OVERVIEW OF

COMPUTER GRAPHICS (CG)

 Definition and Importance of Computer Graphics

• The term computer graphics (CG) describes the use of

computers to create and manipulate images.
• Graphics can be two- or three-dimensional
• Computer Graphics is the creation and manipulation of images
or pictures with the help of computers.
• There are two types of computer graphics :
1) Passive Computer Graphics (Non-interactive Computer
Graphics)
2) Active Computer Graphics (Interactive Computer Graphics)
Contd..
• The major product of computer graphics is a picture. With
the help of CG, pictures can be represented in 2D and 3D
space.
• Many applications show various parts of the displayed
picture changing in size and orientation. Such type of
transformations i.e. the pictures can be made to grow,
shrink, rotate and etc. can be achieved through CG.
• The display on them is often too big to be shown in their
entirety. Thus, with the help of CG, a technique called
clipping can be used to select just those parts of the
picture that lie on the screen and to discard the rest.
Contd..
• CG is in daily use in the field of science, engineering,
medicine, entertainment, advertising, the graphic arts, the
fine arts, business, education etc.
• The electronic industry is more dependent on the
technologies provided by CG such as engineers can draw
their circuit in a much shorter time,
• architects can have alternative solution to design problems,
• the molecular biologist can display pictures of molecules
and can study on the structure,
• the town planners and transportation engineers use the
computer generated maps which display data useful to them
in their planning work etc.
 Interactive Computer Graphics

• The Interactive computer graphics (ICG) provides two way

communications between the computer and the user.
• The various applications of ICG are as follows.
• Using ICG system the integrated electronic circuits which are
very complex can be drawn in a much shorter time.
• It is very useful in training of the pilots as they spend much of
their training on the ground at the controls of a flight simulator
and not in a real aircraft.
• There are many tasks that can be made easier & less expensive
by the use of ICG. The effectiveness of the ICG is the speed
with which the user can absorb the displayed information.
Contd..
• The Interactive Graphics display consists of three major
components as follows & shown in Figure 1:
(1) Frame Buffer (2) T.V. Monitor (3)Display Controller

10001101 Scan line Data

01101010
00101001
11100111
00111000
01010100
00111001 Display Adapter/
01010101 Display Controller Video Monitor/
Frame Buffer T. V. Monitor
Contd..
1) Frame Buffer
• The images that are to be displayed are stored in a frame buffer in the form of
matrix of intensity values.
• The frame buffer contains the image stored in binary form as a matrix of 0’s and
1’s which represent the pixel. 0 indicates the darkness and 1 indicates the image.
• The Frame Buffer holds the set of intensity values for all the screen points.
• The intensity values stored in a Frame Buffer are retrieved and painted on a screen
one row at a time. This row is called as scan line.
2) Display Controller
• The Display Controller passes the contents of frame buffer to the T.V. Monitor.
• Display Controller reads successive bytes of data from the frame buffer & then
converts 0’s and 1’s into the corresponding video signal.
• These signals are fed to the T.V. Monitor. 
3) T.V. Monitor
• The T.V. Monitor then produces black and white pattern on the screen.
• The frame Buffer contents are to be modified, in order to represent the new pattern
of pixels or if some changes are to be made on the displayed picture.
 Properties of Video Monitor:
1. Persistence: Persistence is the duration of
phosphorescence. Different kinds of phosphors are
available for use in CRT. Besides color, a major
difference between phosphor in their persistence
how they continue to emit light after the electron
beam is removed.
2. Resolution: Use to describe the number of pixels
that are used on display image.
3. Aspect Ratio: It is the ratio of width to its height.
Its measure is unit in length or number of pixels.
 Non-Interactive or Passive Computer
Graphics:
• In non-interactive computer graphics, the picture
is produced on the monitor, and the user does not
have any controlled over the image, i.e., the user
cannot make any change in the rendered image.
• One example of its Titles shown on T.V.
• Non-interactive Graphics involves only one-way
communication between the computer and the
user, User can see the produced image, and he
cannot make any change in the image.
 GRAPHICS AREAS

The following major areas of computer graphics are:

• Modeling deals with the mathematical specification of shape
and appearance properties in a way that can be stored on the
computer. For example, a coffee mug might be described as a set
of ordered 3D points along with some interpolation rule to
connect the points and a reflection model that describes how
light interacts with the mug.
• Rendering is a term inherited from art and deals with the
creation of shaded images from 3D computer models.
• Animation is a technique to create an illusion of motion
through sequences of images. Animation uses modeling and
rendering but adds the key issue of movement over time, which
is not usually dealt with in basic modeling and rendering.
Contd..

