Computer graphics

Computer graphics means drawing pictures

on a computer screen.

Raster and vector graphics

Vector graphics
All computer art is digital, but there are two Vector graphics is the creation of digital
very different ways of drawing digital images through a sequence of commands
images on a computer screen, known as or mathematical statements that place lines
raster and vector graphics. Simple and shapes in a given two-dimensional or
computer graphic programs like Microsoft
three-dimensional space. In physics,
Paint and PaintShop Pro are based on raster
a vector is a representation of both a
graphics, while more sophisticated
programs such as CorelDRAW, AutoCAD, quantity and a direction at the same time.
and Adobe Illustrator use vector graphics.  Vector graphics are computer graphics
images that are defined in terms of 2D
Raster graphics points, which are connected by lines and
curves to form polygons and other shapes.
In computer graphics, a raster graphics or
bitmap image is a dot matrix data structure
that represents a generally rectangular grid Vector graphics are used for line art, and
of pixels, viewable via a monitor, paper, or for logos, and for creating fonts. They are
other display medium. Raster images are infinitely recallable, without degradation in
stored in image files with varying formats. quality. Because of that, they are perfect for
reproduction in print at any size, large or
small.
The difference between vector and raster
graphics is that raster graphics are
composed of pixels, while vector
graphics are composed of paths.
Who invented computer graphics?
Brief timeline of some key moments in the
history of computer graphics

 1951: Jay Forrester and Robert

Everett of Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT)
produce Whirlwind, a mainframe
computer that can display crude
images on a television monitor or
VDU (visual display unit).
 1955: Directly descended from mainframes, to process images of
Whirlwind, MIT's SAGE (Semi- the moon captured by spacecraft.
Automatic Ground  1970: Bézier curves are developed,
Equipment) computer uses simple soon becoming an indispensable
vector graphics to tool in vector graphics.
display radar images and becomes a  1972: Atari releases PONG, a
key part of the US missile defense popular version of ping-pong (table
system. tennis) played by one or two players
 1959: General Motors and IBM on a computer screen.
develop Design Augmented by  1973: Richard Shoup
Computers-1 (DAC-1), a CAD produces SuperPaint, a forerunner
(computer-aided design) system to of modern computer graphic
help engineers design cars. packages, at the Xerox PARC (Palto
 1961: John Whitney, Sr. uses Alto Research Center) laboratory.
computer graphics to design a  1970s: Ivan Sutherland's
captivating title sequence for the student Edwin Catmull becomes one
Alfred Hitchcock thriller Vertigo. of the pioneers of 3D computer-
 1961: MIT student Steve Russell graphic animation, later playing key
programs Spacewar!, the first roles at Lucasfilm, Pixar, and Disney.
graphical computer game, on a DEC  1981: UK company Quantel
PDP-1 minicomputer. develops Paintbox, a revolutionary
 1963: Ivan Sutherland, a pioneer of computer-graphic program that
human-computer interaction allows TV producers and filmakers to
(making computers intuitively easy edit and manipulate video images
for humans to use), digitally.
develops Sketchpad (also called  1982: The movie Tron, starring Jeff
Robot Draftsman), one of the first Bridges, mixes live action and
computer-aided design packages, in computer graphic imagery in a story
which images can be drawn on the that takes a man deep inside a
screen using a lightpen (an computer system.
electronic pen/stylus wired into the  1980s: The appearance of the
computer). Later, Sutherland affordable, easy-to-use Apple
develops virtual reality equipment Macintosh computer paves the way
and flight simulators. for desktop publishing (designing
 1965: Howard Wise holds an things on your own small office
exhibition of computer-drawn art at computer) with popular computer
his pioneering gallery in Manhattan, graphic packages such as Aldus
New York. PageMaker (1985) and QuarkXPress
 1966: NASA's Jet Propulsion (1987).
Laboratory (JPL) develops an image-  1985: Microsoft releases the first
processing program called VICAR version of a basic raster-graphics
(Video Image Communication and drawing program called MS Paint.
Retrieval), running on IBM Thanks to its stripped-down
simplicity, it becomes one of the
 world's most popular computer art with touchscreen graphical user
programs. interfaces.
 1990: The first version of Adobe  2017: Microsoft announces it will
PhotoShop (one of the world's most not kill off its basic but very popular
popular professional graphic design Paint program, loved by computer
packages) is released. A simple, artists for over 30 years.
affordable home graphics program
called PaintShop (later PaintShop
Pro) is launched the same year.
 1993: University of Illinois student
Marc Andreessen develops Mosaic,
the first web browser to show text
and images side-by-side, prompting
a huge explosion in interest in the
Web virtually overnight.
 1995: Toy Story, produced by Pixar
Animation Studios (founded by
Apple's Steve Jobs, with Ed Catmull
as its chief technology officer)
demonstrates the impressive
possibilities of CGI graphics in
moviemaking. Stunning follow-up
movies from the same stable
include A Bug's Life, Monsters,
Inc., Finding Nemo, and The
Incredibles.
 1995: The GIMP (GNU Image
Manipulation Program) is developed
by University of California students
Spencer Kimball and Peter Mattis as
an open-source alternative to
Photoshop.
 1999: The World Wide Web
Consortium (W3C) begins
development of SVG (Scalable
Vector Graphics), a way of using
text-based (XML) files to provide
higher-quality images on the Web.
SVG images can include elements of
both conventional vector and raster
graphics.
 2007: Apple launches
its iPhone and iPod Touch products