Computer Graphics

Chapter 2
Graphics Systems
Andreas Savva

Development of Hardware
Hardware evolution had a greater influence in the
development of Computer Graphics than software.
In the early years interactive graphics was beyond the
recourses of most organizations because of:
the high cost of computer graphics hardware a car cost a few
thousand pounds whereas a computer cost several million
pounds,
the need for expensive computing recourses to support massive
design databases, interactive picture manipulation,
the difficulty of writing large, interactive programs at a time
when both graphics and interaction where new to predominantly
batch-oriented FORTRAN programmers,
non-portable software written for a particular display device
without software-engineering principles and structured systems.
Moving to new display devices necessitates expensive and timeconsuming rewriting of working programs.

After the development of graphics-based personal

computers (Apple Macintosh, IBM PC) hardware and
software cost was driven down, and millions of graphics
computers where sold for office and home use.

Video Display Devices

The primary output device in a graphical
system is the video monitor.

Cathode--ray tubes (CRT)

Cathode

Focusing
System
Y deflect

Base

Phosphor

x deflect

Connector
Pins
Electron
Gun

Control
grid
voltage

Basic operations of a CRT

Steps

1. The electron gun emits a beam of electrons

(cathode rays).
2. The electron beam passes through focusing and
deflection systems that direct it towards
specified positions on the phosphor-coated
screen.
3. When the beam hits the screen, the phosphor
emits a small spot of light at each position
contacted by the electron beam.
Because the light emitted by the phosphor fades very
quickly some method is needed for maintaining the
screen picture.

4. Redraw the picture by quickly directing the

electron beam back over the same screen points. 5

Phosphor Persistence
Definition: The time from the initial light output to
the moment when has decayed to its 10%.
There are different kind of phosphors for use in a
CRT. Besides color, a major difference is their
persistence how long they continue to emit light
after the CRT beam is removed.
A phosphor with low-persistence is useful in
animation.
A high-persistence phosphor is useful for displaying
highly complex, static pictures.
Graphics monitors are usually constructed with a
persistence in the range from 10 to 60 microseconds.
6

Brightness (Intensity
(Intensity)) distribution
of a phosphor spot on the screen
The intensity is greater at the center of the spot, and it
decreases with Gaussian distribution out to the edges of the
spot.

Two illuminated phosphor spots are distinguishable when

their separation is greater than the diameter at which a spot
intensity has fallen to 60% of maximum (at the center of
the spot).

Raster Scan Displays

Developed in the early seventies.
It is today's dominant hardware technology.
Almost all graphics systems are raster-based.
A picture is produced as an array the raster of
picture elements.
This elements are called Pixels or Pels (Picture
Elements). A pixel corresponds to a location, or
small area, in the image.
Collectively, the pixels are stored in a part of
memory called the refresh buffer or frame buffer.
buffer

Zooming Effects

10

Resolution

The maximum number of points (pixels) that can be

displayed without overlap on a screen is referred to as the
resolution, and determines the detail that can be seen in an
image.
A more precise definition is the number of points per
centimeter that can be plotted horizontally and vertically,
although it is often simply stated as the total number of
points in each direction (i.e. 1280 1024).
The physical size of a graphics monitor, on the other hand,
is given as the length (in inches) of the screen diagonal. 11

 The aspect ratio gives the ratio of vertical points

to horizontal points necessary to produce equallength lines in both directions on the screen. So
4:3 (most common) means that a vertical line
plotted with 4 points has the same length as a
horizontal line plotted with 3 points.

