Bresenham

Circle Drawing Algorithm,

SRI LAXMI
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39 Contents
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In today’s lecture we’ll have a look at:

– Bresenham’s Circle drawing algorithm
– Exercise using Bresenham’s algorithm
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39 CIRCLE
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The set of points that are all at a given

distance ‘r’ from a center position (Xc,Yc).
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39 A Simple Circle Drawing Algorithm
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The equation for a circle is:

x y r
2 2 2

where r is the radius of the circle

So, we can write a simple circle drawing
algorithm by solving the equation for y at
unit x intervals using:
y   r 2  x2
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(cont…)

y0  20 2  0 2  20

y1  20 2  12  20

y2  20 2  2 2  20

y19  20 2  19 2  6

y20  20 2  20 2  0
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(cont…)
However, unsurprisingly this is not a brilliant
solution!
Firstly, the resulting circle has large gaps
where the slope approaches the vertical
Secondly, the calculations are not very
efficient
– The square (multiply) operations
– The square root operation – try really hard to
avoid these!
We need a more efficient, more accurate
solution
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39 Eight-Way Symmetry
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The first thing we can notice to make our circle

drawing algorithm more efficient is that circles
centred at (0, 0) have eight-way symmetry
(-x, y) (x, y)

(-y, x) (y, x)

R
2
(-y, -x) (y, -x)

(-x, -y) (x, -y)

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39 Mid-Point Circle Algorithm
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Similarly to the case with lines,

there is an incremental
algorithm for drawing circles –
the mid-point circle algorithm
In the mid-point circle algorithm
we use eight-way symmetry so
The mid-point circle
only ever calculate the points algorithm was
for the top right eighth of a developed by Jack
Bresenham, who we
circle, and then use symmetry heard about earlier.
to get the rest of the points
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39 Mid-Point Circle Algorithm (cont…)
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Assume that we have

(xk+1, yk)
just plotted point (xk, yk) (xk, yk)

The next point is a

choice between (xk+1, yk) (xk+1, yk-1)

and (xk+1, yk-1)

We would like to choose
the point that is nearest to
the actual circle
So how do we make this choice?
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39 Mid-Point Circle Algorithm (cont…)
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Let’s re-jig the equation of the circle slightly to give

us:
f circ ( x, y )  x 2  y 2  r 2 …(1)
The equation evaluates as follows:
 0, if ( x, y ) is inside the circle boundary

f circ ( x, y )  0, if ( x, y ) is on the circle boundary
 0, if ( x, y ) is outside the circle boundary

By evaluating this function at the midpoint between
the candidate pixels we can make our decision
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39 Mid-Point Circle Algorithm (cont…)
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Assuming we have just plotted the pixel at (xk,yk) so

we need to choose between (xk+1,yk) and (xk+1,yk-1)
Our decision variable can be defined as: mid point b/w
2 points (xk+1,Yk) and (Xk+1, Yk-1) is [xk+1, yk-1/2]
pk  f circ ( xk  1, yk  1 )
2
 ( xk  1) 2  ( yk  1 ) 2  r 2 ...2
2
If pk < 0 the midpoint is inside the circle and the
pixel at yk is closer to the circle
Otherwise the midpoint is outside and yk-1 is closer
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To ensure things are as efficient as possible

we can do all of our calculations incrementally
First consider: ( since X +1 = X )
k k+1


pk 1  f circ xk 1  1, yk 1  1 2
or: 
 [( xk  1)  1]  yk 1
2
1
2
 r
2
2

pk 1  pk  2( xk  1)  ( yk21  yk2 )  ( yk 1  yk )  1
where yk+1 is either yk or yk-1 depending on the
sign of pk
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the initial value of Pk is given by the circle

function at the position (0,r) as,
pk  f circ ( xk  1, yk  1 )
2
 ( xk  1) 2  ( yk  1 ) 2  r 2
2
Substituting k=0,Xk=0,Yk=r in the above
function results in,
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39 Mid-Point Circle Algorithm (cont…)
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The first decision variable is given as:

p0  f circ (1, r  1 )
2
 1  (r  1 ) 2  r 2
2
 5 r
4
if r is an integer, then Po can be rounded to P0= 1 – r.