There are many other areas that involve computer graphics.

• User interaction deals with the interface between input devices such as mice
and tablets, the application, feedback to the user in imagery, and other
sensory feedback.
• Virtual reality attempts to immerse the user into a 3D virtual world. This
typically requires at least stereo graphics and response to head motion. For
true virtual reality, sound and force feedback should be provided as well.
• Visualization attempts to give users insight into complex information via
visual display.
• Image processing deals with the manipulation of 2D images and is used in
both the fields of graphics and vision.
• 3D scanning uses range-finding technology to create measured 3D models.
Such models are useful for creating rich visual imagery, and the processing of
such models often requires graphics algorithms.
• Computational photography is the use of computer graphics, computer
vision, and image processing methods to enable new ways of
photographically capturing objects, scenes, and environments.
 COMPUTER GRAPHICS APPLICATION
Almost any field can make some use of computer graphics, but the major consumers
of computer graphics technology include the following industries:
• Video games increasingly use sophisticated 3D models and rendering algorithms.
• Cartoons are often rendered directly from 3D models. Many traditional 2D
cartoons use backgrounds rendered from 3D models, which allows a continuously
moving viewpoint without huge amounts of artist time.
• Visual effects use almost all types of computer graphics technology. Almost every
modern film uses digital compositing to superimpose backgrounds with separately
filmed foregrounds. Many films also use 3D modeling and animation to create
synthetic environments, objects, and even characters that most viewers will never
suspect are not real.
• Animated films use many of the same techniques that are used for visual effects,
but without necessarily aiming for images that look real.
• CAD/CAM stands for computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing.
These fields use computer technology to design parts and products on the computer
and then, using these virtual designs, to guide the manufacturing process. For
example, many mechanical parts are designed in a 3D computer modeling package
and then automatically produced on a computer-controlled milling device.
Contd..

• Simulation can be thought of as accurate video gaming. For example, a flight

simulator uses sophisticated 3D graphics to simulate the experience of flying an
airplane. Such simulations can be extremely useful for initial training in safety-
critical domains such as driving, and for scenario training for experienced users
such as specific fire-fighting situations that are too costly or dangerous to create
physically.
• Medical imaging creates meaningful images of scanned patient data. For example,
a computed tomography (CT) dataset is composed of a large 3D rectangular array
of density values. Computer graphics is used to create shaded images that help
doctors extract the most salient information from such data.
• Information visualization creates images of data that do not necessarily have a
“natural” visual depiction. For example, the temporal trend of the price of ten
different stocks does not have an obvious visual depiction, but clever graphing
techniques can help humans see the patterns in such data.
• Presentation graphics: In applications like summarizing of data of financial,
statistical, mathematical, scientific and economic research reports, presentation
graphics are used. It increases the understanding using visual tools like bar charts,
line graphs, pie charts and other displays.
 GRAPHICS PIPELINE
• In computer graphics, the graphics pipeline refers to a series of
interconnected stages through which data and commands related to
a scene go through during rendering process.
• It takes us from the mathematical description of an object to its
representation on the device. The figure 2 shown below illustrates a
3D graphic pipeline.
• The real world objects are represented in world coordinate system.
It is then projected onto a view plane. The projection is done from
the viewpoint of the position of a camera or eye.
• There is an associated camera coordinate system whose z axis
specifies the view direction when viewed from the viewpoint.
• The infinite volume swept by the rays emerging from the viewpoint
and passing through the window is called as view volume or view
pyramid.
• Clipping planes (near and far) are used to limit the output of the
object.
Contd..

Figure 2: A 3D graphic pipeline

Contd..
• The mapping of an object to a graphic device requires
the transformation of view plane coordinates to
physical device coordinates. There are two steps
involved in this process.
1) The window to a viewport transformation. The
viewport is basically a sub – rectangle of a fixed
rectangle known as logical screen.
2) The transformation of logical screen coordinates to
physical device coordinates.
Contd..

