Rasterisation

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The act of transforming vector-based graphics into a pixel-based format involves changing geometric representations into a grid of pixels
2. This procedure converts vector images into raster graphics, effectively creating a bitmap by assigning pixel values to each geometric shape
3. The process of changing vector graphics into a grid of pixels suitable for display or printing

Etymology: "Raster" came into English from German "Raster," meaning a grid or screen, and it was the German word that shaped the computing term. The Dutch and German image-processing traditions used "raster" for a regular grid of lines or points, and the English word followed suit. The suffix does most of the work here. "-isation" passed into English through Old French "-ation" from Latin "-ātiō," and it is attached to verbs ending in "-ise," which themselves came through Middle French from Late Latin "-izāre" and ultimately from Ancient Greek "-ízein." Put together, "rasterisation" describes the act of turning something into a raster, a grid of pixels.