NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA

COURSE CODE :CIT 371

COURSE TITLE:
INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER GRAPHICS AND
ANIMATION

1
2
 COURSE
GUIDE

CIT 371
INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER GRAPHICS AND
ANIMATION

Course Team Mr. F. E. Ekpenyong (Writer) – NDA

Course Editor

Programme Leader

Course Coordinator

3
NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA
National Open University of Nigeria
Headquarters
14/16 Ahmadu Bello Way
Victoria Island
Lagos

Abuja Office
No. 5 Dar es Salaam Street
Off Aminu Kano Crescent
Wuse II, Abuja
Nigeria

e-mail: [email protected]
URL: www.nou.edu.ng

Published By:
National Open University of Nigeria

Printed 2009

ISBN:

All Rights Reserved

4
CONTENTS PAGE

Introduction………………………………………………………… 1
What you will Learn in this Course…………………………………. 1
Course Aims… … … … … … … … 4
Course Objectives……….… … … … … … 4
Working through this Course… … … … … … 5
The Course Material… … … … … … 5
Study Units… … … … … … … 6
Presentation Schedule… … … … … … … 7
Assessments… … … … … … … … 7
Tutor Marked Assignment… … … … … … 7
Final Examination and Grading… … … … … … 8
Course Marking Scheme… … … … … … … 8
Facilitators/Tutors and Tutorials… … … … … 9
Summary… … … … … … … … … 9

5
Introduction

Computer graphics is concerned with producing images and animations

(or sequences of images) using a computer. This includes the hardware
and software systems used to make these images. The task of producing
photo-realistic images is an extremely complex one, but this is a field
that is in great demand because of the nearly limitless variety of
applications. The field of computer graphics has grown enormously over
the past 10–20 years, and many software systems have been developed
for generating computer graphics of various sorts. This can include
systems for producing 3-dimensional models of the scene to be drawn,
the rendering software for drawing the images, and the associated user-
interface software and hardware.

Our focus in this course will not be on how to use these systems to
produce these images, but rather in understanding how these systems are
constructed, and the underlying mathematics, physics, algorithms, and
data structures needed in the construction of these systems.

The field of computer graphics dates back to the early 1960’s with Ivan
Sutherland, one of the pioneers of the field. This began with the
development of the (by current standards) very simple software for
performing the necessary mathematical transformations to produce
simple line-drawings of 2- and 3-dimensional scenes.

As time went on, and the capacity and speed of computer technology
improved, successively greater degrees of realism were achievable.
Today it is possible to produce images that are practically
indistinguishable from photographic images

What you will Learn in this Course

The course consists of units and course guide. This course guide tells
you briefly what the course is all about, what course materials you will
be using and how you can work with these materials. In addition, it
advocates some general guidelines for the amount of time you are likely
to spend on each unit of the course in order to complete it successfully.
It gives you guidance in respect of your tutor Marked assignment which
will be made available in the assignment file. There will be regular
tutorial classes that are related to the course. It is advisable for you to

6
attend these tutorial sessions. The course will prepare you for the
challenges you will meet in the field of Computer graphics.

Course Aims

The aim of this course is to provide an introduction to the theory and

practice of computer graphics. By introducing topics that deal with
computer graphics rendering of primitive objects, polygon clipping
algorithms, two-dimensional transformations, three-dimensional
transformations, viewing camera rendering and projections, object
representations, three-dimensional curve and surface rendering
algorithms, and line and surface removal algorithms.

Objectives

In order to achieve the laid down goals, the course has a set of
objectives. Each unit is designed with specific objectives at the
beginning. The students are advised to read these objectives very
carefully before embarking on the study unit. You may also wish to
refer to them during your study in order to measure your progress. You
are also advised to look at the unit objectives after completion of each
unit. By so doing, you would have followed the instruction of the unit.
Below are the comprehensive listings of the overall objective s of the
course. By meeting these objectives, the said aims of the course must
have been achieved.

Thus the after going through this course you should be able to:

• Explain the overall workflow and techniques involved in computer

animation production.
• To understand the fundamental computer graphics topics including
graphics pipeline architecture, transformations, modeling, viewing,
shading, and texture mapping.
• To study basic mathematical backgrounds related to computer
graphics including linear algebra and geometry.
• Understand vividly, those computer graphic algorithms (such as
object transformation, geometric representation, shading and
illumination model, anti-aliasing and Ray tracing).
• Study 3-D curve and surface algorithms, in rendering, surface and
line removal algorithms
• Explain the abstract mathematical model describing the way colors
can be represented

7
• Understand the methods of Computing a digital image of what the
virtual camera sees

Working through this Course

To complete this course, you are required to read each study units, read
the textbooks and other materials which may be provided by the
National Open University of Nigeria. Each unit contains self-
assessment and at certain points in the course you would be required to
submit assignment for assessment purposes. At the end of the course
there is a final examination. The course should take you about 16 weeks
to complete. Below you will find listed all the components of the
course, what you have to do and how you should allocate your time to
each unit in order to complete the course in time and successfully.
This course entails you spend a lot of time to read. I would advise that
you avail yourself the opportunity of attending the tutorial sessions
where you have the opportunity of comparing your knowledge with that
of others.

Course Materials

The main components of the course are:

1. The course guide

2. Study Units
3. References/Further Readings
4. Assignments
5. Presentation Schedule

Study Units

The study Units of this course are:

Module 1 Definition and Concepts of Computer Graphics

Unit1 Computer Graphics and Applications

Unit2 Hardware, Software and Display Devices
Unit3 Graphics Data Structure
Unit4 Colour Theory
Unit5 Image Representation

Module 2 Geometric Modelling

Unit1 Basic Line drawing

Unit 2 Mathematics of CG
Unit 3 Curve and Surface Design

8
Unit 4 Ray Tracing
Unit 5 Texture Mapping

Module 3 3D Graphics Rendering

Unit 1 Geometric Transformation

Unit 2 Scan Conversion
Unit 3 Three-dimensional Viewing
Unit 4 3D Transform and Animation
Unit 5 Hidden Surface Elimination

Description

The course is made up of three modules viz; module one Definition and
Concepts of computer graphics, module two modeling, module three 3D
Graphics Rendering.

Each module contains five units as follows:

Unit one focuses on the definition, history and application areas of

computer graphics. The second unit deals with basic graphics i/o
devices and display devices. Graphics data structures is detailed in unit
three while unit four treats the different colour representation in the
graphics system. How digital images are represented in a computer is
discusses in unit five. This ’mini’-topic explores different forms of
frame-buffer for storing images, and also different ways of representing
colour and key issues that arise in colour.

Geometric Transformation How to use linear algebra, e.g. matrix

transformations, to manipulate points in space Geometric Modelling is
treated in module two it also explores how points can be “joined up” to
form curves and surfaces, unit three and Ray tracing techniques and
texture Mapping units four and five of the second module.

The third module discuses manipulating/positioning of points in 3D

space, this module treats the modeling of objects and their trajectories
3D transformation principles and Animation is seen in the first unit of
this module, Scan conversion or Rasterisation, 3D viewing animation
techniques and Hidden surface elimination are explained in units three,
four and five of module three respectively.

Each unit consist of about two or three weeks work and include an
introduction, objectives, reading materials, exercises and conclusion,
summary and Tutor marked Assignments(TMAs), references and other
resources. The units directs you to work on exercises related to the
requires readings. In general, these exercises test you on the materials

9
you have just covered or require you to apply it in some way and
thereby assist you to evaluate your progress and to reinforce your
comprehension of the material. Together with TMAs, these exercises
will help you in achieving the stated learning objectives of the
individual units and of the course as a whole.

Presentation Schedule

Your course materials have important dates for the early and timely
submission of your TMAs and attending tutorials. You should remember
that you are required to submit all your assignments by the stipulated
time and date. You should also guard against falling behind your work.

Assessment

There are three aspects of assessment of the course. First is made up of

self assessment exercise, second consists of tutor marked assignments
and the third is the written examination.

You are advised to do the exercises. In tackling the assignments, you

are expected to apply information, knowledge and techniques you
gathered during the course. The assignments must be submitted to your
facilitator for formal assessment in accordance with the deadlines stated
in the presentation schedule and the assignment file. The work you
submit to your tutor for assessment will count for 30% of your total
course work. At the end of the course, you will need to sit for a final or
end of course examination of about three hours duration. This
examination will count for 70% of your total course mark.

Tutor-Marked Assignment

The Tutor Marked Assignment (TMA) is a continuous assessment

component of your course. It accounts for 30% of the total score. You
will be given four (4) TMAs to answer. Three of these must be
answered before you are allowed to sit for the end of year examination.
The TMA would be given to you by your facilitator and returned after
you have done the assignment. Assignment questions for the units in
this course are contained in the assignment file. You will be able to
complete your assignment from the information and materials contained
in your reading, reference and study units. However, it is desirable in all
degree level of education to demonstrate that you have read and
researched more into your references, which will give you a wider view
point and may provide you with a deeper understanding of the subject.
Make sure that each assignment reaches your facilitator on or before the
deadline given in the presentation schedule and assignment file. If for

10
any reason you cannot complete your work on time, contact your
facilitator before the assignment is due to discuss the possibility of an
extension. Extension will not be granted after the due date unless there
are exceptional circumstances.

Final Examination and Grading

The end of course examination for Introduction to Computer Graphics

and Animation will be about 3 hours and it has a value of 70% of the
total course work. The examination will consist of questions which will
reflect the type of self testing, practice exercise and tutor marked
assignment problems you have previously encountered. All areas of the
course will be assessed.

Use the time between finishing the last unit and sitting for the
examination to revise the whole course. You might find it useful to
review your self-test, TMAs and comments on them before the
examination. The on course examination covers all parts of the course.

Course Marking Scheme

Assignment Marks
Assignment1-4 Four assignments, best three marks
of the four count at 10% each-30%
of course marks
End of course examination 70% of overall course marks
Total 100% of course materials

Facilitators/Tutors and Tutorials

There are 15 hours of tutorials provided for in support this course. You
will be notified of the dates, times and location of these tutorials as well
as the name and phone number of your facilitator as soon as you are
allocated a tutorial group.

Your facilitator will mark and comment on you assignments, keep a

close watch on your progress and any difficulties you might face and
provide assistance to you during the course. You are expected to mail
your Tutor Marked Assignment to your facilitator before the schedule
date. (at least two working days are required). They will be marked by
your tutor and returned to you as soon as possible.

Do not delay to contact your facilitator by telephone or e-mail if you

need assistance.
11
The following might be circumstances which you find assistance
necessary, hence you would have to contact your facilitator if:

• You do not understand any part of the study or assigned readings.

• You have difficulty with the self-tests.
• You have a question or problem with an assignment or with the
grading of an assignment.

You should endeavour to attend the tutorials. This is the only chance to
have face to face contact with your course facilitator and to ask
questions which are answered instantly. You can raise any problem
encountered in the course of your study.

Summary

This course provides intermediate background in computer graphics for

graduate and undergraduate students.

To give students a solid understanding of the principles of modeling,

viewing, and rendering operations in 3-dimensional computer graphics
systems. Special attention is given to the variety of methods for
modeling 3D virtual worlds, and to advanced techniques for realism in
rendering images of such models. Included are detailed treatments of
polygonally-based modeling methods, plus substantial investigation of
the basic methods of parametric surface representation.

Details of 3D viewing methods are reviewed and enhanced, and

techniques for hidden-surface removal, shadow generation, highlighting,
and texture in images are covered. Also included is an introduction to
the animation principles.

12
 MAIN
COURSE
Course code CIT 371
Course Title Introduction to Computer Graphics and Animation.

Course Team Mr. F. E. Ekpenyong (Writer) – NDA

Course Editor

Programme Leader

Course Coordinator

NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA

National Open University of Nigeria

Headquarters
14/16 Ahmadu Bello Way
Victoria Island

13
Lagos

Abuja Office
No. 5 Dar es Salaam Street
Off Aminu Kano Crescent
Wuse II, Abuja
Nigeria

e-mail: [email protected]
URL: www.nou.edu.ng

Published By:
National Open University of Nigeria

Printed 2009

ISBN:

All Rights Reserved

CONTENTS PAGE

Module 1 Definition and Concepts of Computer Graphics

Unit1 Computer Graphics and Applications

14
Unit2 Hardware, Software and Display Devices
Unit3 Graphics Data Structure
Unit4 Colour Theory
Unit5 Image Representation

Module 2 Geometric Modelling

Unit1 Basic Line drawing

Unit 2 Mathematics of CG
Unit 3 Curve and Surface Design
Unit 4 Ray Tracing
Unit 5 Texture Mapping

Module 3 3D Graphics Rendering

Unit 1 Geometric Transformation

Unit 2 Scan Conversion
Unit 3 Three-dimensional Viewing
Unit 4 3D Transform and Animation
Unit 5 Hidden Surface Elimination

15
MODULE 1: DEFINITION AND CONCEPTS OF
COMPUTER GRAPHICS

Unit 1 Computer Graphics and Applications

Unit 2 Hardware, Software and Display Devices
Unit 3 Graphics Data Structure
Unit 4 Colour Theory
Unit 5 Image Representation

UNIT 1 COMPUTER GRAPHICS AND APPLICATIONS

CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objectives 2
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Definition of Computer Graphics 2
3.2 History 2
3.2 Application of Computer Graphics 7
3.3 What is Interactive Computer Graphics? 8
3.4 What do we need in Computer Graphics? 8
3.5 The Graphics Rendering Pipeline
4.0 Conclusion 9
5.0 Summary 9
6.0 Tutor Marked Assignment 10
7.0 Reference/ Further Reading 10

1.0 Introduction

Given the state of current technology, it would be possible to design an

entire university major to cover everything (important) that is known
about computer graphics. In this introductory course, we will attempt to
cover only the merest fundamentals upon which the field is based.
Nonetheless, with these fundamentals, you will have a remarkably good
insight into historical development of Computer graphics, the various
application areas and the graphics rendering pipeline.

2.0 Objectives

Upon successful completion of this unit, students will:

• have an understanding of the history of computer graphics
• have gained an appreciation for the art of computer graphics
• Understand the basic Graphic rendering pipeline.

16
3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Definition of Computer Graphics.

Computer graphics generally means creation, storage and manipulation

of models and images. Such models come from diverse and expanding
set of fields including physical, mathematical, artistic, biological, and
even conceptual (abstract) structures.

