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Csit-Notes by: Bindu Aryal

Unit 1: Introduction of Computer Graphics (3 Hrs.)

1.1 A Brief Overview of Computer Graphics, Areas of Applications.

1.2 Graphics Hardware: Display Technology, Architecture of Raster-Scan Displays,
Vector Displays, Display Processors, Hard copy device. Input Devices.
1.3 Graphics Software: Software standards, Need of machine independent
graphics language.

Unit-1:
Introduction to computer Graphics (CG):
The computer is an information processing machine. It is a tool for storing,
manipulating and correlating data. There are many ways to communicate the
processed information to the user. There is virtually no areas in which graphical
display cannot be used for some advantages. Advances in computer technology
have made interactive computer graphics a practical tool as Visual presentations
of data.
“Computer Graphics is a branch of science which studies the manipulation of
visual and geometric information using computation techniques.” It displays the
information in the form of graphics objects such as pictures, charts, graphs and
diagrams instead of simple text. Thus CG makes it possible to express data in
pictorial form. The picture or graphics object may be an engineering drawing,
business graphs, architectural structures, single frame from an animated movies,
machine parts illustrated for a service manual.
Relationship between computer Graphics and Image Processing:
In general Computer graphics is all about Synthesizing (producing) a new image
from Geometry, Lighting parameter, materials and textures. The emphasis is on
digital image production.
Whereas Image Processing can be defined as a techniques of modifying the
already exiting pictures which include TV scan and photographs.
Advantages of CG:

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Better communication: A high quality graphics display of personal

computer provide one of the most natural means of communicating with a
computer. There are great advantages communicating through pictures
rather than text.” Picture is worth thousand words.”
It has an ability to show moving pictures, and thus it is possible to produce
animations with computer graphics.
With computer graphics use can also control the animation by adjusting the
speed, the portion of the total scene in view, the geometric relationship of
the objects in the scene to one another, the amount of detail shown and so
on.
The computer graphics also provides facility called update dynamics. With
update dynamics it is possible to change the shape, color or other
properties of the objects being viewed.
With the recent development of digital signal processing (DSP) and audio
synthesis chip the interactive graphics can now provide audio feedback
along with the graphical feedbacks to make the simulated environment
even more realistic.

Applications of Computer Graphics:

Computer graphics is useful in almost all part of our life. Some of the popular
areas of computer graphics are:
1. Computer Aided Design(CAD)
2. Graphical User Interface(GUI)
3. Education and Training
4. Entertainment
5. Presentation Graphics
6. Computer Art
7. Visualization
8. Image Processing
9. Medicine
Computer Aided Design (CAD):

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A major use of CG is in design processes particularly for engineering and

Architectural system. CAD is the use of computer technology to aid in the design
and drawing a parts or products. CAD is mainly used for detailed engineering of
3D models and 1D and 2D drawings of physical components however it is being
used in the engineering process from conceptual design and layout of products.
CAD has become a key technologies within the scope of Computer Aided
technology with benefits such as lower product development cost and greatly
short time duration. CAD is being used in many areas like Architecture, Interior
design, building engineering, civil engineering, construction, mechanical
engineering, Industrial design, product design etc.

Graphical User Interface (GUI):

GUI is the type of user-interface which allows people to interact with a system
mostly electronic devices like computers, handheld devices, household appliances
and office equipment. Almost all software package now comes with a GUI
through which we can use it. Typical components of GUI are menus, cursor,
scrollbars, buttons, Icons which provides user-friendly environment to the user in
a system. CUI (command user interface) based software was very difficult to
operate than GUI based software. Not only with software packages but GUI
comes with lots of other kinds of devices like television, operating and using
mobile phones, ATM (Automatic Teller Machine).