12

The Frame Buffer

0

800

x
spot at (x,y)

pixel at address (x,y)

600

y
Frame buffer

Display surface
at (800,600)

13

Refresh Rate
Definition: The number of times per second the image is
redrawn.
The entire contents of the frame buffer are displayed on
the CRT at a rate high enough to avoid flicker. This rate
is called the refresh rate.
rate
For a human to see a steady image on most CRT displays,
the same path must be retraced, or refreshed, by the beam
at least 60 times per second.
Current raster-scan displays perform refreshing at the rate
of 60 to 80 frames per second, although some systems
now have refresh rates of up to 120 frames per second.
Refresh rates are described in units of cycles per second,
or Hertz (Hz), where a cycle corresponds to one frame
(i.e. a refresh rate of 60 frames per second = 60 Hz).
14

Refresh--rate for films and TV

Refresh
The display technology on a monitor is different from that
of film.
A film projector can maintain the continues display of a film

frame until the next frame is brought into view.

On a video monitor a phosphor spot begins to decay as soon as it
is illuminated.

On films, below 24 frames per second, we can perceive a

gap between successive screen images.
Old silent films show flicker because they where photographed at

a rate of 16 frames per second.

When sound systems were developed in the 1920s, motion
picture film rates increased to 24 frames per second removing
flickering.
Today TV refresh rate is 25 frames per second in Europe and 30
frames per second in the USA.
15

The depth (or intensity) of the frame

buffer, defined as the number of bits that
are used for each pixel, determines
properties such as how many colors can be
represented on a given system.
1-bit-deep frame buffer allows 21 colors (black
and white)
8-bit-deep frame buffer allows 28 (=256) colors
In full color systems (also called RGB-color
systems), there are 24 (or more) bits per pixel in
order to display sufficient colors to represent
most images realistically.
16

Scanning Approaches
0

800

600
y
17

Raster Scan Displays

Electron beam paints the picture on screen one
Scan line
line at a time.
Horizontal
retrace

Vertical
retrace

000000000000000000000
000000000111000000000
000000111111111000000
000111111111111111000
000111110000011111000
000111111111111111000
000111111000111111000
000111111000111111000
000111111000111111000
000111111000111111000
000111111111111111000
000000000000000000000

18

Raster Scan Displays

They are based on TV technology
Refresh rate = 60 to 80 frames per second.
Note: Below 24 frames/second, eye detects flicker.

Each screen point is visited every refresh cycle.

Their capability to store intensity information for
each screen point makes them well suited for the
realistic display of scenes containing shading and
color patterns.
The frame-buffer with 1-bit intensity is called a
bitmap.
The frame-buffer with multiple-bits intensity is called
a pixmap.

19

Interlaced Raster Scan Displays

Odd/even scan lines covered in successive refresh
cycles.
Hence 30 frames/sec refresh rate appears like 60
frames/sec.
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
20

Random--Scan (Vector) displays

Random
Vector stands for line.
Developed in the mid-sixties and in common use until the
mid-eighties.
The electron beam is directed only to parts of the screen
where the picture is to be drawn.

MoveTo (300,800)
LineTo (700,800)
LineTo (500,300)
LineTo (300,800)

21

Random Scan Displays

Picture is stored as a set of point- and line-drawing
commands with (x,y) or (x,y,z) endpoint coordinates, as
well as character-plotting commands.
Refresh rate depends on the number of lines to be
displayed. To avoid flicker it must be at least 30 times per
second (30 Hz).
They are designed to draw all the component lines of a
picture 30 to 60 times per second more than 60 could
burn the phosphor.
High quality vector systems are capable of handling
approximately 100,000 lines at this refresh rate.
They are designed for line drawing applications and cannot
display realistic shaded images.
22

Raster Scan Vs Random Scan

Ideal line drawing

Raster scan

Random scan

23

The BitBit-map
1-bit-deep frame-buffer

Frame buffer

Pixels
24

Gray Level images

n-bits per pixel produce 2n gray levels.
Many images use 8-bits per pixel, i.e. 256 gray levels
since it gives acceptable quality.
00

01

10

11

2-bit per pixel

4 gray level

Color image

8-bit per pixel

256 gray level

1-bit per pixel

2 gray levels
Black & White

25

Color Images
Produce realistic images.
Cost of high-quality color displays has decreased.
Cost of scanners that digitize color photos has decreased.

