CSC 314

Dr Almaz Yohannis

10/18/22 1
} Computer graphics is all about maths!
} None of the maths is hard, but we need to
understand it well in order to be able to
understand certain techniques
} Some of the Important concepts involve:
◦ Coordinate reference frames
◦ Points & lines
◦ Vectors
◦ Matrices

2
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} When setting up a scene in computer
graphics we define the scene using simple
geometry
} For 2D scenes we use y axis
simple two dimensional
Cartesian coordinates y
P

} All objects are defined

using simple coordinate
pairs

x x axis

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y

(2, 7) (7, 7)
7

3
(2, 3) (7, 3)

x
2 7

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} For three dimensional scenes we simply add an extra coordinate

y axis

z
x

z axis x axis
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} There are two different ways in which we can do 3D
coordinates – left handed or right handed

Left-Hand
Reference System

Right-Hand
Reference System For CSC 314 we use the RHS
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} Points:
◦ A point in two dimensional space is given as an
ordered pair (x, y)
◦ In three dimensions a point is given as an ordered
triple (x, y, z)
} Lines:
◦ A line is defined using a start point
and an end-point
– In 2d: (xstart, ystart) to (xend, yend)

– In 3d: (xstart, ystart , zstart) to (xend, yend , zend)

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y

(2, 7) (6, 7)

The line from

(2, 7) to (7, 3)
(2, 3) (7, 3)

(7, 1)

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} The slope-intercept y

equation of a line is:

yend
y = m× x +b
} where:
yend - y0 y0
m=
xend - x0 x
x0 xend
} The equation of the line gives us the
corresponding y point for every x point
b = y0 - m × x0
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} Let’s draw a portion of the line given by the
equation:
3 4
y = x+
5 5
} Just work out the y coordinate for each x
coordinate

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y

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 x
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For each x value just work out the y value:
3 4
y (2) = × 2 + = 2
5 5
3 4 3 y
y (3) = × 3 + = 2 5
5 5 5
3 4 1
y (4) = × 4 + = 3
5 5 5
3 4 4 2
y (5) = × 5 + = 3
5 5 5
3 4 2 x
y (6) = × 6 + = 4 2 3 4 5 6 7
5 5 5
3 4
y (7 ) = × 7 + = 5
5 5 10/18/22 13
} Vectors:
◦ A vector is defined as the difference between two
points
◦ The important thing is that a vector has a direction
and a length
} What are vectors for?
◦ A vector shows how to move from one point to
another
◦ Vectors are very important in graphics - especially
for transformations

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 } To determine the vector between two points
simply subtract them
P2 (7, 10)
y axis
V = P2 - P1
V P (6, 7) P2 (10, 7)
= ( x2 - x1 , y2 - y1 )
2

P1 (2, 6)
V V
= (6 - 1, 7 - 3)
P1 (1, 3) P1 (5, 3)
= (5, 4)
x axis

WATCH OUT: Lots of pairs of points share the same

vector between them 10/18/22 15
 } In three dimensions a vector is calculated in
much the same way
y axis V = P2 - P1
= ( x2 - x1 , y2 - y1 , z 2 - z1 )
= (Vx , V y , Vz )
P2
So for (2, 1, 3) to (7, 10, 5)
we get

P1
= (7 - 2, 10 - 1, 5 - 3)
= (5,9,2)
z axis x axis
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} There are a number of important operations
we need to know how to perform with
vectors:
◦ Calculation of vector length
◦ Vector addition
◦ Scalar multiplication of vectors
◦ Scalar product
◦ Vector product

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} Vector lengths are easily calculated in two
dimensions:

| V |= V + V
x
2
y
2

} and in three dimensions:

| V |= V + V + V
x
2
y
2
z
2

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} The sum of two vectors is calculated by
simply adding corresponding components
V1 + V 2 = (V1x + V2 x , V1 y + V2 y )
y axis y axis

V1 + V 2
V2 V2

V1
} Performed similarly in three dimensions
V1
x axis x axis

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} Multiplication of a vector by a scalar proceeds
by multiplying each of the components of the
vector by the scalar

sV = ( sVx , sV y )
y axis y axis (sVx, sVy)

(Vx, Vy) sV

x axis x axis
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} There are other important vector operations
that we will cover as we come to them
} These include:
◦ Scalar product (dot product)
◦ Vector product (cross product)

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} A matrix is simply a grid of numbers
é 1 11 13 ù é 4 .3 ù
ê10 4 - 3ú ê 6 .7 ú é 4 8 15 ù
ê ú [1 2 3 4] ê ú ê16 23 42ú
êë 2 0 6 úû êë1.2 úû ë û

} However, by using matrix operations we can

perform a lot of the maths operations
required in graphics extremely quickly

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} The important matrix operations for this
course are:
◦ Scalar multiplication
◦ Matrix addition
◦ Matrix multiplication
◦ Matrix transpose
◦ Determinant of a matrix
◦ Matrix inverse

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} To multiply the elements of a matrix by a
scalar simply multiply each one by the scalar