“Perhaps the best way to define computer graphics is to find out what it
is not. It is not a machine. It is not a computer, nor a group of computer
programs. It is not the know-how of a graphic designer, a programmer, a
writer, a motion picture specialist, or a reproduction specialist.

Computer graphics is all these –a consciously managed and documented

technology directed toward communicating information accurately and
descriptively.

3.2 History

3.1.1 The Age of Sutherland

In the early 1960's IBM, Sperry-Rand, Burroughs and a few other

computer companies existed. The computers of the day had a few
kilobytes of memory, no operating systems to speak of and no graphical
display monitors. The peripherals were Hollerith punch cards, line
printers, and roll-paper plotters. The only programming languages
supported were assembler, FORTRAN, and Algol. Function graphs and
“Snoopy'' calendars were about the only graphics done.

In 1963 Ivan Sutherland presented his paper Sketchpad at the Summer

Joint Computer Conference. Sketchpad allowed interactive design on a
vector graphics display monitor with a light pen input device. Most
people mark this event as the origins of computer graphics.

3.1.2 The Middle to Late '60's

Software and Algorithms

Jack Bresenham taught us how to draw lines on a raster device. He later

extended this to circles. Anti-aliased lines and curve drawing is a major
topic in computer graphics. Larry Roberts pointed out the usefulness of
homogeneous coordinates, matrices and hidden line detection
algorithms. Steve Coons introduced parametric surfaces and developed

17
early computer aided geometric design concepts. The earlier work of
Pierre Bézier on parametric curves and surfaces also became public.
Author Appel at IBM developed hidden surface and shadow algorithms
that were pre-cursors to ray tracing. The fast Fourier transform was
discovered by Cooley and Tukey. This algorithm allow us to better
understand signals and is fundamental for developing antialiasing
techniques. It is also a precursor to wavelets.

Hardware and Technology

Doug Englebart invented the mouse at Xerox PARC. The Evans &
Sutherland Corporation and General Electric started building flight
simulators with real-time raster graphics. The floppy disk was invented
at IBM and the microprocessor was invented at Intel. The concept of a
research network, the ARPANET, was developed.

3.1.3 The Early '70's

The state of the art in computing was an IBM 360 computer with about
64 KB of memory, a Tektronix 4014 storage tube, or a vector display
with a light pen (but these were very expensive).

Software and Algorithms

Rendering (shading) were discovered by Gouraud and Phong at the

University of Utah. Phong also introduced a reflection model that
included specular highlights. Keyframe based animation for 3-D
graphics was demonstrated. Xerox PARC developed a ``paint'' program.
Ed Catmull introduced parametric patch rendering, the z-buffer
algorithm, and texture mapping. BASIC, C, and Unix were developed at
Dartmouth and Bell Labs.

Hardware and Technology

An Evans & Sutherland Picture System was the high-end graphics

computer. It was a vector display with hardware support for clipping and
perspective. Xerox PARC introduced the Altos personal computer, and
an 8 bit computer was invented at Intel.

3.1.4 The Middle to Late '70's

Software and Algorithms

Turned Whitted developed recursive ray tracing and it became the

standard for photorealism, living in a pristine world. Pascal was the
programming language everyone learned.

18
Hardware and Technology

The Apple I and II computers became the first commercial successes for
personal computing. The DEC VAX computer was the mainframe
(mini) computer of choice. Arcade games such as Pong and Pac Mac
became popular. Laser printers were invented at Xerox PARC.

3.1.5 The Early '80's

Hardware and Technology

The IBM PC was marketed in 1981 The Apple MacIntosh started
production in 1984, and microprocessors began to take off, with the
Intel x86 chipset, but these were still toys. Computers with a mouse,
bitmapped (raster) display, and Ethernet became the standard in
academic and science and engineering settings.

3.1.6 The Middle to Late '80's

Software and Algorithms

Jim Blinn introduces blobby models and texture mapping concepts.

Binary space partitioning (BSP) trees were introduced as a data
structure, but not many realized how useful they would become. Loren
Carpenter starting exploring fractals in computer graphics. Postscript
was developed by John Warnock and Adobe was formed. Steve Cook
introduced stochastic sampling to ray tracing. Paul Heckbert taught us to
ray trace Jello(this is a joke;) Character animation became the goal for
animators. Radiosity was introduced by the Greenberg and folks at
Cornell. Photoshop was marketed by Adobe. Video arcade games took
off, many people/organizations started publishing on the desktop. Unix
and X windows were the platforms of choice with programming in C
and C++, but MS-DOS was starting to rise.

Hardware and Technology

Sun workstations, with the Motorola 680x0 chipset became popular as

advanced workstation a in the mid 80's. The Video Graphics Array
(VGA) card was invented at IBM. Silicon Graphics (SGI) workstations
that supported real-time raster line drawing and later polygons became
the computer graphicists desired. The data glove, a precursor to virtual
reality, was invented at NASA. VLSI for special purpose graphics
processors and parallel processing became hot research areas.

19
3.1.7 The Early '90's

The computer to have now was an SGI workstation with at least 16 MB

of memory, at 24-bit raster display with hardware support for Gouraud
shading and z-buffering for hidden surface removal. Laser printers and
single frame video recorders were standard. Unix, X and Silicon
Graphics GL were the operating systems, window system and
application programming interface (API) that graphicist used. Shaded
raster graphics were starting to be introduced in motion pictures. PCs
started to get decent, but still they could not support 3-D graphics, so
most programmer's wrote software for scan conversion (rasterization)
used the painter's algorithm for hidden surface removal, and developed
“tricks”' for real-time animation.

Software and Algorithms

Mosaic, the first graphical Internet browser was written by xxx at the
University of Illinois, National Center for Scientific Applications
(NCSA). MPEG standards for compressed video began to be
promulgated. Dynamical systems (physically based modeling) that
allowed animation with collisions, gravity, friction, and cause and
effects were introduced. In 1992 OpenGL became the standard for
graphics APIs In 1993, the World Wide Web took off. Surface
subdivision algorithms were rediscovered. Wavelets begin to be used in
computer graphics.

Hardware and Technology

Hand-held computers were invented at Hewlett-Packard about 1991. Zip

drives were invented at Iomega. The Intel 486 chipset allowed PC to get
reasonable floating point performance. In 1994, Silicon Graphics
produced the Reality Engine: It had hardware for real-time texture
mapping. The Ninetendo 64 game console hit the market providing
Reality Engine-like graphics for the masses of games players. Scanners
were introduced.

3.1.8 The Middle to Late '90's

The PC market erupts and supercomputers begin to wane. Microsoft

grows, Apple collapses, but begins to come back, SGI collapses, and
lots of new startups enter the graphics field.

Software and Algorithms

20
Image based rendering became the area for research in photo-realistic
graphics. Linux and open source software become popular.
Hardware and Technology

PC graphics cards, for example 3dfx and Nvidia, were introduced.

Laptops were introduced to the market. The Pentium chipset makes PCs
almost as powerful as workstations. Motion capture, begun with the data
glove, becomes a primary method for generating animation sequences.
3-D video games become very popular: DOOM (which uses BSP trees),
Quake, Mario Brothers, etc. Graphics effects in movies becomes
pervasive: Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, Toy Story, Titanic, Star Wars I.
Virtual reality and the Virtual Reality Meta (Markup) Language
(VRML) become hot areas for research. PDA's, the Palm Pilot, and flat
panel displays hit the market.

3.1.9 The '00's

Today most graphicist want an Intel PC with at least 256 MB of

memory and a 10 GB hard drive. Their display should have graphics
board that supports real-time texture mapping. A flatbed scanner, color
laser printer, digital video camera, DVD, and MPEG encoder/decoder
are the peripherals one wants. The environment for program
development is most likely Windows and Linux, with Direct 3D and
OpenGL, but Java 3D might become more important. Programs would
typically be written in C++ or Java.

What will happen in the near future -- difficult to say, but high definition
TV (HDTV) is poised to take off (after years of hype). Ubiquitous,
untethered, wireless computing should become widespread, and audio
and gestural input devices should replace some of the functionality of
the keyboard and mouse.

You should expect 3-D modeling and video editing for the masses,
computer vision for robotic devices and capture facial expressions, and
realistic rendering of difficult things like a human face, hair, and water.
With any luck C++ will fall out of favor.

3.1.10 Ethical Issues

Graphics has had a tremendous affect on society. Things that affect

society often lead to ethical and legal issues. For example, graphics are
used in battles and their simulation, medical diagnosis, crime re-
enactment, cartoons and films. The ethical role played by a computer
graphic is in the use of graphics programs that may be used for these and
other purposes is discussed and analyzed in the notes on Ethics.

21
3.2 Application of Computer Graphics

3.2.1 Medical Imaging

There are few endeavors more noble than the preservation of life.
Today, it can honestly be said that computer graphics plays an
significant role in saving lives. The range of application spans from
tools for teaching and diagnosis, all the way to treatment. Computer
graphics is tool in medical applications rather than an a mere artifact. No
cheating or tricks allowed.

3.2.2 Scientific Visualization

Computer graphics makes vast quantities of data accessible. Numerical

simulations frequently produce millions of data values. Similarly,
satellite-based sensors amass data at rates beyond our abilities to
interpret them by any other means than visually. Mathematicians use
computer graphics to explore abstract and high-dimensional functions
and spaces. Physicists can use computer graphics to transcend the limits
of scale. With it they can explore both microscopic and macroscopic
world

3.2.3 Computer Aided Design

Computer graphics has had a dramatic impact on the design process.

Today, most mechanical and electronic designs are executed entirely on
computer. Increasingly, architectural and product designs are also
migrating to the computer. Automated tools are also available that verify
tolerances and design constraints directly from CAD designs. CAD
designs also play a key role in a wide range of processes from the design
of tooling fixtures to manufacturing.

3.2.4 Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs)

Computer graphics is an integral part of everyday computing. Nowhere

is this fact more evident than the modern computer interface design.
Graphical elements such as windows, cursors, menus, and icons are so
common place it is difficult to imagine computing without them. Once
graphics programming was considered a speciality. Today, nearly all
professional programmers must have an understanding of graphics in
order to accept input and present output to users.

22
3.2.5 Games

Games are an important driving force in computer graphics. In this class

we are going to talk about games. We'll discuss on how they work. We'll
also question how they get so much done with so little to work with.

3.2.6 Entertainment

If you can imagine it, it can be done with computer graphics. Obviously,
Hollywood has caught on to this. Each summer, we are amazed by state-
of-the-art special effects. Computer graphics is now as much a part of
the entertainment industry as stunt men and makeup. The entertainment
industry plays many other important roles in the field of computer
graphics.

3.3 What is Interactive Computer Graphics?

User controls contents, structure, and appearance of objects and their

displayed images via rapid visual feedback.

Basic components of an interactive graphics system input (e.g., mouse,

tablet and stylus, force feedback device, scanner, live video streams…),
processing (and storage), display/output (e.g., screen, paper-based
printer, video recorder, non-linear editor.

3.4 What do we need in computer graphics?

In computer graphics we work with points and vectors defined in terms

of some coordinate frame (a positioned coordinate system). We also
need to change coordinate representation of points and vectors, hence to
transform between different coordinate frames. Hence a mathematical
background of geometry and algebra is very essential and also a
knowledge of basic programming in C language.

3.5 The Graphics Rendering Pipeline

Rendering is the conversion of a scene into an image:

The scene composed of models in three space.

Models, composed of primitives, supported by the rendering system.
Models entered by hand or created by a program.
23
For our purposes today, models already generated. The image drawn on
monitor, printed on laser printer, or written to a raster in memory or a
file. These different possibilities require us to consider device
independence.

Classically, “model” to “scene”' to “image” conversion broken into finer

steps, called the graphics pipeline. Commonly implemented in graphics
hardware to get interactive speeds. At a high level, the graphics pipeline
usually looks like

Each stage refines the scene, converting primitives in modelling space to

primitives in device space, where they are converted to pixels
(rasterized).

A number of coordinate systems are used:

MCS: Modeling Coordinate System.

WCS: World Coordinate System.
VCS: Viewer Coordinate System.
NDCS: Normalized Device Coordinate System.
DCS or SCS: Device Coordinate System or equivalently the Screen
Coordinate System.

Keeping these straight is the key to understanding a rendering system.

Transformation between two coordinate systems represented with
matrix. Derived information may be added (lighting and shading) and
primitives may be removed (hidden surface removal) or modified
(clipping).

4.0 Conclusion
Computer graphics (CG) is the field of visual computing, where one
utilizes computers both to generate visual images synthetically and to
integrate or alter visual and spatial information sampled from the real
world.

24
5.0 Summary

In this unit, we have learnt

i. the evolution of computer graphics from the early days to the

recent times, the technological innovations
ii. The various application areas of computer graphics
iii. What is needed in computer graphics
iv. Graphics rendering pipeline.

6.0 Tutor Marked Assignment

1a. What is Computer Graphics all about?
b. Write on the history of Computer graphics under the following:
i) the age of Sutherland
ii) the Early ‘70’s
iii) the ‘00’s
2a. What are the application areas of computer graphics?
b. Briefly describe the basic graphics rendering pipeline.

7.0 References/Further reading:

A. Watt, 3D Computer Graphics, 3rd Ed., Addison-Wesley, 2000.

D. Hearn, M.P. Baker, Computer Graphics, 2nd Ed. in C, Prentice-Hall,

1996.

J.D. Foley, A. Van Dam, et al., Computer Graphics: Principles and

Practice, 2nd Ed. in C, Addison-Wesley, 1996.

P.A. Egerton, W.S. Hall, Computer Graphics - Mathematical First Steps,

Prentice Hall, 1998.

25
UNIT 2 HARDWARE, SOFTWARE AND DISPLAY
DEVICES

CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objectives 2
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Types of input devices 2
3.2 Graphics Software 2
3.3 OpenGL
3.4 Hardware 3
3.5 Display Hardware 4
4.0 Conclusion 9
5.0 Summary 9
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment 9
7.0 References/Further Reading 10

1.0 Introduction

Computer graphics don’t work in isolation. They require Hardware- the

physical component that houses the software. The software tools to
create graphics applications are also needed and display devices for
effective output are not left. These and their functionalities, we shall
discuss in this unit.