Figure 3 (a): Sequence of transformation in viewing

pipeline

Figure 3 (b): 2D coordinate system to physical device coordinates

transformation
 Representation of Graphics
• There are different formats used for storing a picture in a computer; but,
unlike text and data files, which are primarily made up of alphanumeric
characters, graphics formats are more complex.
• Two major categories of graphics formats are vector graphics (objects
made up of lines) and bitmapped graphics (TV-like dots).
• Images stored in vector format can be moved to another vector system
typically without loss of resolution. There are 2D vector formats as well as
3D vector formats.
• During transfer of raster images among different devices, resolution is a
major concern. Such transfers can occur without loss of resolution as long
as the new format supports the same or is of higher resolution to the old
one.
 Cont’d…
• Standard graphics formats allow images to be moved from
machine to machine, while standard graphics languages let
graphics programs be moved from machine to machine.
• For example, GKS, PHIGS and OpenGL are major graphics
languages that have been adopted by high-performance
workstation and CAD vendors. GDI and DirectX are the
graphics languages in Windows.
• High-resolution graphics is typically expensive to implement
due to its large storage and fast processing requirements.
However, as desktop computers become more powerful,
graphics have become widely used in every application.
 Raster Scan Displays
• 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.
• Picture definition is stored in a memory area
called the refresh buffer or frame buffer used
for redrawn
• Each screen point is referred to as a pixel or pel (picture
element).
• Intensity range for pixel positions depends on the capability
of the raster system.
• In a B&W system, each screen point is either on or off. So
only one bit is needed.
• The frame buffer in B&W system is called as bitmap. For
multi-color systems the frame buffer is called as pixmap.
• Refreshing on raster-scan displays is carried out at the rate of
60 to 80 frames per second. The unit for refreshing rate is
Hertz (Hz).
Cont’d…
 Random-Scan Displays
• The CRT has the electron beam directed only to the parts of the
screen where a picture is to be drawn.
• Random-scan monitors draw a picture one line at a time, called as
vector display.
• Refresh rates on a ransom-scan system depends on the number of
lines to be displayed.
• Picture definition is stored as a set of line-drawing commands in
the refresh display file or refresh buffer.
• To display a specified picture, the system cycles through the set of
commands in the display file, drawing each component line.
• These systems are designed for the line-drawing applications and
can’t display realistic shaded scenes.
Cont’d…
Cont’d…
Cont’d…
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGIES
 Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)

• The most common graphics output device is the video

monitor which is based on the standard cathode ray tube
(CRT) design. Figure 4 illustrates the basic operation of a
CRT.

Figure 4: Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)

Contd..
• As shown in above figure, it consists of electron gun, focusing
system, deflection plates and a phosphor-coated screen.
• Electron gun is the primary component of a CRT. When the heat is
supplied to the electron gun by directing a current, a beam of
electrons emitted by an electron gun, passes through focusing and
deflection systems that direct the beam toward specified positions on
the phosphor-coated screen.
• The focusing system in a CRT is needed to force the electron beam
to converge into a small spot as it strikes the phosphor.
• There are two pairs of deflection plates - Horizontal deflection
plates and vertical deflection plates.
• One pair of plates is mounted horizontally to control the vertical
deflection, and the other pair is mounted vertically to control
horizontal deflection.
Contd..
• The beam passes between the two pairs of deflection plates and
positioned on the screen.
• The phosphor then emits a small spot of light at each position
contacted by the electron beam.
• Because the light emitted by the phosphor fades very rapidly,
some method is needed for maintaining the screen picture.
• One Way to keep the phosphor glowing is to redraw the picture
repeatedly by quickly directing the electron beam back over the
same points. This type of display is called a refresh CRT.
• In CRT monitors there are two techniques of displaying images:
1) Raster scan displays
2) Random scan displays
 Raster Scan Displays

Figure 5: Raster Scan Display Figure 6: Horizontal and Vertical

Retrace
 Raster Scan Systems

Figure 7: Architecture of a simple raster system

Contd..

Figure 8: Architecture of a raster system

 Raster Scan Display Processor
• Figure 9 shows one way to set up the organization of a raster system
containing a separate display processor, sometimes referred to as a
graphics controller or a display coprocessor.

Figure 9: Architecture of a raster-graphics system with a

display processor
Random Scan Display/ Vector-Scan Display/ Calligraphic Displays

Figure 10: Random Scan Display

Random-Scan Systems/ Random-Scan Display
Processor

Figure 11: Architecture of a simple random scan system

 HARD COPY DEVICES
• Printers
• Plotters

INPUT DEVICES FOR OPERATOR INTERACTION

• Keyboards
• Mouse
• Trackball and Spaceball
• Joysticks
• Data Glove
• Digitizers
• Touch Screens
• Light pen
• Voice Systems
• Image Scanners
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