Each pixel in a color image has a color value

which is a combination of amounts of red, green
and blue.
Each pixel value is an ordered triple, such as
(23,14,51), that prescribes the densities of the
red, green and blue.
Each value in the triple (RGB) has a certain
number of bits, and color depth is the sum of
these values.

26

The Color Depth

Many images have a color depth of eight (one byte), 3
bits for the red and the green and 2 bits for the blue. Each
pixel has one of 256 colors.
In highest quality (true-color) images, have a color depth
of 24, one byte for each component.
This achieves the best color production the eye can perceive:
More bits do not improve an image.
However, such images require a lot of memory. A true-color
image of 1,080 1,024 pixels requires over 3 million bytes.

x
pixel value

y
Color depth = 6 bits

26

(= 64) colors

27

Common Colors
Color depth of three
One bit for each component
Color Value
(triple)
0,0,0
0,0,1
0,1,0
0,1,1
1,0,0
1,0,1
1,1,0
1,1,1

Value
Black
Blue
Green
Cyan
Red
Magenta
Yellow
White

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Red Green - Blue

Color CRTs have three different colored phosphors
(red, green, blue) usually arranged in triangular
(delta) groups called triads.
A metal screen with small holes the shadow mask
allows electrons from each gun to hit only
corresponding phosphors dots (of the proper color).

29

Flat Panel Displays

All flat panel displays are raster refresh
displays.
Divided into two categories:
Active light emitting discharge (e.g. Flat
CRTs, Plasma-gas)
Passive light modulating (e.g. Liquid crystal)

30

Flat CRT
Initially projecting the electron beam parallel to
the screen and then reflecting it through 90.
It has all the performance advantages of the
conventional CRT.
Available only in small sizes.

31

Liquid--Crystal Display (LCD)

Liquid
It is a flat panel display.
It is a thin, lightweight display device.
It has no moving parts.
It consists of an electrically-controlled lightpolarising liquid trapped in cells between two
transparent polarising sheets.
An electric current passed through the liquid
causes the crystals to align or not so that light
can/cannot pass through them. Each crystal,
therefore, is like a shutter, either allowing light to
pass through or blocking the light.
32

Liquid--Crystal Display (LCD)

Liquid
Made up of six layers:
1. Vertical filter film to polarize the light as it enters.
2. Glass substrate with ITO electrodes which lines up with the
3.
4.
5.
6.

vertical filter. The shapes of these electrodes will determine the

shapes on the LCD.
Twisted liquid crystals.
Glass substrate with common electrode film (ITO) which lines up
with the horizontal filter.
Horizontal filter film to block/allow through light.
Reflective surface to send light back to viewer.

33

CRT vs LCD
Physical Size, Weight An LCD has one third the size of a CRT, and it
is much lighter.
Display Size LCDs are sized by their actual viewable diagonal
measurement, but CRTs are not. E.g. the viewable area on a 17" LCD
monitor will measure 17" diagonally, but the viewable area on a CRT
monitor will only measure 16" diagonally.
Colours Most CRT monitors are capable of displaying unlimited
colours. Some LCD monitors are only capable of hundreds or thousands
of colours, but many of the newer LCD's are capable of unlimited
colours.
Resolution CRT monitors are usually capable of displaying multiple
video resolutions, each with the same quality. LCD monitors, however,
usually have what is called a Native resolution, or the resolution that it
displays best. The native resolution is generally the highest resolution
that the LCD can display.