2.0 Objectives

At the completion of this unit, the students are expected to get

acquainted with the following:

· Basics of graphics hardware and software

· Graphics display devices
· Hard copy technologies
· Display technologies
· Raster and random scan display systems

3.0 Main Content

Types of Input Devices

Devices can be described either by

- Physical properties
· Mouse
· Keyboard

26
 · Trackball
- Logical Properties
· What is returned to program via API
A position
An object identifier
Input Devices are also categorized as follows
String: produces string of characters. (e.g keyboard)
Valuator: generates real number between 0 and 1.0 (e.g.knob)
Locator: User points to position on display (e.g. mouse)
Pick: User selects location on screen (e.g. touch screen in restaurant,
ATM)

3.1 Graphics Software

Graphics software (that is, the software tool needed to create graphics
applications) has taken the form of subprogram libraries. The libraries
contain functions to do things like: draw points, lines, polygons apply
transformations fill areas with color handle user interactions. An
important goal has been the development of standard hardware-
independent libraries such as:
CORE GKS (Graphical Kernel Standard)
PHIGS (Programmer’s Hierarchical Interactive Graphics System)
X Windows OpenGL
Hardware vendors may implement some of the OpenGL primitives in
hardware for speed.

3.2 OpenGL:

gl: basic graphics operations

glu: utility package containing some higher-level modeling capabilities
(curves, splines)
glut: toolkit. adds platform-independent functions for window
management, mouse and keyboard interaction, pull-down menus
glui: adds support for GUI tools like buttons, sliders, etc.
Open Inventor. An object-oriented API built on top of OpenGL.
VRML. Virtual Reality Modeling Language. Allows creation of a model
which can then be rendered by a browser plug-in. Java3d. Has
hierarchical modeling features similar to VRML.
POVray. A ray-tracing renderer

3.3 Hardware

“Vector graphics” Early graphic devices were line-oriented. For

example, a “pen plotter” from H-P. Primitive operation is line drawing.
“Raster graphics” Today’s standard. A raster is a 2-dimensional grid of
pixels (picture elements). Each pixel may be addressed and illuminated

27
independently. So the primitive operation is to draw a point; that is,
assign a color to a pixel. Everything else is built upon that. There are a
variety of raster devices, both hardcopy and display.

Hardcopy:
Laserprinter
Ink-jet printer
Film recorder
Electrostatic printer
Pen plotter

3.4 Display Hardware

An important component is the “refresh buffer” or “frame buffer” which

is a random-access memory containing one or more values per pixel,
used to drive the display. The video controller translates the contents of
the frame buffer into signals used by the CRT to illuminate the screen. It
works as follows:

1. The display screen is coated with “phospors” which emit light when
excited by an electron beam. (There are three types of phospor, emitting
red, green, and blue light.) They are arranged in rows, with three
phospor dots (R, G, and B) for each pixel.
2. The energy exciting the phosphors dissipates quickly, so the entire
screen must be refreshed 60 times per second.
3. An electron gun scans the screen, line by line, mapping out a scan
pattern. On each scan of the screen, each pixel is passed over once.
Using the contents of the frame buffer, the controller controls the
intensity of the beam hitting each pixel, producing a certain color.

3.4.1 Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)

Electron gun sends beam aimed (deflected) at a particular point on the

screen, Traces out a path on the screen, hitting each pixel once per
cycle. “scan lines” · Phosphors emit light (phosphoresence); output
decays rapidly (exponentially - 10 to 60 microseconds) · As a result of
this decay, the entire screen must be redrawn (refreshed) at least 60
times per second. This is called the refresh rate . If the refresh rate is too

28
slow, we will see a noticeable flicker on the screen. CFF (Critical
Fusion Frequency) is the minimum refresh rate needed to avoid flicker.
This depends to some degree on the human observer. Also depends on
the persistence of the phosphors; that is, how long it takes for their
output to decay. · The horizontal scan rate is defined as the number of
scan lines traced out per second. · The most common form of CRT is the
shadow-mask CRT. Each pixel consists of a group of three phosphor
dots (one each for red, green, and blue), arranged in a triangular form
called a triad. The shadow mask is a layer with one hole per pixel. To
excite one pixel, the electron gun (actually three guns, one for each of
red, green, and blue) fires its electron stream through the hole in the
mask to hit that pixel. · The dot pitch is the distance between the centers
of two triads. It is used to measure the resolution of the screen.
(Note: On a vector display, a scan is in the form of a list of lines to be
drawn, so the time to refresh is dependent on the length of the display
list.)

3.4.2 Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)

A liquid crystal display consists of 6 layers, arranged in the following

order (back-to-front):

A reflective layer which acts as a mirror

A horizontal polarizer, which acts as a filter, allowing only the
horizontal component of light to pass through
A layer of horizontal grid wires used to address individual pixels

The liquid crystal layer

A layer of vertical grid wires used to address individual pixels

A vertical polarizer, which acts as a filter, allowing only the vertical
component of light to pass through

How it works:

The liquid crystal rotates the polarity of incoming light by 90 degrees.

Ambient light is captured, vertically polarized, rotated to horizontal
polarity by the liquid crystal layer, passes through the horizontal filter, is
reflected by the reflective layer, and passes back through all the layers,
giving an appearance of lightness. However, if the liquid crystal

29
molecules are charged, they become aligned and no longer change the
polarity of light passing through them. If this occurs, no light can pass
through the horizontal filter, so the screen appears dark.
The principle of the display is to apply this charge selectively to points
in the liquid crystal layer, thus lighting or not lighting points on the
screen. Crystals can be dyed to provide color. An LCD may be backlit,
so as not to be dependent on ambient light.
TFT (thin film transistor) is most popular LCD technology today.
Plasma Display Panels

Promising for large format displays

Basically fluorescent tubes
High-voltage discharge excites gas mixture (He, Xe)
Upon relaxation UV light is emitted
UV light excites phosphors
Large viewing angle

3.4.3 Vector Displays

Oscilloscopes were some of the 1st computer displays

Used by both analog and digital computers
Computation results used to drive the vertical and horizontal
axis (X-Y)
Intensity could also be controlled (Z-axis)
Used mostly for line drawings
Called vector, calligraphic or affectionately stroker displays
Display list had to be constantly updated
(except for storage tubes)

Vector Architecture

Raster Architecture
30
Raster display stores bitmap/pixmap in refresh buffer, also known as
bitmap, frame buffer; be in separate hardware (VRAM) or in CPU’s
main memory (DRAM) Video controller draws all scan-lines at
Consistent >60 Hz; separates update rate of the frame buffer and refresh
rate of the CRT

Field Emission Devices (FEDs)

Works like a CRT with multiple electron guns at each pixel

uses modest voltages applied to sharp points to produce
strong E fields
Reliable electrodes proven difficult to produce
Limited in size
Thin, and requires a vacuum

Interfacing between the CPU and the Display

A typical video interface card contains a display processor, a frame

buffer, and a video controller. The frame buffer is a random access
memory containing some memory (at least one bit) for each pixel,
indicating how the pixel is supposed to be illuminated. The depth of the
frame buffer measures the number of bits per pixel. A video controller
then reads from the frame buffer and sends control signals to the
monitor, driving the scan and refresh process. The display processor
processes software instructions to load the frame buffer with data.

(Note: In early PCs, there was no display processor. The frame buffer
was part of the physical address space addressable by the CPU. The
CPU was responsible for all display functions.)
Some Typical Examples of Frame Buffer Structures:

1. For a simple monochrome monitor, just use one bit per pixel.
2. A gray-scale monitor displays only one color, but allows for a range
of intensity levels at each pixel. A typical example would be to use 6-8
bits per pixel, giving 64-256 intensity levels. For a color monitor, we

31
need a range of intensity levels for each of red, green, and blue. There
are two ways to arrange this.
3. A color monitor may use a color lookup table (LUT). For example,
we could have a LUT with 256 entries. Each entry contains a color
represented by red, green, and blue values. We then could use a frame
buffer with depth of 8. For each pixel, the frame buffer contains an
index into the LUT, thus choosing one of the 256 possible colors. This
approach saves memory, but limits the number of colors visible at any
one time.
4. A frame buffer with a depth of 24 has 8 bits for each color, thus 256
intensity levels for each color. 224 colors may be displayed. Any pixel
can have any color at any time. For a 1024x1024
monitor we would need 3 megabytes of memory for this type of frame
buffer. The display processor can handle some medium-level functions
like scan conversion (drawing lines, filling polygons), not just turn
pixels on and off. Other functions: bit block transfer, display list storage.
Use of the display processor reduces CPU involvement and bus traffic
resulting in a faster processor. Graphics processors have been increasing
in power faster than CPUs, a new generation every 6-9 months.
example: 10 3E. NVIDIA GeForce FX
· 125 million transistors (GeForce4: 63 million)
· 128MB RAM
· 128-bit floating point pipeline
One of the advantages of a hardware-independent API like OpenGL is
that it can be used with a wide range of CPU-display combinations,
from software-only to hardware-only. It also means that a fast video
card may run slowly if it does not have a good implementation of
OpenGL.

4.0 Conclusion
Computer graphics ultimately involves creation, storage and
manipulation of models and images. This however is made realistic
through effective hardware, software and display devices.

5.0 Summary
In this module, we have leant that:
i. Input devices are of various types and can further be categorized.
ii. Computer Graphics software are the software require to run
computer graphics.
iii. There are different display hardware such as the LCD, CRT, etc.
Also learnt about their architecture and functionality
6.0 Tutor Marked Assignment

1. Explain about the display technologies?

2. Explain various display devices?
3. What are the different hardware and software of graphics?

32
5. List five graphic hard copy devices for each one briefly explain?
• How it works.
• Its advantages and limitations.
• The circumstances when it would be more useful.

7.0 References/Further reading:

A. Watt, 3D Computer Graphics, 3rd Ed., Addison-Wesley, 2000.

J.D. Foley, A. Van Dam, et al., Computer Graphics: Principles and

Practice, 2nd Ed. in C, Addison-Wesley, 1996.

D. Hearn, M.P. Baker, Computer Graphics, 2nd Ed. in C, Prentice-Hall,

1996.

P.A. Egerton, W.S. Hall, Computer Graphics - Mathematical First Steps,

Prentice Hall, 1998.

UNIT 3 GRAPHICS DATA STRUCTURES

Contents Page

1.0 Introduction

33
2.0 Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Quadtrees
3.2 K-d-trees
3.3 BSP Trees
3.4 Bounding Volume Hierarchies
4.0 Conclusion 9
5.0 Summary 9
6.0 Tutor Marked Assignment 9
7.0 References/ Further Reading 9

1.0 Introduction

In recent years, methods from computational geometry have been

widely adopted by the computer graphics community. Many solutions
draw their elegance and efficiency from the mutually enriching
combination of such geometrical data structures with computer graphics
algorithms. This course imparts a working knowledge of a number of
essential geometric data structures and explains their elegant use in
several representatives, diverse, and current areas of research in
computer graphics such as terrain visualization, texture synthesis,
modelling, and tesselation. Our selection of data structures and
algorithms consists of well known concepts, which are both powerful
and easy to implement, ranging from quadtrees to BSP trees and
bounding volume trees.

2.0 Objectives

The major objective of this unit is to present each geometric data

structure, familiarize students with some very versatile and ubiquitous
geometric data structures, enable them to readily recognize geometric
problems during their work, modify the algorithms to their needs, and
hopefully make them familiar with the basic principles of graphics data
and the type of problems in the area.

3.0 Main Content

3.1 Quadtrees

34
A quadtree is a rooted tree so that every internal node has four children.
Every node in the tree corresponds to a square. If a node v has children,
their corresponding squares are the four quadrants, as shown

Quadtrees can store many kinds of data. We will describe the variant
that stores a set of points and suggest a recursive definition. A simple
recursive splitting of squares is continued until there is only one point in
a square. Let P be a set of points. The definition of a quadtree for a set
of points in a square Q = [x1Q : x2Q] £ [y1Q : y2Q] is as follows:

• If jPj · 1 then the quadtree is a single leaf where Q and P are stored.
• Otherwise let QNE, QNW, QSW and QSE denote the four quadrants. Let xmid
:= (x1Q + x2Q)/2
and ymid := (y1Q + y2Q)/2, and define
PNE := {p ∈ P : px > xmid ^ py > ymid}
PNW := {p ∈ P : px · xmid ^ py > ymid}
PSW := {p ∈ P : px · xmid ^ py · ymid}
PSE := {p ∈ P : px > xmid ^ py · ymid}

The quadtree consists of a root node v, Q is stored at v. In the following,

let Q(v) denote the square stored at v. Furthermore v has four children:
The X-child is the root of the quadtree of the set PX, where X is an
element of the set {NE, NW, SW, SE}.

3.1.1 Uses

Quadtrees are used to partition 2-D space, while octrees are for 3-D.
The two concepts are nearly identical, and I think it is unfortunate that
they are given different names.
Handling Observer-Object Interactions:

Subdivide the quadtree/octree until each leaf’s region intersects only a

small number of objects.
Each leaf holds a list of pointers to objects that intersect its region.
Find out which leaf the observer is in. We only need to test for
interactions with the objects pointed to by that leaf.
• Inside/Outside Tests for Odd Shapes
The root node represent a square containing the shape.

35
If a node’s region lies entirely inside or entirely outside the shape, do
not subdivide it.
Otherwise, do subdivide (unless a predefined depth limit has been
exceeded).
Then the quadtree or octree contains information allowing us to check
quickly whether a given point is inside the shape.
• Sparse Arrays of Spatially-Organized Data
Store array data in the quadtree or octree.
Only subdivide if that region of space contains interesting data.
This is how an octree is used in the BLUIsculpt program.

3.2 K-d-Trees

The k-d-tree is a natural generalization of the one dimensional search

tree.
Let D be a set of n points in k. For convenience let k = 2 and let us
assume that all X- and
Y-coordinates are different.

First, we search for

a split-value s of the
X-coordinates. Then
we split D by the
split-line X = s into
subsets:

D<s = {(x, y) D; x
< s} = D ∩{X < s}
D>s = {(x, y) D; x > s} = D ∩ {X > s}.
For both sets we proceed with the Y-coordinate and split-lines Y = t1
and Y = t2. We repeat the process recursively with the constructed
subsets. Thus, we obtain a binary tree, namely the 2-tree of the point set
D, as shown in the Figure above. Each internal node of the tree
corresponds to a split-line.

For every node v of the 2-d-tree we define the rectangle R(v), which is
the intersection of halfplanes corresponding to the path from the root to
v. For the root r, R(r) is the plane itself; for the sons of r, say left and
right, we produce to halfplanes R(left) and R(right) and so on. The set of
rectangles {R(l) : l is a leaf}gives a partition of the plane into rectangles.
Every R(l) has exactly one point of D inside.