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Education and Training:

Earlier Education and training was rendered using pen, pencil/paper or chalk-
board style of teaching. Nowadays, with the help of CG computer generated
models of physical, financial, mathematical, and economic system are often used
as education aids. CG can be used to design images, video through which
education or training can be given in a graphical form which makes interactive
teaching and learning process. For eg: Instead of a text book diagram of human
body, if an animated model could be shown on the screen with various activities
of the body depicted in the form of moving objects, then students can learn
functionality of human body in a better way.

Entertainment:
CG can be commonly seen in motion pictures, motion videos, computer games
and commercial advertisements. Now, the world has been attracted by computer
Animation, special effects and photorealistic imagery of virtual environments. CG
is used in motion pictures, music videos, television shows, cartoon animation
films etc. From Jurassic park, Ice-Age, Bal ganesh etc and dancing soda cans in tv
commercials the computer generated graphics has greatly influenced the
entertainment industries. Computer and video games are another application of
CG.

Presentation Graphics:

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Another use of CG is in presentation graphics, used to produce illustration for

reports, facts and figure that can be easy to interpret and analyses. These are
commonly used to summarize financial, statistical, mathematical, scientific and
economic reports or data for information delivery and analysis. Typical examples
of presentation graphics are bar charts, line graphs, surface graphs, pie charts and
other displays showing relationships between multiple parameters. One of the
popular presentation graphics used in business areas is Microsoft power point.

Computer Art:
Computer graphics techniques and methods are commonly used in both fine arts
and commercial art application. These days logos, marriage cards, posters, visiting
cards, book designing, and advertisements are all designed on computer itself.
Even a newspaper is also designed on computer. Artists are using graphics
applications to design cartoon characters and paint pictures using pen brush tools
on the screen. There is no need to throw away a design if even a small mistake is
made on it and create a new one by undo it. Paint brush, Adobe Photoshop,
Photo paint, Illustrator, CorelDraw etc are example of computer art applications.

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Medicine:
Nowadays the results of most of the medical tests can be seen on the computer
screen itself for better visualization and diagnostics. Graphics techniques can be
used in medicine to model and study physical functions, to plan and practice
surgery and patient-monitoring activities, to design artificial limbs (joins) etc.
Number of graphical screens can be seen in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of hospitals.

Image Processing:
Image processing can be defined as a techniques of modifying the already exiting
pictures which include TV scan and photographs. The processing of image
basically means improvement of the image in its appearance and the efficient
representation of the image. Two principal applications of Image processing are
improving picture quality and machine perception of visual information (used in
robotics) of an already exiting image. These techniques are extensively used in
commercial arts, medical applications such as X-ray photography, plan and
practice surgery, multimedia and video editing etc.

Visualization:
The analysis of large amount of information to study the behavior of certain
processes using CG applications and methods by scientists, engineering and

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business analysts, the effort to be spent on these activities has been reduced to a
great extent. If these huge amount of data can be converted into visual form,
then graphics applications are available that can be analyses easily and
effectively. For eg: Census results and trends can be analyses and display
graphically using computer applications. Similarly, Business visualization tools,
scientific visualization tools, weather forecasts tools, earthquake alarms system
etc. are used for visualization.

Hardware for computer Graphics:

The creation of computer graphics has evolved dramatically as computers have
become common devices in homes around the world. Creating and editing CG
requires specialized software and high- performance hardware.
Hardware Needed:
 Monitor (Display device)
 Mouse (pointing device)
 Keyboard (Input device for shortcuts and numbers)
 Fast processor (2.50-3.0 GHz) for quickly rendering and editing the image in
other ways.
 Graphics Cards (helps process image editing and display).
 Hard drive (store the image)
 Printer (print out the image).
 Digital camera ( take photos to use in the image)
 Scanner (input the photos into photo editing software).
Software used to create images:
 Microsoft-Paint: used to draw pictures.

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 Photoshop: used to edit photos or images

 IPhoto: only available in mac computer which allows users to use pictures
to create calendars.
 Illustrator: used to draw illustrations, cartoons, diagrams, charts.
 Image viewer: scanning images can be viewed, updated, and moved and
also images can be scanned and saved.
 Corel draw: this enables users to create professionals illustrations,
newsletters, logos, brochures, web graphics etc.