34

CRT vs LCD
Viewing Angle A CRT screen can be looked at from a very wide angle,
practically from the side, but an LCD monitor typically has a smaller
viewing angle. From the side, the image on an LCD screen can seem to
disappear, or invert colours. Newer displays that are coming out have
wider viewing angles.
Brightness is not a concern with CRT monitors. LCD monitors have
different levels of brightness. The brightness rating for an LCD monitor
is commonly referred to as 'nits', and commonly range from 70 to 300
nits. The higher the nits, the brighter the display.
Power Consumption and Radiation Emission LCD monitors consume
much less energy than CRT monitors. Secondly, CRT monitors are
known to emit harmful radiation, whereas LCD monitors do not.
Price CRT monitors are more affordable than LCD monitors. However
the LCDs cost have come down quite a lot in the last 1-2 years. An
LCD monitor will cost more but will conserve energy in the long run.
The energy savings may not be much for an individual user, but with a
corporation the energy savings might be more of an issue.
35

Plasma or Gas Discharge Display

Consists of a matrix of cells (the raster) in a class
envelope. Each cell is filled with a gas (usually
neon, or a neon/argon mixture) at low pressure
(below atmospheric).
When a sufficiently high voltage is applied the
gas dissociates, i.e. electrons are stripped from
the atoms. The dissociated gas is called a plasma,
hence the name plasma display.
When the electrons recombine, energy is released
in the form of photons; and the gas glows.
Plasma displays have large size and are high
resolution displays (100 pixels/inch).
36

Thin Film Transistor (TFT)

A type of LCD flat-panel display screen, in
which each pixel is controlled by from one
to four transistors.
The TFT technology provides the best
resolution of all the flat-panel techniques.
It is the most expensive display.
TFT screens are active-matrix LCDs.
37

Three-Dimensional
ThreeViewing Devices
Projected
3D Image

Timing and
Control
System

Vibrating
Flexible
Mirror

CRT
Viewer

Operation of a 3D display system using a vibrating

mirror that changes focal length to match the depths of
points in a scene.

38

Stereoscopic and VirtualVirtual-Reality Systems

A 3D object is displayed in a stereoscopic view. It
presents a different view to each eye of an observer so
that scenes appear to have depth.
The two views of a scenes are generated with viewing
directions along the lines from the position of each eye
(left and right) to the scene.
The two views merge into a single image and we perceive
a scene with depth.
The scene is viewed through glasses , with each lens
designed to act as rapidly alternating shutter that is
synchronized to block out one of the views.

39

A Graphical System

The frame buffer is implemented with special types of

memory chips that enable fast redisplay of its contents:
Video Random-Access Memory (VRAM) or
Dynamic Random-Access Memory (DRAM).

In simpler systems, the frame buffer is part of standard

memory.
40

Animation
Animation is the process of creating images that appear to
move.
The illusion of movement is created by displaying a
sequence of still images faster than a certain rate, which is
around 24 images per second. This happens because
when a single image is flashed at the eye, it is retained by
the brain longer than it is actually registered on the retina.
Thus, if the second image is flashed within a certain
minimum time, the brain still retains the last image, and
the two images are combined. When a series of images is
flashed in rapid succession, the brain blends the images
together and, if these images are slightly changed from
one to the next, it results in the effect of continuous
motion.
The process of animation is very complex. In order to
produce an animated film, 24 frames per second are
required. This is equivalent to 1,440 frames in one
minute. A typical two hour animation film would then
41
need 172,800 individual frames.

Hand Animation
Before computers were put to work as animation machines, each
of these frames had to be drawn by hand, painted and
photographed. Since animation is such a laborious task, it can be
appreciated how computers have opened the door to a world of
animation possibilities.
In hand animation, characters are drawn on transparent "cells"
that are laid on top of each painted background. It requires a
different cell for each frame. The backgrounds, on the other
hand, remain constant over many frames and need be drawn
only once. This separation of character and background is
fundamental to the economic production of animated cartoons.
The characters are redrawn for every frame. If the background
had to be redrawn as well, the cost would be astronomical.
For this reason camera motion is limited to following the
characters in the plane of the background or, occasionally,
zooming into the background. A skilful zoom, combined with
the correct reduction of scale for the character, can create the
impression that the character is being followed into the
background. A little more flexibility can be obtained by having
several background layers laid on parallel glass plates. Thus, a
layer of trees can move relative to a layer of sky and mountains42
to give the effect of motion as the camera pans.