This structure supports range queries of axis parallel rectangles. For

example, if Q is an axis-parallel rectangle, the set of sites v D with v

36
Q can be computed efficiently. We simply have to compute all nodes v
with:

R(v) ∩ ≠

Additionally we have to test whether the points inside the subtree of v

are inside Q.

3.3 BSP Trees

BSP trees (short for binary space partitioning trees ) can be viewed as a
generalization of k-d trees. Like k-d trees, BSP trees are binary trees, but
now the orientation and position of a splitting plane can be chosen
arbitrarily. The figure below depicts the feeling of a BSP tree.

A Binary Space Partition tree (BSP tree) is a very different way to

represent a scene, Nodes hold facets, the structure of the tree encodes
spatial information about the scene. It is useful for HSR and related
applications

3.2.1 Characteristics of BSP Tree

A BSP tree is a binary tree.

Nodes can have 0, 1, or two children.
Order of child nodes matters, and if a node has just 1 child, it matters
whether this is its left or right child.
• Each node holds a facet.
This may be only part of a facet from the original scene.
When constructing a BSP tree, we may need to split
facets.
• Organization:
Each facet lies in a unique plane.In 2-D, a unique line.
For each facet, we choose one side of its plane to be the
“outside”. (The other direction is “inside”.)
This can be the side the normal vector points toward.
Rule: For each node,
• Its left descendant subtree holds only facets
“inside” it.

37
 • Its right descendant subtree holds only facets
“outside” it.

3.2.2 Construction
• To construct a BSP tree, we need:
A list of facets (with vertices).
An “outside” direction for each.
• Procedure:
Begin with an empty tree. Iterate through the facets,
adding a new node to the tree for each new facet. The first
facet goes in the root node.
For each subsequent facet, descend through the tree, going
left or right depending on whether the facet lies inside or
outside the facet stored in the relevant node.
• If a facet lies partially inside & partially outside,
split it along the plane [line] of the facet.
• The facet becomes two “partial” facets. Each
inherits its “outside” direction from the original
facet.
• Continue descending through the tree with each
partial facet separately.
Finally, the (partial) facet is added to the current tree as a leaf.

3.2.3 Simple Example

• Suppose we are given the following (2-D) facets and
“outside” directions:
• We iterate through the facets in numerical order.
Facet 1 becomes the root. Facet 2 is inside of 1.
Thus, after facet 2, we have the following BSP
tree:
• Facet 3 is partially inside facet 1 and partially
outside.
We split facet 3 along the line containing facet 1.
The resulting facets are 3a and 3b. They inherit
their
“outside” directions from facet 3.
• We place facets 3a and 3b separately.
Facet 3a is inside facet 1 and outside facet 2.
Facet 3b is outside facet 1.
The final BSP tree looks like this:

3.2.4 Traversing

An important use of BSP trees is to provide a back-to-front (or front-to-

back) ordering of the facets in a scene, from the point of view of an
observer.

38
When we say “back-to-front” ordering, we mean that no facet comes
before something that appears directly behind it. This still allows nearby
facets to precede those farther away.
Key idea: All the descendants on one side of a facet can come before the
facet, which can come before all descendants on the other side.
• Procedure:
For each facet, determine on which side of it the observer lies.
Back-to-front ordering: Do an in-order traversal of the tree in
which the subtree opposite from the observer comes before the
subtree on the same side as the observer.
• Procedure:
For each facet, determine on which side of it the observer lies.
Back-to-front ordering: Do an in-order traversal of the tree in
which the subtree opposite from the observer comes before the
subtree on the same side as the observer.
• Our observer is inside 1, outside 2, inside 3a, outside 3b.

• Resulting back-to-front ordering: 3b, 1, 2, 3a.

• Is this really back-to-front?
Uses
• BSP trees are primarily useful when a back-to-front or front-to-
back ordering is desired:
For HSR. For translucency via blending.
• Since it can take some time to construct a BSP tree, they are
useful primarily for:
Static scenes. Some dynamic objects are acceptable.
• BSP-tree techniques are generally a waste of effort for small
scenes. We use them on:
Large, complex scenes.

3.4 Bounding Volume Hierarchies

Like the previous hierarchical data structures, bounding volume

hierarchies (BVHs) are mostly used to prevent performing an operation
exhaustively on all objects. Like with previously discussed hierarchical
data structures, one can improve a huge range of applications and
queries using BVHs, such as ray shooting, point location queries,
nearest neighbor search, view frustum and occlusion culling,
geographical data bases, and collision detection (the latter will be
discussed in more detail below). Often times, bounding volume (BV)
hierarchies are described as the opposite of spatial partitioning schemes,

39
such as quadtrees or BSP trees: instead of partitioning space, the idea is
to partition the set of objects recursively until some leaf criterion is met.
Here, objects can be anything from points to complete graphical objects.
With BV hierarchies, almost all queries, which can be implemented with
space partitioning schemes, can also be answered, too. Example queries
and operations are ray shooting, frustum culling, occlusion culling, point
location, nearest neighbor, collision detection.

3.4.1 Construction of BV Hierarchies

Essentially, there are 3 strategies to build BV trees:

• bottom-up,
• top-down,
• insertion

From a theoretical point of view, one could pursue a simple top-down

strategy, which just splits the set of objects into two equally sized parts,
where the objects are assigned randomly to either subset.
Asymptotically, this usually yields the same query time as any other
strategy. However, in practice, the query times offered by such a BV
hierarchy are by a large factor worse.

During construction of a BV hierarchy, it is convenient to forget about

the graphical objects or primitives, and instead deal with their BVs and
consider those as the atoms. Sometimes, another simplification is to just
approximate each object by its center (baryenter or bounding box
center), and then deal only with sets of points during the construction.
Of course, when the BVs are finally computed for the nodes, then the
true extents of the objects must be considered.

In the following we will describe algorithms for each construction

strategy.

3.4.2 Bottom-up

In this class, we will actually describe two algorithms. Let B be the set
of BVs on the top-most level of the BV hierarchy that has been
constructed so far. For each bi 2 B find the nearest neighbor b0i 2 B; let
di be the distance between bi and b0i. Sort B with respect to di. Then,
combine the first k nodes in B under a common father; do the same with
the next
k elements from B, etc. This yields a new set B0, and the process is
repeated.
Note that this strategy does not necessarily produce BVs with a small
“dead space”:

40
the strategy would choose to combine the left pair (distance = 0), while
choosing the right pair would result in much less dead space.
The second strategy is less greedy in that it computes a tiling for each
level. We will describe it first in 2D. Again, let B be the set of BVs on
the top-most level so far constructed, with |B| = n.

4.0 Conclusion

Presented in this unit are two data structures for multi-dimensional data:
Quadtrees and kd-Trees . Quadtrees are better in some cases as they
have less overhead for keeping track of split lines, Have faster
arithmetic compared to kd-Trees, especially for graphics

5.0 Summary

The idea of the binary space partition is one with good general
applicability. Some variation of it is used in a number of different
structures.

BSP trees
• Split along planes containing facets.
Quadtrees & octrees
• Split along pre-defined planes.
kd-trees
• Split along planes parallel to coordinate axes, so as to split up the
objects nicely.
• Quadtrees are used to partition 2-D space, while octrees are for 3-
D.
The two concepts are nearly identical.

6.0 Tutor Marked Assignment

1. Why do we want to build a hierarchical data structure such a
bounding box hierarchy?
2. Describe a technique for constructing a bounding box hierarchy.
What data structure will you
use to store this hierarchy?

3. Describe the main difference between the following two approaches:

(1) construct a bounding volume hierarchy (e.g. bounding boxes or
bounding spheres), (2) construct a hierarchy of splitting planes (e.g.
KD trees or BSP trees).

4. An alternative to the bounding box or bounding sphere hierarchy is

to use splitting planes to divide space. Octrees, KD trees, and BSP trees
are all splitting plane algorithms.
Describe the differences between these approaches.

41
7.0 References/Further reading:

A. Watt, 3D Computer Graphics, 3rd Ed., Addison-Wesley, 2000.

J.D. Foley, A. Van Dam, et al., Computer Graphics: Principles and

Practice, 2nd Ed. in C, Addison-Wesley, 1996.

D. Hearn, M.P. Baker, Computer Graphics, 2nd Ed. in C, Prentice-Hall,

1996.

P.A. Egerton, W.S. Hall, Computer Graphics - Mathematical First Steps,

Prentice Hall, 1998.

42
UNIT 4 COLOUR THEORY

Contents Page
1.0 Introduction 2
2.0 Objectives 2
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Color Space 2
3.2 Light 2
3.3 The electromagetic spectrum
3.4 The Retina
3.5 Mapping from Reality to Perception
3.6 Colour Matching
3.7 Spectroradiometer
3.8 Complementary Colours
3.9 Dominant Wavelength
3.10 Non-Spectral Colours
3.11 Colour Gamuts
3.12 The RGB Colour Cube
3.13 Colour Printing
3.14 Colour Conversion
3.15 Other Colour Systems
4.0 Conclusion 10
5.0 Summary 10
6.0 Tutor Marked Assignment 11
7.0 Reference/ Further Reading
1.0 Introduction:

Our eyes work by focusing light through an elastic lens, onto a patch at
the back of our eye called the retina. The retina contains light sensitive
rod and cone cells that are sensitive to light, and send electrical impulses
to our brain that we interpret as a visual stimulus.

Given this biological apparatus, we can simulate the presence of many

colours by shining Red, Green and Blue light into the human eye with
carefully chosen intensities. This is the basis on which all colour display
technologies (CRTs, LCDs, TFTs, Plasma, Data projectors) operate.
Inside our machine (TV, Computer, Projector) we represent pixel
colours using values for Red, Green and Blue (RGB triples) and the
video hardware uses these values to generate the appropriate amount of
Red, Green and Blue light.

2.0 Objectives:
Upon successful completion of this module students will be able to:
• describe the nature of colour and its numerical description
• Know the basic principles of colour mixing.
3.0 MAIN CONTENT

43
3.1 Color space

A color model is an abstract mathematical model describing the way

colors can be represented as tuples of numbers, typically as three or four
values or color components (e.g. RGB and CMYK are color models).
However, a color model with no associated mapping function to an
absolute color space is a more or less arbitrary color system with little
connection to the requirements of any given application.
Adding a certain mapping function between the color model and a
certain reference color space results in a definite "footprint" within the
reference color space. This "footprint" is known as a gamut, and, in
combination with the color model, defines a new color space. For
example, Adobe
RGB and SRGB are two different absolute color spaces, both based on
the RGB model.
3.1 Light
Light as we perceive it is electromagnetic radiation from a narrow band
of the complete spectrum of electromagnetic radiation called the visible
spectrum. The physical nature of light has elements that are like particle
(when we discuss photons) and as a wave. Recall that wave can be
described either in terms of its frequency, measured say in cycles per
second, or the inverse quantity of wavelength. The electro-magnetic
spectrum ranges from very low frequency (high wavelength) radio
waves (greater than 10 centimeter in wavelength) to microwaves,
infrared, visible light, ultraviolet and x-rays and high frequency (low
wavelength) gamma rays (less than 0.01 nm in wavelength). Visible
light lies in the range of wavelengths from around 400 to 700 nm, where
nm denotes a nanometer, or 10−9 of a meter.
Physically, the light energy that we perceive as color can be described in
terms of a function of wavelength λ, called the spectral distribution
function or simply spectral function, f(λ). As we walk along the
wavelength axis (from long to short wavelengths), the associated colors
that we perceive varying along the colors of the rainbow red, orange,
yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. (Remember the “Roy G. Biv”
mnemonic.) Of course, these color names are human interpretations, and
not physical divisions.
3.2 The electromagetic spectrum

44
3.2.1 ROYGBIV acronym
The following is a potential spectral energy distribution of light
reflecting from a green wall.

3.3 The Retina

The retina has both rods and cones, as shown below. It is the cones
which are responsible for colour perception.

There are three types of cones, referred to either as B, G, and R, or

equivalently as S, M, and L, respectively. Their peak sensitivities are
located at approximately 430nm, 560nm, and 610nm for the "average"
observer. Animals exist with both fewer and more types of cones. The
photopigments in rods and cones are stimulated by absorbed light,
yielding a change in the cell membrane potential. The different types of

45
cells have different spectral sensitivities:

3.4 Mapping from Reality to Perception

• metamers: different spectra that are perceptually identical
• colour perception: stimulation of 3 types of cones
• surround effects, adaptation
Different spectra can be perceptually identical to the eye. Such spectra
are called metamers. Our perception of colour is related only to the
stimulation of three types of cones. If two different spectra stimulate the
three cone types in the same way, they will be perceptually
indistinguishable.
3.5 Colour Matching
In order to define the perceptual 3D space in a "standard" way, a set of
experiments can (and have been) carried by having observers try and
match colour of a given wavelength, lambda, by mixing three other pure
wavelengths, such as R=700nm, G=546nm, and B=436nm in the
following example. Note that the phosphours of colour TVs and other
CRTs do not emit pure red, green, or blue light of a single wavelength,
as is the case for this experiment.

The above scheme can tell us what mix of R,G,B is needed to reproduce
the perceptual equivalent of any wavelength. A problem exists,
however, because sometimes the red light needs to be added to the target
before a match can be achieved. This is shown on the graph by having
its intensity, R, take on a negative value.

46
In order to achieve a representation which uses only positive mixing
coefficients, he CIE ("Commission Internationale d'Eclairage") defined
three new hypothetical light sources, x, y, and z, which yield positive
matching curves:
If we are given a spectrum and wish to find the corresponding X, Y,
and Z quantities, we can do so by integrating the product of the spectral
power and each of the three matching curves over all wavelengths. The
weights X,Y,Z form the three-dimensional CIE XYZ space, as shown
below.

Often it is convenient to work in a 2D colour space. This is commonly

done by projecting the 3D colour space onto the plane X+Y+Z=1,
yielding a CIE chromaticity diagram. The projection is defined as given
below, and produces the following chromaticity diagram:

A few definitions:
3.6 spectroradiometer
A device to measure the spectral energy distribution. It can therefore
also provide the CIE xyz tristimulus values. illuminant C A standard
for white light that approximates sunlight. It is defined by a colour
temperature of 6774 K.

