • EMZ - Compressed Windows Enhanced Metafile
  • SVG (in the open source community)
  • Illustrator *.ai file (rarely)

Importing clipart to Flash

Flash CS3 (version 9) supports directly several file formats. To import these:

Clipart repositories

We are mostly interested in vector formats. Alternatively, you may also search through other applications you installed on your computer, e.g. Office products like Word and Powerpoint and the Open Office equivalent.

In SVG Format

SVG became the most standard format in the open source community. Many commercial programs can import SVG, but some like Flash can not. In this case use you can for instance:

  • Import to Illustrator, then paste to Flash
  • Or open with the free Inkscape tool and export as *.ai (Illustrator) or *.dxf (Autocad) and then import to Flash (import didn't work for me)

Windows Meta File

Free
Commercial

Bitmaps only

Other Links

File formats

General

Software

Most graphics vector graphics editors can import/export various formats.

Free online tools
Free Vector editors