Computer Animation
All the techniques of hand animation can, of course, be
simulated in a computer-assisted animation system. Many
"paint" systems do exactly that. But if this is done, the
system also inherits many of the limitations of the
traditional method.
More advanced systems use three-dimensional "models"
within the computer and in this case backgrounds are not
needed. The whole scene, including background objects
such as trees and hills, is viewed by a "virtual camera"
that can be moved anywhere and even rotated as it moves.
Once the models have been created, every aspect of every
scene can be redrawn, automatically, for every frame.
This is still expensive, but the cost is one of machine time
rather than human labor. As computers get faster and
cheaper, the benefits of this approach will remain but the
cost will disappear. The costs, therefore, are transferred
from the creation of the image to the creation of the
model and it is important that improved tools continue to
43
be provided to support this part of the process.

American Standard Video

Uses a total of 525 horizontal lines with a viewing aspect
ratio of 4:3. However only 483 lines are visible.
The picture repetition, frame rate,
rate is 30 frames/second.
Each frame is divided into two fields, each containinghalf of a the picture. The two fields are interlaced and
they are presented alternatively every other 1/60 second.
Thus the picture is presented as 30 frames/second or as 60
fields per second.
0

Europe

625 lines
25 frames/second

2
3
4
5
6
44

Light
Light

Radio

Heat

Wavelength (nm)

Gamma rays
X-rays
Ultraviolet
Blue

350

Green

Infrared
Microwaves
Radio waves
Red

780

Light is a form of electromagnetic radiation.

Electromagnetic energy travels as waves that can be
characterized by either their wavelengths or their
frequencies.
frequency wavelength = speed of light
Light is the electromagnetic spectrum, which has
wavelengths in the range of 350 to 780 nanometers (nm).

45

Light in Computer Graphics

We do not deal with the wave nature of
light.
Light sources have a fixed rate of intensity.
Light travels in straight lines.
A point source emits energy from a single
location at one or more frequencies equally
in all directions.
More complex sources, such as a light
bulb, can be characterized as emitting light
46
over an area.

The Human
Visual System

Light enters the eye through the lens and cornea, a

transparent structure that protects the eye. The iris opens
and closes to adjust the amount of light entering the eye.
The lens forms an image on a 2D structure called the
retina. The rods and cones are light sensors and are
located in the retina. They are excited by
electromagnetic energy in the range of 350 to 780 nm.
The rods are for low-level-light (night vision) monochrome
The cones are for high-level light (day vision). Not too useful in
47
the dark 3 types (RGB)

Our Eyes
Fovea is the high-resolution area in the retina. Cones are
mostly at the fovea. Rods are all over the retina.
The optic nerve is the signal processor that sends the
image to the visual cortex (brain), where high-level
functions, such as object recognition, are carried out.
The resolution of our visual system is the size of objects
we can see. More technically, it is a measure of how close
we can place two points and still recognize that there are
two distinct points.
Our eyes do not react the uniformly at different
wavelength. It does not have the same response to a
monochromatic (single-frequency) red light as to a
monochromatic green light. If these two lights were to
emit energy with the same intensity, they would appear to
us to have different brightness we are most sensitive to
green light, and least to red and blue.
48

Objects
An object is a self-contained thing that has a
structure (properties) and behavior (methods
and/or functions).
Object primitives
Points, lines, polygons, free-form surfaces, etc. that
define the shape of the components of the object.

Object attributes
Line style, color or surface texture.