Display technologies:
Video display devices typically, primary output device in a graphics system is
video monitor whose operation is based mostly on standard cathode-ray tube
(CRT) design.
Cathode Ray Tube (CRT):
The primary output device in a graphical system is the video monitor. The main
element of a video monitor is the Cathode Ray Tube CRT, shown in the following
illustration.
Once the electron heats the phosphorus, they light up, and they are projected on
a screen. The color you view on the screen is produced by a blend of red, blue and
green light.
The operation of CRT is very simple −
 The electron gun emits a beam of electrons cathode rays.
 The electron beam passes through focusing and deflection systems that
direct it towards specified positions on the phosphor-coated screen.
 When the beam hits the screen, the phosphor emits a small spot of light at
each position contacted by the electron beam.
 It redraws the picture by directing the electron beam back over the same
screen points quickly.

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Fig: CRT
1. Electron Gun: Electron gun consisting of a series of elements, primarily a
heating filament (heater) and a cathode. The electron gun creates a source of
electrons which are focused into a narrow beam directed at the face of the CRT.
2. Control Electrode: It is used to turn the electron beam on and off.
3. Focusing system: It is used to create a clear picture by focusing the electrons
into a narrow beam.
4. Deflection plate: It is used to control the direction of the electron beam. It
creates an electric or magnetic field which will bend the electron beam as it
passes through the area. In a conventional CRT, the yoke is linked to a sweep or
scan generator. The deflection yoke which is connected to the sweep generator
creates a fluctuating electric or magnetic potential.
5. Phosphorus-coated screen: The inside front surface of every CRT is coated with
phosphors. Phosphors glow when a high-energy electron beam hits them.
Phosphorescence is the term used to characterize the light given off by a
phosphor after it has been exposed to an electron beam.
Persistence:
How long a phosphor continues to emit light after the electron beam is removed?
Persistence of phosphor is defined as time it takes for emitted light to
decay to 1/10 (10%) of its original intensity. Range of persistence of
different phosphors can react many seconds.

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Phosphors for graphical display have persistence of 10 to 60 microseconds.

Phosphors with low persistence are useful for animation whereas high
persistence phosphor is useful for highly complex, static pictures.
Refresh Rate:
 Light emitted by phosphor fades very rapidly, so to keep the drawn picture
glowing constantly; it is required to redraw the picture repeatedly and
quickly directing the electron beam back over the some point. The no of
times/sec the image is redrawn to give a feeling of non-flickering pictures
is called refresh-rate.
 If Refresh rate decreases, flicker develops.
 Refresh rate above which flickering stops and steady it may be called as
critical fusion frequency (CFF).

Resolution:
Maximum number of points displayed horizontally and vertically without overlap
on a display screen is called resolution. More precise definition of resolution is no
of dots per inch (dpi/pixel per inch) that can be plotted horizontally and vertically.
Aspect Ratio:
Aspect ratio is the ratio of vertical points to horizontal points required for the
production of the lines of equal length in both direction on the screen. If aspect
ratio is ¾ it means that a line is plotted vertically with 3 dots is of the same length
as that of a line plotted horizontally with four dots.

Display technologies:
A. Raster-scan display
B. Random- scan display
C. Raster-Scan Display:
In a raster scan system, the electron beam is swept across the screen, one row
at a time from top to bottom. As the electron beam moves across each row,
the beam intensity is turned on and off to create a pattern of illuminated
spots.
The most common type of graphics monitor employing a CRT is the raster-scan
display, based on television technology. In raster-scan the light occurs as a
results of electron beam stimulating (making workable) a phosphor and swept
across the screen, one row at a time from top to bottom. No of scan line per
second is called horizontal scan rate. As electron beam moves across each

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row, the beam intensity is turned on and off to create a pattern of illuminated
spots.
Picture definition is stored in a memory called frame buffer or refresh buffer.
Frame buffer holds all the intensity value for screen points. Stored intensity
values are then retrieved from the frame buffer and “painted” on the screen
one row (scan line) at a time. Each screen point is referred to as a pixel or pel
(picture element). The rate of refreshing on the raster scan displays is 60 to 80
frames per seconds.