3.7 Complementary colours

Colours which can be mixed together to yield white light. For example,
colours on segment CD are complementary to the colours on segment
CB.
3.8 Dominant wavelength
The spectral colour which can be mixed with white light in order to
reproduce the desired colour. Colour B in the above figure is the
dominant wavelength for colour A.
3.9 non-spectral colours

47
Colours not having a dominant wavelength. For example, colour E in
the above figure. perceptually uniform colour space.
A colour space in which the distance between two colours is always
proportional to the perceived distance. The CIE XYZ colour space and
the CIE chromaticity diagram are not perceptually uniform, as the
following figure illustrates. The CIE LUV colour space is designed with
perceptual uniformity in mind.

3.10 Colour Gamuts

The chromaticity diagram can be used to compare the "gamuts" of
various possible output devices (i.e., monitors and printers). Note that a
colour printer cannot reproduce all the colours visible on a colour
monitor.

3.11 The RGB Colour Cube

The additive colour model used for computer graphics is represented by
the RGB colour cube, where R, G, and B represent the colours produced
by red, green and blue phosphours, respectively.

The colour cube sits within the CIE XYZ colour space as follows.

48
3.12 Colour Printing
Green paper is green because it reflects green and absorbs other
wavelengths. The following table summarizes the properties of the four
primary types of printing ink.
dye colour absorbs reflects
Cyan red blue and green

Magenta green blue and red

yellow blue red and green

Black all none

To produce blue, one would mix cyan and magenta inks, as they both
reflect blue while each absorbing one of green and red. Unfortunately,
inks also interact in non-linear ways. This makes the process of
converting a given monitor colour to an equivalent printer colour a
challenging problem.
Black ink is used to ensure that a high quality black can always be
printed, and is often referred to as to K. Printers thus use a CMYK
colour model.
3.13 Colour Conversion
Monitors are not all manufactured with identical phosphours. To convert
from one colour gamut to another is a relatively simple procedure (with
the exception of a few complicating factors!). Each phosphour colour
can be represented by a combination of the CIE XYZ primaries, yielding
the following transformation from RGB to CIE XYZ:

The transformation yields the colour on monitor 2 which is

equivalent to a given colour on monitor 1. Quality conversion to-and-
from printer gamuts is difficult. A first approximation is shown on the

49
left. A fourth colour, K, can be used to replace equal amounts of CMY,
as shown on the right.
K = min(C,M,Y)
C=1-R C' = C - K
M=1-G M' = M - K
Y=1-B Y' = Y – K

3.14 Other Colour Systems

Several other colour models also exist. Models such as HSV (hue,
saturation, value) and HLS (hue, luminosity, saturation) are designed for
intuitive understanding. Using these colour models, the user of a paint
program would quickly be able to select a desired colour.
4.0 Conclusion
Colour is one of the most important features in a visual presentation.
The perceived colour of an object is influenced by the colour of the
surroundings referred to as colour interaction, colour induction, or
colour assimilation.
5.0 Summary
Color is an immensely complex subject, one that draws on concepts and
results from physics, physiology, psychology,art, and graphic design.
Perceived color depends on:
• Object color
• Color of lights illuminating the object
• Color of surrounding objects
• Human visual system
• Object’s absorptive, reflective, emissive, and transmissive
properties
6.0 Tutor Marked Assignment
1. Draw the RGB color cube, labeling the corners of the cube and the
color axes. Also show where gray colors appear in the cube.
2. Draw the CMY color cube, labeling the corners of the cube and the
color axes. Also show where gray colors appear in the cube.
4. Show that if the wavelength of the hue is the same as the strength of
the white light, then the purity is 0.
3. Draw a sample spectra for Blue Light.
4. What is the meaning of the pre-multiplied (R, G, B, A) tuple (0.0,
0.25, 0.25, 0.5)?
5. Representing colors as pre-multiplied (R, G, B, A) tuples, what
color do we get if we composite (0.0, 0.25, 0.25, 0.5) OVER (1.0, 0.0,
1.0, 1.0)?

7.0 References/Further reading:

A. Watt, 3D Computer Graphics, 3rd Ed., Addison-Wesley, 2000.
J.D. Foley, A. Van Dam, et al., Computer Graphics: Principles and
Practice, 2nd Ed. in C, Addison-Wesley, 1996.

50
 D. Hearn, M.P. Baker, Computer Graphics, 2nd Ed. in C, Prentice-
Hall, 1996.
P.A. Egerton, W.S. Hall, Computer Graphics - Mathematical First
Steps, Prentice Hall, 1998.

51
Module 1: Definition and Concepts of computer graphics
Unit 5 Image Representation

Table of Contents
Title
Page
3.0 Introduction 2

4.0 Objectives 2
5.0 The Digital Image 2
3.1 Raster Image Representation
2
3.2 Hardware Frame Buffers 3

4.0 Conclusion 7
5.0 Summary 7
6.0 Tutor Marked Assignment 7
7.0 Reference/ Further Reading
7

52
4.0 Introduction:
Computer Graphics is principally concerned with the generation of
images, with wide ranging applications from entertainment to scientific
visualisation. In this unit, we begin our exploration of Computer
Graphics by introducing the fundamental data structures used to
represent images on modern computers. We describe the various formats
for storing and working with image data, and for representing colour on
modern machines.

5.0 Objectives:
The main objective is to study how digital images are represented in a
computer. This unit also explores different forms of frame-buffer for
storing images, and also different ways of representing colour and key
issues that arise in colour.

6.0 The Digital Image

Virtually all computing devices in use today are digital; data is
represented in a discrete form using patterns of binary digits (bits) that
can encode numbers within finite ranges and with limited precision. By
contrast, the images we perceive in our environment are analogue. They
are formed by complex interactions between light and physical objects,
resulting in continuous variations in light wavelength and intensity.
Some of this light is reflected in to the retina of the eye, where cells
convert light into nerve impulses that we interpret as a visual stimulus.
Suppose we wish to ‘capture’ an image and represent it on a computer
e.g. with a scanner or camera (the machine equivalent of an eye). Since
we do not have infinite storage (bits), it follows that we must convert
that analogue signal into a more limited digital form. We call this
conversion process sampling. Sampling theory is an important part of
Computer Graphics, underpinning the theory behind both image capture
and manipulation.
3.1 Raster Image Representation
The Computer Graphics solution to the problem of image representation
is to break the image (picture) up into a regular grid that we call a
‘raster’. Each grid cell is a ‘picture cell’, a term often contracted to
pixel.

53
Rasters are used to represent digital images. Modern displays use a
rectangular raster, comprised of W × H pixels. The raster illustrated
here contains a greyscale image; its contents are represented in
memory by a greyscale frame buffer. The values stored in the frame
buffer record the intensities of the pixels on a discrete scale (0=black,
255=white).
The pixel is the atomic unit of the image; it is coloured uniformly, its
single colour represents a discrete sample of light e.g. from a captured
image.
In most implementations, rasters take the form of a rectilinear grid often
containing many thousands of pixels. The raster provides an orthogonal
two-dimensional basis with which to specify pixel coordinates. By
convention, pixels coordinates are zero-indexed and so the origin is
located at the top-left of the image. Therefore pixel (W − 1,H − 1) is
located at the bottom-right corner of a raster of width W pixels and
height H pixels. As a note, some Graphics applications make use of
hexagonal pixels instead 1, however we will not consider these on the
course.
The number of pixels in an image is referred to as the image’s
resolution. Modern desktop displays are capable of visualising images
with resolutions around 1024 × 768 pixels (i.e. a million pixels or one
mega-pixel). Even inexpensive modern cameras and scanners are now
capable of capturing images at resolutions of several mega-pixels. In
general, the greater the resolution, the greater the level of spatial detail
an image can represent.
3.2 Hardware Frame Buffers
We represent an image by storing values for the colour of each pixel in a
structured way. Since the earliest computer Visual Display Units
(VDUs) of the 1960s, it has become common practice to reserve a large,
contiguous block of memory specifically to manipulate the image
currently shown on the computer’s display. This piece of memory is
referred to as a frame buffer. By reading or writing to this region of
memory, we can read or write the colour values of pixels at particular
positions on the display.
Note that the term ‘frame buffer’ as originally defined, strictly refers to
the area of memory reserved for direct manipulation of the currently
displayed image. In the early days of Graphics, special hardware was
needed to store enough data to represent just that single image. However
we may now manipulate hundreds of images in memory simultaneously
and the term ‘frame buffer’ has fallen into informal use to describe any
piece of storage that represents an image.
There are a number of popular formats (i.e. ways of encoding pixels)
within a frame buffer. This is partly because each format has its own
advantages, and partly for reasons of backward compatibility with older
systems (especially on the PC). Often video hardware can be switched
between different video modes, each of which encodes the frame buffer

54
in a different way. We will describe three common frame buffer formats
in the subsequent sections; the greyscale, pseudo-colour, and true-colour
formats. If you do Graphics, Vision or mainstream Windows GUI
programming then you will likely encounter all three in your work at
some stage.
3.2.1 Greyscale Frame Buffer
Arguably the simplest form of frame buffer is the greyscale frame
buffer; often mistakenly called ‘black and white’ or ‘monochrome’
frame buffers. Greyscale buffers encodes pixels using various shades of
grey. In common implementations, pixels are encoded as an unsigned
integer using 8 bits (1 byte) and so can represent 28 = 256 different
shades of grey. Usually black is represented by value 0, and white by
value 255. A mid-intensity grey pixel has value 128. Consequently an
image of width W pixels and height H pixels requires W ×H bytes of
memory for its frame buffer.
The frame buffer is arranged so that the first byte of memory
corresponds to the pixel at coordinates (0, 0). Recall that this is the top-
left corner of the image. Addressing then proceeds in a left-right, then
top-down manner (see Figure). So, the value (grey level) of pixel (1, 0)
is stored in the second byte of memory, pixel (0, 1) is stored in the (W +
1)th byte, and so on. Pixel (x, y) would be stored at buffer offset A
where:
A = x +Wy (2.1) i.e. A bytes from the start of the frame buffer.
Sometimes we use the term scan line to refer to a full row of pixels. A
scan-line is therefore W pixels wide.
Old machines, such as the ZX Spectrum, required more CPU time to
iterate through each location in the frame buffer than it took for the
video hardware to refresh the screen. In an animation, this would cause
undesirable flicker due to partially drawn frames. To compensate, byte
range [0, (W − 1)] in the buffer wrote to the first scan-line, as usual.
However bytes [2W, (3W −1)] wrote to a scan-line one third of the way
down the display, and [3W, (4W −1)] to a scan-line two thirds down.
This interleaving did complicate Graphics programming, but prevented
visual artifacts that would otherwise occur due to slow memory access
speeds.
3.2.3 Pseudo-colour Frame Buffer
The pseudo-colour frame buffer allows representation of colour images.
The storage scheme is identical to the greyscale frame buffer. However
the pixel values do not represent shades of grey. Instead each possible
value (0 − 255) represents a particular colour; more specifically, an
index into a list of 256 different colours maintained by the video
hardware.
The colours themselves are stored in a “Colour Lookup Table” (CLUT)
which is essentially a map < colourindex, colour > i.e. a table indexed
with an integer key (0−255) storing a value that represents colour. In
alternative terminology the CLUT is sometimes called a palette. As we

55
will discuss in greater detail shortly, many common colours can be
produced by adding together (mixing) varying quantities of Red, Green
and Blue light.
For example, Red and Green light mix to produce Yellow light.
Therefore the value stored in the CLUT for each colour is a triple (R,
G,B) denoting the quantity (intensity) of Red, Green and Blue light in
the mix. Each element of the triple is 8 bit i.e. has range (0 − 255) in
common implementations.
The earliest colour displays employed pseudo-colour frame buffers. This
is because memory was expensive and colour images could be
represented at identical cost to grayscale images (plus a small storage
overhead for the CLUT). The obvious disadvantage of a pseudocolour
frame buffer is that only a limited number of colours may be displayed
at any one time (i.e. 256 colours). However the colour range (we say
gamut) of the display is 28 × 28 × 28 = 224 = 16, 777, 216 colours.
Pseudo-colour frame buffers can still be found in many common
platforms e.g. both MS and X Windows (for convenience, backward
compatibility etc.) and in resource constrained computing domains (e.g.
low-spec games consoles, mobiles). Some low-budget (in terms of CPU
cycles) animation effects can be produced using pseudo-colour frame
buffers. Consider an image filled with an expanses of colour index 1 (we
might set CLUT < 1,Blue >, to create a blue ocean). We could sprinkle
consecutive runs of pixels with index ‘2,3,4,5’ sporadically throughout
the image. The CLUT could be set to increasing, lighter shades of Blue
at those indices. This might give the appearance of waves. The colour
values in the CLUT at indices 2,3,4,5 could be rotated successively, so
changing the displayed colours and causing the waves to animate/ripple
(but without the CPU overhead of writing to multiple locations in the
frame buffer). Effects like this were regularly used in many ’80s and
early ’90s computer games, where computational expense prohibited
updating the frame buffer directly for incidental animations.
3.2.5 True-Colour Frame Buffer
The true-colour frame-buffer also represents colour images, but does not
use a CLUT. The RGB colour value for each pixel is stored directly
within the frame buffer. So, if we use 8 bits to represent each Red,
Green and Blue component, we will require 24 bits (3 bytes) of storage
per pixel.
As with the other types of frame buffer, pixels are stored in left-right,
then top-bottom order. So in our 24 bit colour example, pixel (0, 0)
would be stored at buffer locations 0, 1 and 2.Pixel (1, 0) at 3, 4, and 5;
and so on. Pixel (x, y) would be stored at offset A where:
S = 3W
A = 3x + Sy where S is sometimes referred to as the stride of the
display.
The advantages of the true-colour buffer complement the disadvantages
of the pseudo-colour buffer We can represent all 16 million colours at

56
once in an image (given a large enough image!), but our image takes 3
times as much storage as the pseudo-colour buffer. The image would
also take longer to update (3 times as many memory writes) which
should be taken under consideration on resource constrained platforms
(e.g. if writing a video codec on a mobile phone).
3.2.6 Alternative forms of true-colour buffer
The true colour buffer, as described, uses 24 bits to represent RGB
colour. The usual convention is to write the R, G, and B values in order
for each pixel. Sometime image formats (e.g. Windows Bitmap) write
colours in order B, G, R. This is primarily due to the little-endian
hardware architecture of PCs, which run Windows. These formats are
sometimes referred to as RGB888 or BGR888 respectively.
7.0 Conclusion
Image generation remains an integral part of computer graphics
hence how these digital images are represented in a computer cannot
be overemphasized in this subject area.
8.0 Summary
In this unit, we have learnt
v. What digital image is.
vi. The concept of Raster Image Representation
vii. About the three common frame buffer formats

9.0 Tutor Marked Assignment

1. Distinguish between hardware frame buffer and Greyscale frame
buffer.
2. Describe briefly using relevant diagrams the forms of frame
buffers

10.0References/Further reading:
A. Watt, 3D Computer Graphics, 3rd Ed., Addison-Wesley, 2000.
J.D. Foley, A. Van Dam, et al., Computer Graphics: Principles and
Practice, 2nd Ed. in C, Addison-Wesley, 1996.
D. Hearn, M.P. Baker, Computer Graphics, 2nd Ed. in C, Prentice-
Hall, 1996.
P.A. Egerton, W.S. Hall, Computer Graphics - Mathematical First
Steps, Prentice Hall, 1998.