Then if pk < 0 then the next decision variable is

given as: pk 1  pk  2 xk 1  1

If pk > 0 then the decision variable is:

pk 1  pk  2 xk 1  1  2 yk  1
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39 The Mid-Point Circle Algorithm
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MID-POINT CIRCLE ALGORITHM

• Input radius r and circle centre (xc, yc), then set the
coordinates for the first point on the circumference of a
circle centred on the origin as:
( x0 , y0 )  (0, r )
• Calculate the initial value of the decision parameter as:
p0  5  r
4
• Perform the test, Starting with k = 0 at each position xk,
perform the following test.
(i) If pk < 0, the next point along the circle centred on (0, 0)
is (xk+1, yk) and: pk 1  pk  2 xk 1  1
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(ii) If Pk >0 then the next point along the circle is (xk+1,
yk-1) and:
pk 1  pk  2 xk 1  1  2 yk 1
where 2 xk 1 = 2Xk+2 and 2 yk 1 = 2Yk – 2
• Identify the symmetry points in the other seven
octants
• Move (x, y) according to:
x  x  xc y  y  yc

• Repeat steps 3 to 5 until x >= y

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39 Mid-Point Circle Algorithm Example
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To see the mid-point circle algorithm in action lets

use it to draw a circle centred at (0,0) with radius
10
Determine the positions along the circle octant in
the first quadrant from x=0 to x=y.
The intial value of the decision parameter is
P0 = 1-r = 1-10 = -9
For circle centred on the coordinate origin, the
initial point is (X0,Y0)=(0,10) and initial increment
terms for calculating the decision parameters are
2X0 =0 and 2Y0 = 20
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K=0 and P0 = -9 (1,10)
pk 1  pk  2 xk 1  1 (pk<0)
K=1, P1=P0+2Xk+1 => -9+2(1)+1 =-9+3=-6 (2,10)
K=2, P2= P1 +2(2)+1 = -6+4+1 = -1 (3,10)
K=3 P3=P2+2(3)+1 = -1+7= 6 (4,9)
K=4 pk 1  pk  2 xk 1  1  2 yk 1 (Pk>0)
P4= P3+2(4)+1-2(9) => 6+8+1-18 = -3 (5,9)
K=5 p5= p4+2(5)+1 => -3+10+1 = 8 (6,8)
K=6 p6=8+2(6)+1-2(8) => 8+12+1-16 = 5 (7,7)
K=7 p7= 6 (8,6)
K=8 p8=11 (9,5)
K=9 p9 =20 (10,4)
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(cont…)

10 pk
k (xk+1,yk+1) 2xk+1 2yk+1
9
8 0 -9 (1,10) 2 20
7 1 -6 (2,10) 4 20
6
5 2 -1 (3,10) 6 20
4 3 6 (4,9) 8 18
3
2 4 -3 (5,9) 10 18
1
5 8 (6,8) 12 16
0
6 5 (7,7) 14 14
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
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39 Mid-Point Circle Algorithm Exercise
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Use the mid-point circle algorithm to draw

the circle centred at (0,0) with radius 15
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(cont…)
16
k pk (xk+1,yk+1) 2xk+1 2yk+1
15
14
0
13
12 1
11 2
10 3
9 4
8
5
7
6 6
5 7
4 8
3
9
2
1 10
0 11
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 12
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39 Mid-Point Circle Algorithm Summary
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The key insights in the mid-point circle

algorithm are:
– Eight-way symmetry can hugely reduce the
work in drawing a circle
– Moving in unit steps along the x axis at each
point along the circle’s edge we need to
choose between two possible y coordinates
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1 2 3 4
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1 2 3 4
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M
5

1 2 3 4
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6
M
5

1 2 3 4
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6
M
5

3
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10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
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