éa b c ù és *a s *b s *c ù
s * êêd e f úú = êê s * d s * e s * f úú
êë g h i úû êë s * g s * h s * i úû
} Example:

é 2 4 6 ù é 6 12 18 ù
3 * êê 8 10 12úú = êê24 30 36úú
êë14 16 18úû êë42 48 54úû
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} To add two matrices simply add together all
corresponding elements
éa b c ù ér s t ù éa + r b + s c+t ù
êd e f úú + êêu v wúú = êêd + u e + v f + wúú
ê
êë g h i úû êë x y z úû êë g + x h + y i + z úû
} Example:
é 2 4 6 ù é 3 5 7 ù é 5 9 13 ù
ê 8 10 12ú + ê 9 11 13ú = ê17 21 25ú
ê ú ê ú ê ú
êë14 16 18úû êë15 17 19úû êë29 33 37 úû

Both matrices have to be the same size 10/18/22 25

} We can multiply two matrices A and B
together as long as the number of columns in
A is equal to the number of rows in B
} So, if we have an m by n matrix A and a p by
q matrix B we get the multiplication:
} C=AB
} where C is a m by q matrix whose elements
are calculated as follows:
n
cij = å aik bki
k =1 10/18/22 26
} Examples:
é 0 - 1ù é0 *1 + (-1) * 3 0 * 2 + (-1) * 4ù é- 3 - 4ù
ê5 ú é1 2ù ê ú = ê 26 38 ú
ê 7 =
ú ê3 4ú ê 5 *1 + 7 * 3 5 * 2 + 7 * 4 ú ê ú
êë- 2 8 úû ë û êë - 2 *1 + 8 * 3 - 2 * 2 + 8 * 4 úû êë 22 28 úû
é 4ù
[1 2 3] êê5úú = [1* 4 + 2 * 5 + 3 * 6] = [32]
êë6úû
é 4ù é4 *1 4 * 2 4 * 3ù é4 8 12ù
ê5ú [1 2 3] = ê5 *1 5 * 2 5 * 3ú = ê5 10 15ú
ê ú ê ú ê ú
êë6úû êë6 *1 6 * 2 6 * 3úû êë6 12 18úû
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} Watch Out! Matrix multiplication is not
commutative, so:
AB ¹ BA

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} The transpose of a matrix M, written as MT
is obtained by simply interchanging the rows
and columns of the matrix
} For example:

Té1 4 ù
é1 2 3 ù ê2 5ú
ê 4 5 6ú = ê ú
ë û êë3 6úû

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} There are some other important matrix
operations that we will explain as we need
them
} These include:
◦ Determinant of a matrix
◦ Matrix inverse

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} In this lecture we have taken a brief tour
through the following:
• Basic idea
• The mathematics of points, lines and vectors
• The mathematics of matrices
} These tools will equip us to deal with the
computer graphics

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 } Plot the line y = ½x + 2 from x = 1 to x = 9
y

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 x
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 } Perform the following matrix additions:

[- 11 - 19 - 15 5] + [- 1 - 14 - 5 1] = [__ __ __ __ ]

é 3 20 - 11 0 ù é16 10 - 12 - 11ù é __ __ __ __ ù
ê- 14 5 - 3 6 ú ê10 - 15 15 5 ú ê __ __ __ __ úú
ê ú+ê ú=ê
ê 15 2 9 - 18ú ê- 1 14 -9 0 ú ê __ __ __ __ ú
ê ú ê ú ê ú
ë - 19 4 - 15 10 û ë 3 - 3 - 16 - 5 û ë __ __ __ __ û

é13 - 3 - 4ù é - 1 - 15 - 7 ù é __ __ __ ù
ê19 9 ú +ê ú =ê
ë 8 û ë- 14 5 17 û ë __ __ __ úû
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 } Perform the following matrix multiplications:
é - 15 19 ù
ê ú
é8 15 19 4ù ê- 12 - 19ú é __________ __________ ù é __ __ ù
ê7 - 4 12 3ú * ê 0 =ê ú =ê
ë û - 13ú ë __________ __________ û ë __ __ úû
ê ú
ë 10 7 û

é16 10 - 12 - 11ù é 4 ù é _________________ ù é __ ù

ê10 - 15 15 5 ú ê11ú ê _________________ ú ê __ ú
ê ú*ê ú = ê ú=ê ú
ê- 1 14 -9 0 ú ê 6 ú ê _________________ ú ê __ ú
ê ú ê ú ê ú ê ú
ë 3 - 3 - 16 - 5 3
û ë û ë _________________ û ë __ û

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} Perform the following multiplication of a matrix by
a scalar

é15 19 ù é __ __ ù
ê 2 5 ú ê __ __ ú
6* ê ú=ê ú
ê 0 - 1ú ê __ __ ú
ê ú ê ú
ë 1 7 û ë __ __ û
} Calculate the transpose of the following matrix
T
é 3 11ù
ê 6 4 ú = é __ __ __ ù
ê ú ê __ __ __ úû
êë23 7 úû ë

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