57
Module 2: Geometric Modeling
Unit 1 Basic Line drawing

Table of Contents
Title
Page
0.0 Introduction 2
1.0 Objectives 2
2.0 Representing Straight Lines 2
3.1 Explicit, Implicit and Parametric Forms
3
3.1.1 Explicit form 3
3.1.2 Implicit form 3
3.1.3 Parametric form
3
3.2 Drawing Straight Lines
3
3.3 Line Drawing Algorithms: 4
3.3.1 Digital Differential Analyzer (DDA)
4
3.3.2 More efficient algorithm
5
3.3.3 Midpoint Line Algorithm
6
3.4 Bresenham’s Algorithm
8
3.5 Drawing Circles
8
3.6 Symmetry
8
4.0 Conclusion 10
5.0 Summary 10
6.0 Tutor Marked Assignment 10
7.0 References 11

11.0Introduction:

The most fundamental graphics primitive you can draw, other than a
point (dot), is a line. As you will see in this unit, lines are very versatile

58
and form the basis of a number of other graphics primitives such as
polylines and simple geometrical shapes.
12.0 Objectives:
By the end of this unit, you should be able to:
1. Know the basic representation of line and line segments.
2. Learn end understand different line drawing algorithms.
3. Learn the mathematics of circle and its use in graphic designs.

13.0Representing Straight Lines

A line can be defined by its slope, m, and its y intercept b
Points on the line satisfy the equation y = mx + b

A line can be defined by two points

• e.g., (x0, y0), (x1, y1)
• To convert to the previous representation, substitute the two points into
y = mx + b and determine m and b
(1): y0 = mx0 + b
(2): y1 = mx1 + b
(2) – (1): y1 – y0 = m(x1 – x0)
m = (y1 – y0) / (x1 – x0) if x1 ≠ x0
b = y0 – (y1 – y0) x0 / (x1 – x0)
= (x1y0 – x0y0 – x0y1 + x0y0) / (x1 – x0)
= (x1y0 – x0y1) / (x1 – x0)
A line can be defined by a point and a vector. e.g., (x, y) = (x0, y0) + kv
is on the line, where k is a scalar value

If v is the vector from (x0, y0) to (x1, y1) and k ∈ [0,

1], this is a line segment from (x0, y0) to (x1, y1)

If the vector v has unit length and k ∈ [0, L], this is a line segment of

length L in the direction of v

3.1 Explicit, Implicit and Parametric Forms.

3.1.1 Explicit form:

59
In an explicit form, one variable is expressed as a function of the other
variable(s)
In 2D, y is expressed as an explicit function of x
e.g., line: y = mx + b. e.g., circle: y = √(R2 – x2)
3.1.2 Implicit form
In an implicit form, points on the shape satisfy an implicit function
In 2D, a point (x, y) is on the shape if f(x, y) = 0. e.g., line: f(x,y) = mx
+b–y
e.g., circle: f(x,y) = R2 – x2 – y2
3.1.3 Parametric form
In a parametric form, points on the shape are expressed in terms of a
separate parameter (not x or y).
Line segment:

x = (1-t) x0 + t x1 t ∈ [0, 1],

y = (1-t) y0 + t y1
Points on the line are a linear combination of the endpoint positions (x0,
y0) and (x1, y1)
circle:

x = R cosΘ Θ ∈ [0, 2π]

y = R sinΘ
Points on the circle are swept out as Θ ranges from 0 to 2π
3.2 Drawing Straight Lines
A line segment is continuous
All points between the two endpoints belong to the line; a digital image
is discrete
We can only set pixels at discrete locations
Pixels have a finite size
How do we know what pixels between the two endpoints should be set?
Drawing vertical and horizontal lines is straightforward

Set pixels nearest the line endpoints and all the pixels in between

3.3 Line Drawing Algorithms:

3.3.1 Digital Differential Analyzer (DDA)
60
Draw the thinnest possible line with no gaps
Sample the line at equal intervals
Determine the optimal intervals from the slope of the line

Guarantees the thinnest possible line with no gaps

For lines that are more horizontal than vertical (P0P1): sample
once each time for each column of pixels between the endpoints
For lines that are more horizontal than vertical (P0P1): sample
once each time for each column of pixels between the endpoints
There are 4 cases to consider

We will consider the first case (the others are treated similarly):

Positive slope, m ∈ [0, 1]

For now, consider integer endpoints (x0, y0) and (x1, y1). For

convenience, order the endpoints from left to right m ∈ [0,1] → These

lines are more horizontal than vertical

– Choose the interval between sample points to sample once for each
column between the endpoints→ Produces the thinnest possible line
without gaps.
If the endpoints are at integer grid locations, the number of pixels to be
set along the line (including the endpoints) is N + 1, where N = x1 – x0

Recall the
parametric form
of the line

61
 x = (1-t) x0 + t x1 t ∈ [0, 1]

y = (1-t) y0 + t y1
Sample the line at t = 0, 1/N, 2/N, … 1
x(i) = x0 + i
y(i) = (1 – t) y0 + t y1
Basic algorithm:
N = (x1 – x0)
for(i = 0; i <= N; i++) {
t=i/N
setPixel (x0 + i, round((1 – t) y0 + t y1))
}
Each new pixel requires 1 divide, 3 additions, 2 multiplications and a
round
3.3.2 More efficient algorithm
Increment y between sample points
yi = (1 – ti) y0 + ti y1
yi+1 = (1 – ti+1) y0 + ti+1y1
yi+1 – yi = (-ti+1 + ti) y0 + (ti+1 – ti) y1
= (-(i + 1)/N + i/N) y0 + (((i + 1)/N - i/N) y1
= (y1 – y0) / N
= (y1 – y0) / (x1 – x0)
=m
For each sample, x increases by 1 and y increases by m
More efficient algorithm
i = x0
y = y0
m = (y1 – y0) / (x1 – x0)
(while i <= x1) {
setPixel (i, round(y))
i=i+1
y=y+m
}
Each new pixel requires 2 additions and a round
To adapt the algorithm for floating point endpoints, simply change the
initial conditions
The main loop stays the same
i = round(x0)
m = (y1 – y0) / (x1 – x0)
y = y0 + m * (i – x0)
(while i <= x1) {
setPixel (i, round(y))
i=i+1

62
 y=y+m
}
Advantages
Eliminates the multiplications and division required for each pixel

Limitations
Time consuming round() is still required y and m are both floats – this is
problematic for fixed point processors (e.g., modern PDAs and cell
phones).
3.3.3 Midpoint Line Algorithm
Extends the DDA to avoid floating point calculation
Each new pixel requires one or two integer adds and a sign
test

Consider the case where m ∈ [0,1]

Order the endpoints from left to right

These lines are more horizontal than vertical

m = Δy/Δx ∈ [0,1] so Δy < Δx between each sample Point

m ∈ [0,1] → the line goes up and to the right x increases by 1 for each

sample along the line

The next pixel will be in the next column y increases along the
line, but more slowly than x
For each unit change in x, y will change by less than one
• Sometimes the next pixel will be on the same row (to the
right)
• Sometimes it will be on the row above (to the right and up)

Approach
Sample once along the line at every column
At each sample point, determine if the next pixel is to the right or to the
right and up from the current pixel.

63
Basic algorithm:
i = x0
j = y0
while (i <= x1) {
setPixel (i, j)
i=i+1
if (Condition) j = j+1
}

Condition() determines if the next pixel is to the right or to the right and
up. The key is to determine an efficient Condition()

Consider a line with slope m ∈ [0, 1]

Assume that for column i, the pixel (i, j) was set. We need to determine
if the next pixel is pixel (i+1, j) or (i+1, j+1)
Consider the midpoint between these two
pixel centers: the point (i+1, j+½)
If the midpoint is above the line, the pixel (i
+1, j) is closer to the line
If the midpoint is below the line, the pixel (i
+1, j+1) is closer to the line.
• Advance to the next sample point
Recall the basic algorithm
i = x0
j = y0
while (i <= x1) {
setPixel (i, j)
i=i+1
if (Condition) j = j+1
}
Condition() tests whether the midpoint, (i+1, j+½), is above or below the
line
We need a mathematical expression for Condition()
Use the implicit representation for the line
F(x,y) = mx + b – y
Verify that for positive m, at a given x,
If y is on the line, then F(x, y) = 0
If y is above the line, then F(x,y) < 0
If y is below the line, then F(x,y) > 0

To determine if the next pixel is (i+1, j) or (i+1, j+1):

Evaluate F(i+1, j + ½)
F(i+1, j + ½) = m(i + 1) + b – (j + ½)

64
The midpoint test, i.e., the desired Condition (i, j) is
F(i+1, j + ½) > 0

3.4 Bresenham’s Algorithm

An efficient form of the midpoint algorithm uses integer math that is
more amenable for fixed point processors assumes both endpoints are at
integer pixel locations uses incremental arithmetic for each new pixel.
Midpoint test
F(i, j+ ½) > 0
m*i + b – (j+ ½) > 0
• Recall
m = (y1 – y0) / (x1 – x0)
b = (x1y0 – x0y1) / (x1 – x0)
• Multiply through by 2(x1 – x0) to get rid of all Fractions
1. Use integer math
Multiply both sides of the midpoint test by 2(x1 – x0) to get rid of all
fractions
• As long as x1 > x0, the modified midpoint test is equivalent to the
midpoint test
Modified midpoint test
2(y1 – y0)i + 2(x1y0 – x0y1) - 2(x1 – x0)j - (x1 – x0) > 0
2. Use incremental arithmetic
F(i, j) = 2(y1 – y0)i + 2(x1y0 – x0y1) - 2(x1 – x0)j - (x1 – x0)
if F <= 0, the next pixel is (i+1, j)
F(i+1, j) = 2(y1 – y0)(i+1) + 2(x1y0 – x0y1) - 2(x1 – x0)j - (x1 – x0)
= F(i,j) + 2(y1 – y0)
else (if F > 0), the next pixel is (i+1, j+1)
F(i+1, j+1) = 2(y1 – y0)(i+1) + 2(x1y0 – x0y1) - 2(x1 – x0)(j+1) - (x1
– x0)
= F(i,j) + 2(y1 – y0) - 2(x1 – x0)
3.5 Drawing Circles
A circle is the set of all points that are a distance R from a center point
(cx, cy)
Explicit equation
y = cy + √(R2 - (x – cx)2)
Implicit equations
F(x, y) = R2 - (x – cx)2 - (y – cy)2
Parametric equation

x = cx + R cos Θ Θ ∈ [0, 2π]

y = cy + R sin Θ
3.6 Symmetry

65
 If the circle is centered at the origin, we can exploit 8-way symmetry
• If (x, y) is on the circle, then (y, x), (y, -x), (x, -y), (-x, y), (-y, x), (-y, -
x) and (-x, -y) are all on the circle as well. If the circle is centered at an
integer point (i, j)
• Shift the circle to the origin
• Determine which points to set using eight-way symmetry
• Shift the determined pixels back to (i, j)
Polygonal Approximation
• Approximate the circle with straight lines
Generate points at equal angular increments around the circle and draw
straight lines between the points
• This general strategy is often used for more complex curves
• Tradeoff between accuracy and speed (more lines → more accurate)
Uniform Angular Sampling
• 2) Sample circle at equal angular increments
Set pixels beneath the sample points
How to sample?
• Use the parametric expression of the circle and sample at equal
intervals of Θ

x = cx + R cos Θ Θ ∈ [0, 2π]

y = cy + R sin Θ
What increments of Θ should be used?
If increments are too big the circle may contain gaps
If increments are too small the circle may be chunky and blending
artifacts may occur
Thickness may be uneven
Midpoint Circle Algorithm
The circle can be divided into some regions where x changes faster than
y … and regions where y changes faster than x. We will consider one of
these regions
The others can be determined by symmetry
• We will assume the circle is centered at the origin. More general
circles are left as an exercise
Consider the explicit equation for this region of the circle:
y = √(R2 – x2), x < y
• Note that y changes more slowly than x in this region
Approach:
Set one pixel for each column that the section intersects
Assuming the current pixel is (i, j), then the pixel in the next column
will either be pixel (i+1, j) or (i+1, j-1)
Approach:

66
Similar to the midpoint line algorithm, we need a test to determine
whether the pixel following (i, j) should be
(i+1, j) or (i+1, j-1)
Use the implicit form of a circle to determine which point to choose
F(x, y) = R2 – x2 – y2
Verify that
F(x, y) = 0, for points on the circle
F(x, y) < 0, for points outside the circle
F(x, y) > 0, for points inside the circle
The midpoint test is F(i, j–½) < 0, where F(x, y) = R2 – x2 – y2
If the test is false, the midpoint is inside the circle and the next pixel is (i
+1, j)
If the test is true, the midpoint is outside the circle and the next pixel is
(i+1, j-1)
• Basic algorithm
i=0
j = round (R)
while (i <= j) {
setPixel (i, j)
i=i+1
F(i, j-½) = R2 – i2 – (j+ ½)2
if (F(i, j+ ½) < 0) j = j-1
}
14.0Conclusion

Lines are very versatile and form the basis of a number of other graphics
primitives such as polylines and simple geometrical shapes. Therefore,
lines are the foundation in graphics because it takes line to form other
shapes.

15.0Summary

Lines are fundamental in computer graphics other than a point (dot).

Lines are represented in the form of straight, midpoint and circle.
Algorithms such as Bresenham’s, Digital Differential Analyzer (DDA)
amongst others were discussed. It’s clear that mathematics is void while
discussing line drawing.