A system with 24 bit pixel and screen resolution 1024* 1024 require 3 megabyte
of storage in frame buffer.
1024*1024 pixels = 1024*1024*24 bits = 3 MB (using 24-bit per pixel)

The electron beam returns to the left side of the screen after the end of each row
or scan line and then it begins the display of the next scan line. This return to the
left side of the screen after each scan line refreshing is called Horizontal Retrace
whereas the movement from bottom to top of the screen to begin the next frame
is called Vertical Retrace. Availability of frame buffer makes raster-scan display
well suited for the realistic display. Example: Monitors, Home television, printers.

Fig: A Raster-Scan system displays an object as a set of points across each screen
scan line

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Random- scan display:

In this technique, the electron beam is directed only to the part of the screen
where the picture is to be drawn rather than scanning from left to right and top to
bottom as in raster scan.
The Random scan display system is also commonly known as the calligraphic, vector
or stroke writing because of the reason that picture is directly drawn by the beam
of electrons. In this the component lines can be drawn and refreshed in any
specified order. The number of lines to be displayed, affects the refresh-rate in the
random-scan system. Picture definition is stored as a set of line drawing command.
This storage is done in a memory area known as refresh buffer. In this each
components lines are drawn by turn. The processing is done one by one and once
all the commands of drawing a picture have been processed, the system control
comes back to the first command in the list.

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Fig: Random Scan Display system.

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Latest Graphics cards:

1. Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080

2. AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT

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3. Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti

4. Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090

5. Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti

6. AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT
7. Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070
8. AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT
9. MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Gaming X Trio
10.PNY GeForce GTX 1660 Ti XLR8 Gaming OC etc.
1.3 Graphics Software:
Need of machine independent graphical language graphics software:
There are two general classifications for graphics:

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1. General Programming Packages:

A general programming package provides extensive set of graphics
functions that can be used in high level programming language such as C or
FORTRAN. An example of a general graphics programming package is the
GL (Graphics Library) system on Silicon Graphics equipment. Basic functions
in a general package include those for generating picture components (St.
Line, polygon, circles and other figures) setting color and intensity values,
selecting views and BC applying transformations.

2. Special Purpose Application Packages:

Application graphics packages are designed for non-programmers, so that
users can generate displays without worrying about how graphics
operations work. The interface to the graphics routines in such packages
allows users to communicate with the programs in their own terms.
Example: CAD

Software standards:
The primary goal of standardized graphics software is portability. When packages
are designed with standard graphics functions, software can be moved easily from
one hardware system to another and used in different implementations and
applications. Without standards, programs designed for one hardware system
often cannot be transferred to another system without extensive rewriting of the
programs.

Institute (ANSI) adopted General Kernel System (GKS) as the first graphics
software standard.
PHIGS (Programmer’s Hierarchical Interactive Graphics Standard), which is an
extension of GKS, increased capabilities for object modeling, color specifications,
surface rendering, and picture manipulations. PHIGS+ was developed to provide
three-dimensional surface-shading capabilities not available in PHIGS.

Although PHIGS presents a specification for basic graphics functions, it does not
provide a standard methodology for a graphics interface to output devices. Nor
does it specify methods for storing and transmitting pictures. Separate standards
have been developed for these areas. Standardization for device interface
methods is given in the Computer Graphics Interface (CGI) system. And
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Computer Graphics Metafile (CGM) system specifies standards for archiving and
transporting pictures.

• Interactive Computer Graphics Systems Two ways in which users interact with
graphics systems
1. Programming:

2. Interactive computer graphics packages

Fig: “Black box” approach to graphical output

Device Independence allows a graphics application program to run on
hardware of various types. For examples, the same graphics packages run
in many different platforms.

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