JAGGIES

Definition: Stair-like lines that appear where there should be smooth straight lines or curves. Jaggies can occur for a variety of reasons, the most common being that the output device (display monitor or printer) does not have enough resolution to portray a smooth line. In addition, jaggies often occur when a bit-mapped image is converted to a different resolution. This is one of the advantages vector graphics has over bit-mapped graphics -- the output looks the same regardless of the resolution of the output device. The effect of jaggies can be reduced somewhat by a graphics technique known as antialiasing. Antialiasing smoothes out jagged lines by surrounding the jaggies with shaded pixels. In addition, some printers can reduce jaggies with a technique known as smoothing. The smaller the pixels and the greater their number, the less apparent the "jaggies". Also known as pixelization.