What is Computer Graphics?

Computer graphics is commonly understood to mean the creation,

storage and manipulation of models and images.
Such models come from a diverse and expanding set of fields including
physical, mathematical, artistic, biological, and even conceptual
(abstract) structures.
The term computer graphics was coined in 1960 by William Fetter to
describe new design methods he was pursuing at Boeing.
He created a series of widely reproduced images on a pen plotter
exploring cockpit design, using a 3D model of a human body.
What is Interactive Computer

User controls contents, structure, and appearance of objects and their

displayed images via rapid visual feedback
Basic components of an interactive graphics system
input (e.g., mouse, tablet and stylus, force feedback device,
scanner, live video streams)
processing (and storage)
display/output (e.g., screen, paper-based printer, video recorder,
non-linear editor)
First truly interactive graphics system, Sketchpad, pioneered at MIT by
Ivan Sutherland for his 1963 Ph.D. thesis

Environmental (R)evolution
Vector (Calligraphic, Line Drawing) Displays (1963 1980s)
Display: line drawings and stroke text; 2D and 3D transformation
hardware
Object and command specification: command-line typing, function
keys, menus
Control over appearance: pseudo-WYSIWYG
Application control: single or multitasked, mainframe hostminicomputer satellite distributed computing pioneered at Brown
2D bitmap raster displays for PCs and workstations (1972 at Xerox PARC now)
Display: windows, icons, legible text and flat earth graphics
Note: late 60s saw first use of raster graphics, especially for flight
simulators
Object and command specification: minimal typing via WIMP
(Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointer) GUI (Graphical User Interface):
point-and-click selection of menu items and objects, widgets and direct
manipulation (e.g., drag and drop), the messy desktop metaphor
Control over appearance: WYSIWYG (which is really WYSIAYG, What
You See Is All You Get)
Application control: multi-tasking, networked client-server
computation and window management (even X terminals)

3D graphics workstations (1984 at SGI now)

Display: real-time, pseudo-realistic images of 3D scenes
Object and command specification: 2D, 3D and nD input devices
(controlling 3+ degrees of freedom) and force feedback haptic devices
for point-and-click, widgets, and direct manipulation
Control over appearance: WYSIWYG (still WYSIAYG)
Application control: multi-tasking, networked (client/server)
computation and window management

High-end PCs with hot graphics cards (nVidia GeForce 3, 4, FX) are
supplanting graphics workstations
Such PCs are clustered together over high speed buses or LANs to
provide scalable graphics to drive tiled PowerWalls, Caves, etc.

New Forms of Computing: 1990-2003

Multimedia: text and graphics synchronized with sound and video
Hypermedia: multimedia with hypertextual links (also called Interactive
Multimedia)
Discredited term: Digital Convergence, the merging of digital
television and distributed computing, consumer electronics: set-top
computers (e.g., for Interactive TV, Video-On-Demand)
The Internet and Internet appliances
Embedded computing (information appliances, Personal Digital
Assistants)
Ubiquitous/pervasive/invisible/nomadic computing, active badges a la
Xerox PARC, with hundreds of devices per person; seamless computing
is the dream
Virtual Reality:

Conceptual Framework for Interactive Graphics

3

Graphics library/package (e.g., OpenGL) is intermediary between

application and the display hardware (Graphics System)
Application program maps application objects to views (images) of
those objects by calling on graphics library
User interaction results in modification of model and/or image
Images are usually means to an end: synthesis, design,
manufacturing, visualization,
This hardware and software framework is nearly 4 decades old but is
still useful, indeed dominant

1-bit Bilevel Display

Digital intensity value -> Digital to Analog Conversion (DAC) -> analog
signal to drive electron beam
Black & White (or any 2 colors, depending on the monitor phosphor
color)
Original Mac resolution was 512x384 pixels, now from 640x480 up to
1280x1024, even 3Kx3K in IBMs Roentgen display. Our PCs are
1280x1024
1280x1024 memory 15 nanosec/pixel => 32 pixel chunks stored in
shift registers/buffers

n-Bit Display
2n intensities or colors: 1 (grayscale) or 3 (color) DACs & guns
1000 line color monitors cost < $250

Image Display System: Look-up Table

Any specific 2n colors may be inadequate (n typically 16-24 in low-end
systems)
Look-up table allows 2n colors out of 224 colors to be used in one
image, some other 2n in another image
224 = approx. 16.7 million, exceeds eyes ability to discriminate
(somewhere between 7-10 million)
Color table is a resource managed (usually) by window manager

Color Look Up Table Operation

Pixel value is indexed to color look up table (CLUT) where color is
stored. Here we use only 12 bits (4bits per color) for clarity
typically, 24bits are used
CLUT look up done at video rates, overlapped with fetch and DAC!
In 24-bit true color systems, 3 x 8 bits for R, G, B; each color has its
own 8-bit CLUT (0-255)
CLUT allows variety of effects
pseudo coloring (LandSat images, stress diagrams,
thermograms)
fast image changes: change table rather than stored image
multiple images: select or composite/blend
animation hack