16.0Tutor Marked Assignment

1. Find the distance between the points (5,2) and (7,3).

2. What is the normal vector to a plane containing the points
(1,0,2), (2,3,0) and (1,2,4)
3. Write the equation for the line that passes through (1,2) and (3,–
2).
4. Show that w.w = |w|2

67
 5. Draw the following line segments
(1, 15) to (8, 15)
(3.5, 13.5) to (11.5, 13.5)
(1, 6) to (6, 11)
(1, 5) to (8, 7)
(1, 0) to (7, 4)

17.0Refrences/Further reading:
A. Watt, 3D Computer Graphics, 3rd Ed., Addison-Wesley, 2000.
J.D. Foley, A. Van Dam, et al., Computer Graphics: Principles and
Practice, 2nd Ed. in C, Addison-Wesley, 1996.
D. Hearn, M.P. Baker, Computer Graphics, 2nd Ed. in C, Prentice-
Hall, 1996.
P.A. Egerton, W.S. Hall, Computer Graphics - Mathematical First
Steps, Prentice Hall, 1998.

68
Module 2: Geometric Modeling
Unit 2 Mathematics of Computer Graphics

Table of Contents
Title
Page
3.0 Introduction 2
4.0 Objectives 2
5.0 What do we need in computer graphics? 2
3.0.1 Definition of Cartesian coordinate system:
2
3.1 Vectors 2
3.1.1 Basic Vector Algebra
3
3.1.2 Vector Addition 3
3.1.3 Vector Subtraction 4
3.1.4 Vector Scaling
4
3.1.5 Vector Magnitude 4
3.1.6 Vector Normalisation
5
3.1.7 Vector Multiplication
5
3.1.8 Dot Product 5
3.1.9 Cross Product 6
3.2 Matrix Algebra 7
3.2.1 Matrix Addition 7
3.2.2 Matrix Scaling
8
3.2.3 Matrix Multiplication
8
3.3.4 Matrix Inverse and the Identity
8
4.0 Conclusion 9
5.0 Summary 10
6.0 Tutor Marked Assignment 10
7.0 References 10

18.0Introduction:

69
This unit is drawn upon mathematical background in linear algebra. We
briefly revise some of the basics here. It describes how important
vectors are in computer graphics. It includes:
• a review of vector arithmetic relating geometrical shapes to
appropriate algebraic expressions.
• the development of tools for working with objects in 2D and 3D
space

19.0Objectives:
To study basic mathematical backgrounds related to computer graphics
including linear algebra and geometry.

20.0 What do we need in computer graphics?

In computer graphics we work with points and vectors defined in terms
of some coordinate frame (a positioned coordinate system).
We also need to change coordinate representation of points and vectors,
hence to transform between different coordinate frames.

3.0.1 Definition of Cartesian coordinate system:

A Cartesian coordinate system is an orthogonal coordinate system with
lines as coordinate axes.
Definition of Cartesian coordinate frame:
A Cartesian coordinate frame is a Cartesian coordinate system
positioned in space.
Left-handed coordinate system

3.1 Vectors
A vector u; v;w is a directed line segment (no concept of position).
Vectors are represented in a coordinate system by a n-tuple v = (v 1; : : : ;
vn).
The dimension of a vector is dim(v) = n.
Length jvj and direction of a vector is invariant with respect to choice of
Coordinate system.
Points, Vectors and Notation
Much of Computer Graphics involves discussion of points in 2D or 3D.
Usually we write such points as Cartesian Coordinates e.g. p = [x, y]T or
q = [x, y, z]T . Point coordinates are therefore vector quantities, as
opposed to a single number e.g. 3 which we call a scalar quantity. In
these notes we write vectors in bold and underlined once. Matrices are
written in bold, double-underlined.

70
The superscript [...]T denotes transposition of a vector, so points p and q
are column vectors (coordinates stacked on top of one another
vertically). This is the convention used by most researchers with a
Computer Vision background, and is the convention used throughout
this course. By contrast, many Computer Graphics researchers use row
vectors to represent points. For this reason you will find row vectors in
many Graphics textbooks including Foley et al, one of the course texts.
Bear in mind that you can convert equations between the two forms
using transposition. Suppose we have a 2 × 2 matrix M acting on the 2D
point represented by column vector p. We would write this as Mp.
If p was transposed into a row vector p′ = pT , we could write the above
transformation p′MT . So to convert between the forms (e.g. from row to
column form when reading the course-texts), remember that: Mp =
(pTMT )T

3.1.1 Basic Vector Algebra

Just as we can perform basic operations such as addition, multiplication
etc. on scalar values, so we can generalize such operations to vectors.
The figure below summarizes some of these operations in diagrammatic
form.

Illustrating vector addition (left) and subtraction (middle). Right:

Vectors have direction and magnitude; lines (sometimes called ‘rays’)
are vectors plus a starting point.

3.1.2 Vector Addition

When we add two vectors, we simply sum their elements at
corresponding positions. So for a pair of 2D vectors a = [u, v] T and b =
[s, t]T we have:
a + b = [u + s, v + t]T

3.1.3 Vector Subtraction

Vector subtraction is identical to the addition operation with a sign
change, since when we negate a vector we simply flip the sign on its
elements.
−b = [−s,−t]T
a − b = a + (−b) = [u − s, v − t]T

71
3.1.4 Vector Scaling
If we wish to increase or reduce a vector quantity by a scale factor λ
then we multiply each element in the vector by λ.
λa = [λu, λv]T

3.1.5 Vector Magnitude

We write the length of magnitude of a vector s as |s|. We use
Pythagoras’ theorem to compute the magnitude:
the figure shows this to be valid, since u and v are
distances along the principal axes (x and y) of the space, and so the
distance of a from the origin is the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle.
If we have an n-dimensional vector q = [q1, q2, q3, q..., qn] then the
definition of vector magnitude generalises to:

Figure (a) Demonstrating how the dot product can be used to measure
the component of one vector in the direction of another (i.e. a projection,
shown here as p). (b) The geometry used to prove a ◦ b = |a||b|cosθ via
the Law of Cosines
3.1.6 Vector Normalisation
We can normalise a vector a by scaling it by the reciprocal of its
magnitude:

This produces a normalised vector pointing in the same direction as the

original (un-normalised) vector, but with unit length (i.e. length of 1).
We use the superscript ’hat’
notation to indicate that a vector is normalised e.g. ˆa.

3.1.7 Vector Multiplication

We can define multiplication of a pair of vectors in two ways: the dot
product (sometimes called the ‘inner product’, analogous to matrix
multiplication), and the cross product (which is sometimes referred to by
the unfortunately ambiguous term ‘vector product’).

3.1.8 Dot Product

72
The dot product sums the products of corresponding elements over a
pair of vectors. Given vectors
a = [a1, a2, a3, a..., an]T and b = [b1, b2, b3, b..., bn]T , the dot product is
defined as:

The dot product is both symmetric and positive definite. It gives us a

scalar value that has three important uses in Computer Graphics and
related fields. First, we can compute the square of the magnitude of a
vector by taking the dot product of that vector and itself:

Second, we can more generally compute a ◦ b, the magnitude of one

vector a in the direction of another b, i.e. projecting one vector onto
another. Third, we can use the dot product to compute the angle θ
between two vectors (if we normalize them first). This relationship can
be used to define the concept of an angle between vectors in n
−dimensional spaces. It is also fundamental to most lighting calculations
in Graphics, enabling us to determine the angle of a surface (normal) to
a light source.
a ◦ b = |a||b|cosθ
A proof follows from the “law of cosines”, a general form of
Pythagoras’ theorem. Consider triangle ABC in Figure b, with respect to
the equation. Side C~A is analogous to vector a, and side C~B
analogous to vector b. θ is the angle between C~A and C~B, and so also
vectors a and b.
|c|2 = |a|2 + |b|2 − 2|a||b|cosθ …
c ◦ c = a ◦ a + b ◦ b − 2|a||b| cos θ
Now consider that c = a − b
(a − b) ◦ (a − b) = a ◦ a + b ◦ b − 2|a||b| cos θ
a ◦ a − 2(a ◦ b) + b ◦ b = a ◦ a + b ◦ b − 2|a||b| cos θ
−2(a ◦ b) = −2|a||b| cos θ
a ◦ b = |a||b| cos θ
Another useful result is that we can quickly test for the orthogonality of
two vectors by checking if their dot product is zero.

3.1.9 Cross Product

Taking the cross product (or “vector product”) of two vectors returns us
a vector orthogonal to those two vectors. Given two vectors a = [a x, ay,
az]T and B = [bx, by, bz]T , the cross product a × b is defined as:

73
This is often remembered using the mnemonic ‘xyzzy’. In this course
we only consider the definition of the cross product in 3D. An important
Computer Graphics application of the cross product is to determine a
vector that is orthogonal to its two inputs. This vector is said to be
normal to those inputs, and is written n in the following relationship
(care: note the normalisation):
a × b = |a||b| sin θn
A proof is beyond the requirements of this course.

Figure3: Left: Converting between Cartesian (x, y) and radial-polar (r,

θ) form. We treat the system as a right-angled triangle and apply
trigonometry. Right: Cartesian coordinates are defined with respect to a
reference frame. The reference frame is defined by basis vectors (one
per axis) that specify how ‘far’ and in what direction the units of each
coordinate will take us.

3.2 Matrix Algebra

A matrix is a rectangular array of numbers. Both vectors and scalars are
degenerate forms of matrices. By convention we say that an (n×m)
matrix has n rows and m columns; i.e. we write (height × width). In this
subsection we will use two 2 × 2 matrices for our examples:

Observe that the notation for addressing an individual element of a

matrix is xrow,column.

3.2.1 Matrix Addition

Matrices can be added, if they are of the same size. This is achieved by
summing the elements in one matrix with corresponding elements in the
other matrix:

74
This is identical to vector addition.

3.2.2 Matrix Scaling

Matrices can also be scaled by multiplying each element in the matrix
by a scale factor.
Again, this is identical to vector scaling.

3.2.3 Matrix Multiplication

As we will see later, matrix multiplication is a cornerstone of many
useful geometric transformations in Computer Graphics. You should
ensure that you are familiar with this operation.

In general each element cij of the matrix C = AB, where A is of size

(n×P) and B is of size
(P × m) has the form:

Not all matrices are compatible for multiplication. In the above system,
A must have as many columns as B has rows. Furthermore, matrix
multiplication is non-commutative, which means that BA 6= AB, in
general. Given equation 1.27 you might like to write out the
multiplication for BA to satisfy yourself of this.
Finally, matrix multiplication is associative i.e.:
ABC = (AB)C = A(BC)
If the matrices being multiplied are of different (but compatible) sizes,
then the complexity of evaluating such an expression varies according to
the order of multiplication1.

3.3.4 Matrix Inverse and the Identity

The identity matrix I is a special matrix that behaves like the number 1
when multiplying scalars (i.e. it has no numerical effect):
IA = A
The identity matrix has zeroes everywhere except the leading diagonal
which is set to 1,
e.g. the (2 × 2) identity matrix is:

1Finding an optimal permutation of multiplication order is a (solved)

interesting optimization problem, but falls outside the scope of this
course.
75
The identity matrix leads us to a definition of the inverse of a matrix,
which we writeA−1. The inverse of a matrix, when pre- or post-
multiplied by its original matrix, gives the identity:
AA+−1 = A−1A = I
As we will see later, this gives rise to the notion of reversing a
geometric transformation. Some geometric transformations (and
matrices) cannot be inverted. Specifically, a matrix must be square and
have a non-zero determinant in order to be inverted by conventional
means.
1.7.5 Matrix Transposition
Matrix transposition, just like vector transposition, is simply a matter of
swapping the rows and columns of a matrix. As such, every matrix has a
transpose. The transpose of A is written AT :

For some matrices (the orthonormal matrices), the transpose actually

gives us the inverse of the matrix. We decide if a matrix is orthonormal
by inspecting the vectors that make up the matrix’s columns, e.g. [a11,
a21]T and [a12, a22]T . These are sometimes called column vectors of the
matrix. If the magnitudes of all these vectors are one, and if the vectors
are orthogonal (perpendicular) to each other, then the matrix is
orthonormal. Examples of orthonormal matrices are the identity matrix,
and the rotation matrix that we will meet in subsequent classes.

21.0Conclusion

The study of linear algebra and geometry (vector and matrices) reveals
that computer graphics work with points and vectors defined in terms of
some coordinate frame.
We also need to change coordinate representation of points and vectors,
hence to transform between different coordinate frames.

22.0Summary
This unit is has discussed the mathematical background in linear
algebra. It has also explained how important vectors are in computer
graphics.
We have learnt various vector arithmetic relating geometrical shapes to
appropriate algebraic expressions. Amongst them are vector addition,
dot product vector multiplication, mathematics of matrix like addition,
multiplication, transpose, identity and others that are useful in graphics
design.

23.0Tutor Marked Assignment

1. Perform the following operations on the given vector:
Subtract −b = [−s,−t]T
Add vectors a = [u, v]T and b = [s, t]T
76
 Define the Cartesian Coordinate system
2. Proof that a ◦ b = |a||b|cosθ

3. Consider the matrix A= and B=

a. Compute the inverse of A
b. Compute the Transpose of B
c. Perform multiplication AxB
24.0
25.0 Refrences/Further reading:
A. Watt, 3D Computer Graphics, 3rd Ed., Addison-Wesley, 2000.
J.D. Foley, A. Van Dam, et al., Computer Graphics: Principles and
Practice, 2nd Ed. in C, Addison-Wesley, 1996.
D. Hearn, M.P. Baker, Computer Graphics, 2nd Ed. in C, Prentice-
Hall, 1996.
P.A. Egerton, W.S. Hall, Computer Graphics - Mathematical First
Steps, Prentice Hall, 1998.

Textbook Homepage:
http://www.cs.unm.edu/~angel/BOOK/INTERACTIVE_COMPUTER_
GRAPH CS/FOURTH_EDITION/

Module 2: Geometric Modeling

Unit 3 Curve and surface design

Table of Contents
Title
Page
6.0 Introduction 2
7.0 Objectives 2
8.0 Curves and Surfaces 2
3.1 Spline Curves 2
3.2 Representing Curves 2
3.2.1 Explicit Representation 3
3.2.1 Implicit Representation 3
3.2.3 Parametric representation 4
3.3 Piecewise parametric representation 4
3.4 Tangent vector 5

77
3.5 Curve Continuity
6
3.5.1 C0, G0 continuity 6
3.5.2 G1 continuity 6
3.5.3 CN continuity 7
3.6 Bezier Curves 7
4.0 Conclusion 8
5.0 Summary 8
6.0 Tutor Marked Assignment 8
7.0 References 9

26.0Introduction:
Until now we have worked with flat entities such as lines and flat
polygons. Though it fits well with graphics hardware and of course it is
mathematically simple. But the world is not composed of flat entities
as such we need curves and curved surfaces
It may only have need at the application level. This unit explores the
different types of curves used in graphics design.