Connectivity relationships and positioning data

that describe how the components fit together.
49

Virtual Environments
A set of independent objects following laws and
behaviors define a world or a virtual
environment (VE).
Virtual environments have:
content the objects that make up the environment
geometry dimension, metric and the extent or
boundaries of the environment
dynamics consist of the rules of interaction between
the objects
50

Content of VE
At any moment of time any object has a
description and a state.
Description: information about the objects
geometry, substance and potential behavior.
State: state of the object in relation to the rest
of the environment.

51

Actors and
Virtual Reality
An actor is a special set of objects that can
initiate an interaction with another object or actor
through information exchange.
A participant (human operator) has a visual
representation within the environment and
controls the behavior of one of the actors.
Virtual Reality
The participant lives in the virtual environment, sees
with the eyes of the actor and feels as being the
actor itself. The participants movements are captured
52
by a tracking system.

Forming Synthetic Objects

Synthetic objects can be defined or approximated
by specifying the position in space of various
geometric primitives, such as
points (vertices)
lines
polygons
Examples
A line can be defined by two vertices.
A polygon can be defined by an ordered list of vertices.
A sphere can be specified by two vertices, the center and
any point on its circumference.
53

The Viewer
Image Object
The viewer forms the image (in 2D) of the object.
In the human visual system, the image is formed on the back of the
eye, on the retina.
In a camera, the image is formed on the film plane.

An object has a lot of images, depending on the position

and the perspective of the viewer.

B-view

C-view

54

Image Formation

The object and the viewer are in a threedimensional world.

The image is two-dimensional.

55

Light Sources

Without light sources the objects would have been

dark and there would be nothing visible to the
image.
Light from the sources strikes various surfaces of
the object, and a portion of the reflected light
enters the camera through the lens.
56

Displaying Images

Wire-frame image

Shaded image
57

Realism
It is extremely difficult to create reality on a
computer display.

What do you see?

58

Explanations
In electrodynamics, polarization is a property of waves,
such as light and other electromagnetic radiation. Unlike
more familiar wave phenomena such as waves on water
or sound waves, electromagnetic waves are threedimensional, and it is their vector nature that gives rise to
the phenomenon of polarization.
Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) is a mixture of indium(III)
oxide (In2O3) and tin(IV) oxide (SnO2), typically 90%
In2O3, 10% SnO2 by weight. ITO is mainly used to make
transparent conductive coatings for electronic displays,
and heat-reflecting coatings for architectural, automotive,
and light bulb glasses.
59

Input Devices
Each device is more suitable for certain tasks than for others

Keyboard
Entering non-graphical data (i.e. text)
60

 Mouse
Used to select a location to the screen.
The motion of the roller at the bottom of the mouse is

converted into signals sent back to the computer.

Optical Detector Mouse

Measure distance traveled by counting lines on a

special pad.

61

 Trackball
Similar in use to the mouse.
Popular with portable computers because they

can be incorporated directly into the keyboard.

There exist various pressure-sensitive devices
in keyboards that perform similar functions to
the mouse and trackball.
62

 Data Tablet
It has rows and columns of wires embedded

under its surface. The position of the stylus is

determined through electromagnetic
interactions between signals traveling through
the wires and sensors in the stylus.

Touch-Sensitive Screens
Have many of the same properties as Data

Tablet.

63

 Light pen
If it is positioned on the face of the CRT at a

location, a signal is sent to the computer.

Not very popular as other devices.

64

 Joystick
The motion of the screen in two orthogonal

directions is encoded and integrated to identify

a screen location.
Variable sensitive device well suited for
flight simulators and games.
65

 Spaceball
3D input device
Stick does not move but it has pressure sensors

(rotations).
3 independent twists (translations).

66

 Z-mouse
3D input device
It has three buttons, a thumbwheel on the

sided, a trackball on the top, and a standard

mouse ball underneath.
67

 Data Glove
Used to grasp a virtual object.
Sensors detect hand and finger motions.

68

 Digitizers
2D or 3D input devices.
Interactive selection of coordinate positions on

an object.
Wireframe models rectangular grid
69