Scan-Line Polygon

Fill Algorithm

Scan-Line Polygon Fill

Algorithm

For each scan line crossing a polygon, this algorithm locates the
intersection points of the scan line with the polygon edges.
These intersection points are then sorted from left to right and
the corresponding positions between each intersection pair are
set to the specified fill color.
The four pixel intersection positions with the polygon
boundaries define two stretches of interior pixels from x=10 to
x=14 and from x=18 to x=24.
The scan line algorithm first finds the largest and smallest y
values of the polygon.
It then starts with the largest y value & works its down,
scanning from left to right.

Scan-Line Polygon Fill

Algorithm

Scan-Line Polygon Fill

Algorithm

The important task is to find the intersection points of the scan line
with the polygon boundary.
When intersection points are even, they are sorted from left to right,
paired and pixels between paired points are set to the fill color.
When scan line intersect polygon vertex, a special handling is
required to find the exact intersection points.
To handle such cases, look at the other endpoint of the two line
segments of the polygon which meet at this vertex.
If these points lie on the same(up & down) side of the scan line,
then this point in question counts as an even number of
intersection.
If they lie on opposite sides of the scan line, then the point is
counted as single intersection.

Scan-Line Polygon Fill

Algorithm

Each scan line intersects

the vertex or vertices of
the polygon.
For scan line 1,the other
end points of the line
segment of the polygon are
B & D which lie on the
same side of the scan line.
Hence there are two
intersections resulting two
pairs:1-2 & 3-4.
Intersections points are 2 &
3 are actually same points.

G
F

Scan-Line Polygon Fill

Algorithm

For scan line 2,the other endpoints (D & F) of the two

line segments of the polygon lie on the opposite sides of
the scan line.
Hence, there is a single intersection resulting two pairs:
1-2 & 3-4.
For scan line 3,two vertices are the intersection points.
For vertex F, the other end points E & G of the two line
segments of the polygon lie on the same side of the
scan line.
For vertex H, the other end points G & I of the two line
segments of the polygon lie on the opposite side of the
scan line.

Scan-Line Polygon Fill

Algorithm

At vertex F there are two intersections & at vertex H

there is only one intersection.
This results two pairs:1-2 and 3-4 and points 2-3 are
actually same points.
It is necessary to calculate x intersection points for
scan line with every polygon side.
These calculations can be simplified by using
Coherence Property.
A coherence property of a scene is a property of a
scene by which we can relate one part of a scene with
the other parts of the scene.
Slope of an edge is used as a coherence property.
By using this property we can determine the x
intersection value on the lower scan line if the x
intersection value for current scan line is known.

Scan-Line Polygon Fill

Algorithm

This is given as
xi+1 = xi 1/m

Where m is the slope of the edge.

As we move from top to bottom value of y
coordinates between the two scan line changes by 1.
yi+1 = yi -1

Many times it is not necessary to compute the x

intersection for scan line with every polygon side.
We need to consider only the polygon sides with
endpoints stradding the current scan line.

Scan-Line Polygon Fill

Algorithm

It will be easier to identify which polygon sides

should be tested for x intersection, if we first sort
the sides in order of their maximum y value.

Once the sides are sorted we can process the

scan lines from top of the polygon to its bottom
producing an active edge list for each scan line
crossing the polygon boundaries.

The active edge list for a scan line contain all

edges crossed by that scan line.

Scan-Line Polygon Fill

Algorithm
D

G
F

Sorted List of edges

BC BA DC DE AJ

TOP

GF GH

EF HI

JI

BOTTOM

Text Generation

Letters, numbers and other characters are

displayed to label and interpret drawing & to give
instructions & information to the user.

There are basic three methods of generating

characters:
Stroke Method

Starbust Method

Bitmap Method

Stroke Method

This method uses small line segment to

generate a character.

The small series of line segments are drawn like

a strokes of a pen to form a character.

It is necessary to decide which line segments

are needed for each character and then drawing
these segments using line drawing algorithm.

Starbust Method

A fix pattern of line segments are used to generate

characters.
Out of these 24 line segments, segments required to display
for particular character are highlighted.
This method is known as starbust method because of its
characteristic appearance.
The patterns for particular characters are stored in the form of
24 bit code; each bit representing one line segment.
The bit is set to 1 to highlight the line segment; otherwise it is
set to zero.
Disadvantages:
More memory is required. Each character is represented by
24-bits.
Code conversion s/w is required to display character from its
24-bits code

Starbust Method
3

13

14

23
17

18

6
21

12

22
7

20

19
24

11

16
10

8
15
9

Bitmap Method

It is also known as dot matrix because in this characters

are represented by an array of dots in the matrix form.
It is a two dimensional array having columns and rows.
An 5 X 7 array is commonly used to represent character.
However 7 X 9 and 9 X 13 arrays are also used.
Each dot in the matrix is a pixel.
The character is placed on the screen by copying pixel
values from the character array into some portion of the
screens frame buffer.
The value of the pixel controls the intensity of the pixel.

Have a nice evening