A pixel is the smallest homogeneous surface that makes up an image.
The concept of pixel has its origin in the English word pixel and emerged as an acronym between the terms pix (colloquial expression that refers to picture , “image” ) and element (translated into Spanish as “element” ). The notion is used in the computer field to indicate the smallest homogeneous surface that is part of an image .
The pixel, therefore, can be defined as the smallest of the homogeneous color units that make up a digital image. By enlarging one of these images through zoom , it is possible to observe the pixels that allow the creation of the image. To the eye they appear as small squares or rectangles in white, black or shades of gray.
Bitmaps
Bitmaps include pixels that are encoded by a group of bits of a given length. The pixel encoding will determine the number of color variations the image can display.
True color images are known as those that use three bytes to establish a color and that, in total, provide 16,777,216 color options .
It should be noted that one megapixel is equivalent to one million pixels. This is the unit used to indicate the resolution that a digital camera has for images.
Pixel and color model
The transformation of the numerical data stored by a pixel into a color requires knowledge of depth and brightness, but also of the color model to use. The most common model is RGB ( Red-Green-Blue ), which creates colors from the combination of red, green and blue. Computer monitors and scanners typically use the RGB model .
In addition to all of the above, we cannot ignore the fact that the term we are analyzing is also part of a very specific expression called dead pixel. With it, what is meant is to describe or define all those pixels that do not work as they should in what is, for example, an LCD type screen.
In the same way, it must be made clear that there is also the so-called stuck pixel, which is one that is characterized by having what is a solid color, whether red or blue or green. And all this without forgetting the hot pixel, which is the white one that is always on.
Pixel art is a type of digital art.
a type of art
It is important to highlight the fundamental or special role that pixels are playing in the world of animation. So much so that there has been the creation of a new type of art known by the name of Pixel Art. What defines this discipline is that it consists of editing images using a computer, and more specifically making use of a series of very specific computer programs.
Furthermore, in this type of art we find two fundamental elements or pillars: the isometric style, which is the one with which three-dimensional effects are achieved, and the non-isometric style, which is the one that is defined by being anything that is not framed within from the previous category.