CS430 Computer Graphics

Introduction

Chi-Cheng Lin, Winona State University

Topics
Introduction Applications Elementary Output Primitives Graphics Output Devices Graphics Input Devices Graphics Software Standards Interactive Computer Graphics

Introduction
What is Computer Graphics? History

Whirlwind Computer
1950, MIT Computer-driven CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) displays

Sketchpad drawing system

1963, Ivan Sutherland Interactive graphics: keyboard and light pen Data structures

DAC system
1964, GM Automobile design (CAD/CAM)
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Introduction

History (contd)
Bitmap graphics
Apple and PC Bitmap:
A ones and zeros representation of the rectangular array of points on the screen. The points are called pixels or pels (picture elements).

GUIs

SIGGRAPH: www.siggraph.org Why computer graphics?

Applications
Art, entertainment, publishing Image processing Monitoring manufacturing processes Displaying simulation CAD Scientific analysis and visualization

Elementary Output Primitives

Polyline Curves Text Filled region Raster image

Each primitive is associated with a set of attributes

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Polyline

Connected sequence of straight lines

Figs. 1.8 and 1.9

Point (vertex, or dot)

Degenerated case of polyline E.g., drawDot(x, y)

Line
Polyline of one line segment E.g., drawLine(x1, y1, x2, y2)
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Polyline

Polyline
E.g., drawPolyline(poly), where poly is a list containing all endpoints Fig. 1.10

Polygon
Formed by connecting the first and last points of a polyline Simple polygon: no two edges cross Convex polygon Concave polygon Fig 1.11

Attributes of Polyline
Thickness Color Style

Solid, dotted, dashed,

Joint (Fig 1.13)

Butt-end round end mitered trimmed mitered
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Curves
Circle Ellipse Parabola Hyperbola B-spline NURBS

Attributes?
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Text
Character string Shape defined by (Fig. 1.16)

Bit map Polyline or curve

E.g., drawString(x, y, string) Attributes

Font or type face (Fig. 1.15) Size Spacing orientation

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Filled Region (Area)

Shape filled with color or pattern

Figs. 17 and 18

Boundary is usually a polygon E.g., fillPolygon(poly, pattern) Attributes

Attributes of enclosing border Pattern of filling Color of filling
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Raster Image
Image made up of pixels (Fig. 1.19) Stored as a 2D array of numerical values (Fig. 1.20)

Bit map: 1 bit per pixel Pixel map: >1 bits per pixel

Formats
pbm ppm
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Gray-Scale Raster Image

Pixel depth:
#bits needed to represent the gray level of a pixel 1 bit: bi-level, black-and-white, monochrome (Fig 1.26) 2 bits: 4 gray levels 4 bits: 16 gray levels : 8 bits: 256 gray levels
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Color Raster Image

Color value
Ordered triple (r, g, b) representing intensities of red, green, blue, respectively

Color depth:
#bits used to represent the color of a pixel E.g., color depth = 3 (0,0,0) = black, (1,1,1) = white (0,0,1) = blue, (1,0,0) = red, (1,0,1) = ? Q: how many colors can be represented?
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Color Raster Image

High-quality true color image

Color depth = 24, 8 bits for each color component Q: how many colors can be represented? Q: how many bytes are required to store a 480 x 640 image Q: Is the image quality improved with a larger color depth?

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Graphics Output Devices

Vector

Raster

Display

Hard-copy

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Vector Display
Electron beam deflected from endpoint to endpoint One line at a time, similar to pen plotter Dictated by display commands Random Scan, refresh required Display processor must cycle through display list to refresh CRT's phosphor at least 60 times per second (60Hz) to avoid flicker. Image changed by changing display commands in the list 18

Raster Output Device

2D display surface Built-in 2D coordinate system, either upside-down or not (Fig. 1.35) A position on the display surface is associated with an image pixel

Frame buffer
A region of memory to hold all of the pixel values for the display surface Where is it in a computer?

Block diagram (Fig. 1.36)

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Scanning process (Fig. 1.37)

Sequential scan

Raster Output Device

One line at a time, from left to right From top to bottom Back to top (refresh, required for CRT monitor)
Refresh rate must be >60 times per second to prevent flicker

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Raster Display (Monitor)

Display primitives stored in a frame buffer in terms of primitives' component pixels Images formed from the raster, a set of horizontal scan lines

Scan line: a row of individual pixels

Raster is stored as a matrix of pixels representing entire screen area Memory issue Sequential scan and refresh

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Raster Display (Monitor)

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Raster Display (Monitor)

Beam's intensity set to reflect pixel's intensity at each pixel Color Systems

Three beams, RED, GREEN, and BLUE, are controlled Two types
True color display system Indexed color display system

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Comparison of Vector and Raster

Raster Displays
Advantages
Lower cost Ability to display filled area

Disadvantages
Discrete nature of pixel presentation Aliasing: Jaggies or staircasing caused by approximation

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Comparison of Vector and Raster

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True-color Display System

Operation (Fig. 1.38)

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Indexed-Color Display System

Pseudo-color display system Color lookup table (LUT)

Pixel value used as an index into LUT Programmable Palette: set of possible colors can be displayed

If color depth=b and LUT width=w

2w colors can be displayed, any 2b at one time

Example (Fig1.40): 6 bpp, 15-bit color

32K colors can be displayed, 64 at one time The display has a palette of 32K colors
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Comparisons of Color Systems

Example (Fig 1.41): 1024x1280-pixel-display

True color system, color depth = 24 Memory requirement: 1024 x 1280 x 24 4MB Indexed color system, color depth = 8, width of LUT = 24 bits Memory requirement: 1024 x 1280 x 8 + 256 x 3 1MB

Indexed color displays with LUT is much cheaper than true color systems!!

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Hard-Copy Output Devices

Plotter
Flatbed plotter Drum plotter

Dot matrix printer Laser printer Inkjet printer Film recorder

Which are vector and which are raster?

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Graphics Input Devices

Logical input devices (primitives)

String Choice Valuator Locator Pick

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Graphics Input Devices

Physical input devices

Keyboard Buttons Mouse Tablet Joystick and trackball Knobs Space ball and data glove Digitizing 3D objects and capturing motion

Which physical input devices are suitable for a particular logical input device?

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Graphics Software Standards

Core
3D Core graphics System Produced by an ACM SIGGRAPH committee

GKS
Graphics Kernel System 2D GKS-3D, 1988 Groups of primitives arranged as segments, but not nested
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Graphics Software Standards

PHIGS
1988 (Programmers Hierarchical Interactive Graphics System) Nested structures Structure databases PHIGS PLUS: includes shading and lighting Complicated, large

de facto Standards:
PEX (PHIGS Extension to X) PostScript OpenGL

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Interactive Computer Graphics

Framework

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Interactive Computer Graphics

Interactive handling schema

Generate initial display do { enable selection of commands or objects wait for user selection switch (on selection) { process selection to complete command or process completed command updating model and screen as needed } } while (!quit)

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