27.0Objectives:
At the completion of this unit, we must have dealt with the following:
Introduce types of curves and surfaces
• Explicit
• Implicit
• Parametric
• Strengths and weaknesses
• Discuss surfaces and its usefulness.

28.0 Curves and Surfaces

3.1 Spline Curves
A spline curve is a smooth curve that is specified succinctly in terms of
a few control points
A spline interpolates a control point if it passes through the control point

3.2 Representing Curves

78
Consider 3 basic representation of shape
Explicit functions
Implicit functions
Parametric representation
3.2.1 Explicit Representation
y = f(x)
Advantages
•Simple
•Easy to find points on the curve
•Simple to subdivide (consider equal intervals of x)
Disadvantages
•Impossible to get multiple y values for a single x value; can’t represent
circles and other closed forms with a single function
•Not rotationally invariant (rotation may require breaking the curve into
multiple segments)
3.2.1 Implicit Representation
f(x,y,z) = 0
Advantages
•Can represent some shapes very simply
e.g., circle x2 + y2 = R2
•Affine invariant
i.e., rotation, translation scale invariant
Disadvantages
•Hard to define implicit functions for general shapes
•Hard to put constraints on the implicit functions
e.g., hard to require that the tangent vectors of two component curves
match where they join up
Parametric Representation
Points on the curve are functions of a parameter t

P(t) = f(t), t ∈ [0, 1], where

P(t) is a point (2D, 3D, etc.) on the curve

f(t) is a parametric function that represents the curve
3.2.3 Parametric representation
Note that there are many parameterizations for a given curve

e.g., if P(t) = f(t), t ∈ [0, 1] is one parameterization, then

79
P(q) = f(q), q = 2t, q ∈ [0, 0.5],

P(r) = f(r), r = 1 – t, r ∈ [0, 1],

P(s) = f(s), s = t2, s ∈ [0, 1],

etc., are also parameterizations of the same curve

3.3 Piecewise parametric representation
Complex curves can be
subdivided into simpler pieces

P(t) = f1(t), t ∈ [0, t1]

f2(t), t ∈ [t1, 1]

A piecewise polynomial curve

Has a parametric representation that is a polynomial function of t, i.e.,

Example
•A line segment is a piecewise linear curve, where N = 1
•A parametric representation of the line segment with endpoints P0 and
P1 is
P(t) = (1 – t)P0 + tP1
•In polynomial form
P(t) = P0 + t (P1 – P0)
Example
•Quadratic polynomials have N = 2 •The polynomial form of a quadratic
polynomial is
P(t) = at2 + bt + c, where a, b, and c are the vectors
a = (ax, ay, az)
b = (bx, by, bz)

80
c = (cx, cy, cz)
•i.e., the polynomial form of the point P(t) = (x(t),y(t),z(t)) is
x(t) = axt2 + bxt + cx
y(t) = ayt2 + byt + cy
z(t) = azt2 + bzt + cz
3.4 Tangent vector
The parametric tangent vector is the derivative of the parametric form
with respect to the parameter t
•e.g., for quadratic polynomials P(t) = at2 + bt + c
X’ = dx(t)/dt = 2axt + bx
y’ = dy(t)/dt = 2ayt + by
z’ = dz(t)/dt = 2azt + bz
•Using simplified notation P’(t) = dP(t)/dt = 2at + b
e.g., for cubic polynomials
P(t) = at3 + bt2 + ct + d
x’ = dx(t)/dt = 3axt2 + 2bxt + cx
y’ = dy(t)/dt = 3ayt2 + 2byt + cy
z’ = dz(t)/dt = 3azt2 + 2bzt + cz
•Using simplified notation P’(t) = dP(t)/dt = 3at2 + 2bt + c
3.5 Curve Continuity
When modeling a shape in piecewise fashion, i.e. as a collection of
joined-together (concatenated) curves, we need to consider the nature of
the join. We might like to join the curves together in a “smooth” way so
that no kinks are visually evident; after all, the appearance of the shape
to the user should ideally be independent of the technique we have used
to model it. The question arises then, what do we mean by a “smooth”
join? In computer graphics we use Cn and Gn notation to talk about the
smoothness or continuity of the join between piecewise curves.
The continuity of a piecewise polynomial curve is determined by how
the individual curves are joined.
Each polynomial curve is smooth (infinitely differentiable) along its
length
The quality of a curve is characterized by the continuity at points where
the piecewise polynomial curves are joined together

3.5.1 C0, G0 continuity

–A curve is C0 and G0 continuous if adjacent segments join
at a common endpoint.

3.5.2 G1 continuity
–A curve is G1 continuous if the parametric first derivative
is continuous across its joints
•i.e., the tangent vectors of adjacent segments are collinear
(i.e., the tangent vectors are on the same line) at the shared
endpoint

81
A curve is C1 continuous if the spatial first derivative is continuous
across joints
•i.e., tangent vectors of adjacent segments are collinear and have
the same magnitude at their shared endpoint

3.5.3 CN continuity
The curve is CN continuous if the nth derivatives of adjacent
segments are collinear and have the same magnitude at their
shared endpoint
Curve continuity has a significant impact on the quality of a curve or
surface
Different industries have different standards
•Computer Graphics often requires G1 continuity
‘Good enough’ for animations and games
•The automotive industry often requires G2 continuity
Visually appealing surface reflections off of car bodies
•Aircraft and race cars may require G4 or G5 continuity
Avoid turbulence when air flows over the surface of the vehicle

3.4 Bezier Curves

Constraints for Bezier curves
Bezier curves are constrained by a set of
control points
•One more control point than the order of
the curve
•Interpolate the control points specifying
the endpoints of the curve
•Approximate the other control points
A 3rd order Bezier curve has 4 control points. The 2 endpoints are
interpolated.
Constraints for Bezier curves
Bezier curves are constructed by determining blending functions Bi(t)
that satisfy the constraints
•Similar to Hermite curves

The constraints are the positions of the control points

Blending functions

To satisfy the constraints, the blending functions must force the curve to
interpolate the endpoints.
•At t = 0, B0(t) = 1 and all other Bi(t) = 0
•At t = 1, BN(t) = 1 and all other Bi(t) = 0
The other two constraints will control how much the curve wiggles
between the endpoints

82
29.0Conclusion
Smooth curves and surfaces must be generated in many computer
graphics applications.
Many real-world objects are inherently smooth, and much of computer
graphics involves
modelling the real world.

30.0Summary
In this unit, we have learnt the following:
Definitions and properties of polynomial curves, splines, B-splines,
surfaces of revolution. Definitions of C and G continuity and recognize
differences visually. Derived analytic expressions for polynomial curves
and spline from constraints indicating locations, tangents, and
continuity. Evaluated Bezier and B-splines with geometric construction.
Displayed polynomial curves and splines using line segments.

31.0Tutor Marked Assignment

1. What are the meanings of each of the following forms of
continuity:C0:, C1:, C2:,C∞.
2. Ahead of each type of point, mark what kind of continuity it has
(none, C0, C1, C2, C3, C∞).
An interior point of a Bezier curve.
A non-joint point on a uniform cubic B-spline.
A joint of a uniform cubic B-spline.
A joint of a cubic Catmull-Rom spline.
3. State two advantages of splines (piecewise low-order Beziers)
over high-order Bezier curves.

32.0Refrences/Further reading:
A. Watt, 3D Computer Graphics, 3rd Ed., Addison-Wesley, 2000.
J.D. Foley, A. Van Dam, et al., Computer Graphics: Principles and
Practice, 2nd Ed. in C, Addison-Wesley, 1996.
D. Hearn, M.P. Baker, Computer Graphics, 2nd Ed. in C, Prentice-
Hall, 1996.
P.A. Egerton, W.S. Hall, Computer Graphics - Mathematical First
Steps, Prentice Hall, 1998.

83
84
Module 2: Geometric Modeling
Unit 4 Ray Tracing

Table of Contents
Title
Page
9.0 Introduction 2
10.0 Objectives 2
11.0 Ray casting 2
3.1 Determining the viewing ray in camera space
4
3.2 Mapping image coordinates to the viewport
4
3.3 Determining the viewing ray in camera space
4
3.4 Determining the viewing ray in world coordinates 5
3.5 Finding objects intersected by the ray
6
3.6 Texture 7
3.7 Inter-Object Illumination 8
3.8 Shadows
8
3.9 Reflection 9
3.10 Total illumination 11
3.11 Refraction 11
4.0 Conclusion 12
5.0 Summary 12
6.0 Tutor Marked Assignment 12
7.0 References 13

1.0 Introduction
Ray tracing is a rendering technique that is, in large part, a simulation of
geometric optics. It does this by first creating a mathematical
representation of all the objects, materials, and lights in a scene, and
then shoots infinitesimally thin rays of light from the viewpoint through
the image plane into the scene. The rays are then tested against all
objects in the scene to determine their intersections. In a simple ray
tracer, a single ray is shot through each pixel on the view plane, and the
nearest object that the ray hits is determined. The pixel is then shaded

85
according to the way the object’s surface reflects the light. If the ray
does not hit any object, the pixel is shaded with the background colour.
Ray Tracing was developed as one approach to modeling the properties
of global illumination.
The basic idea is as follows:
For each pixel:
Cast a ray from the eye of the camera through the pixel, and find the
first surface hit by the ray.
Determine the surface radiance at the surface intersection with a
combination of local and global models.
To estimate the global component, cast rays from the surface point to
possible incident directions to determine how much light comes from
each direction. This leads to a recursive form for tracing paths of light
backwards from the surface to the light sources.
Computational Issues
• Form rays.
• Find ray intersections with objects.
• Find closest object intersections.
• Find surface normals at object intersection.
• Evaluate reflectance models at the intersection.
What is the best way to map the scene to the display?

2.0 Objectives:
This unit discuses about the concept of ray tracing by showing various
cases of ray-object intersection, shadow rays, reflected rays and
transmitted rays.
3.0 Ray casting
Consider each element of the view window one at a time (i.e., each
image pixel)
Test all of the objects in the scene to determine which one affects the
image pixel
Determine the color of the image pixel from the appropriate object
The goal of ray casting is to determine the color of each pixel in the
view window by considering all of the objects in the scene
•What part of the scene affects a single pixel?
•For a single pixel, see a finite volume of the scene
Limited by the pixel boundaries
Difficult to compute contribution over the finite volume
•For a single pixel, see a finite volume of the scene
Approximate the total contribution by sampling a single view direction
through the center of the pixel
•To approximate the color of a single image pixel
Sample the scene by shooting a ray through the center of the pixel
•If the ray intersects at least one object
Set the pixel color from the first object intersected by the ray
•If the ray does not intersect anything

86
Set the pixel color from the background color
•Ignore
Objects behind the camera
Objects between the camera and the image plane

Basic ray casting algorithm

For each image pixel (i, j)
{
Determine the viewing ray from the eye through the pixel
Find the first object beyond the image intersected by the ray
Set the pixel color from the object color
}
Determining the viewing ray
The viewing ray of a given pixel starts at the camera point
and passes through the pixel center into the scene

3.1 Determining the viewing ray in camera space

The camera is at the origin and looks down the
negative z-axis
First, consider a ray in the y-z plane (i.e., x = 0)
•The ray passes through the two points (0, 0, 0)
and (0, y, znear)
The ray passes through (0, 0, 0) and (0, y, znear)
•In parametric form, the ray is
(x(t), y(t), z(t)) = (1-t) (0, 0, 0) + t (0, y, znear)
= t (0, y, znear), where t > 1 beyond the image
A general ray passes through (0, 0, 0) and (x, y, znear)
•In parametric form, the ray is
(x(t), y(t), z(t)) = (1-t) (0, 0, 0) + t (x, y, znear)
= t (x, y, znear), where t > 1 beyond the image
Given a viewport ranging from (xleft, ybot) to (xright, ytop)
Render the viewport into an image of size W x H
3.2 Mapping image coordinates to the viewport
Map the image boundaries to the viewport boundaries
(0, 0) → (xleft, ybot) and
(W-1, H-1) → (xright, ytop),
Thus,
xi = xleft + i(xright – xleft) / (W-1)
yj = ybot + j(ytop – ybot) / (H-1)

3.3 Determining the viewing ray in camera space

87
Given a viewport from (xleft, ybot) to (xright, ytop) and an image
of size W x H
•Pixel (i, j) corresponds to viewport position (xi, yj, znear),
where
xi = xleft + i(xright – xleft) / (W-1)
yj = ybot + j(ytop – ybot) / (H-1)

3.4 Determining the viewing ray in world coordinates

Viewing rays are particularly easy to compute in camera
space
(x(t), y(t), z(t)) = t * (xi, yj, znear)
However, the approach requires that we represent the scene in camera
coordinates rather than world coordinates. This is inconvenient if we
want to move the camera about the scene.
One solution is to determine the viewing ray in world coordinates

Given a camera is specified in world coordinates, we want to determine

a parametric expression for the ray from the eye through a given pixel
The ray has the form
(x(t), y(t), z(t)) = E + tv, where
E is the camera position (i.e., the eye point) in world coordinates v is the
vector from E to the image point (i, j) transformed into world
coordinates. Use the look-at point camera specification for defining E
and v in world coordinates E is the camera position (px, py, pz). v can
be expressed in terms of the camera space axis vectors
ux’, uy’, and uz’
u’z = (px– lx, py– ly, pz– lz)/ ((px – lx)2 + (py – ly)2 + (pz –
lz)2)½
u’x = ((vx, vy, vz) × u’z) / ||(vx, vy, vz) × u’z||
u’y = u’z × u’x
(x(t), y(t), z(t)) = E + tv, where
E is the camera position (px, py, pz)
v can be expressed in terms of the ux’, uy’, and uz’

Note that
•The camera looks in the direction of -uz
•The image plane is perpendicular to uz
•The image plane is defined by ux’, uy’ and znear
•Rows are parallel to ux’, columns are parallel to uy’
Using projective geometry, v = xiux’ + yjuy’ + znearuz’,
with
xi = xleft + i(xright – xleft) / (W-1)
88
yj = ybottom + j(ytop – ybottom) / (H-1)

3.5 Finding objects intersected by the ray

Given a (general) ray E + tv, we want to find the first intersection
between the ray and any object where t > 1. Need to be able to find
intersections between an arbitrary ray and some common geometric
shapes•e.g., sphere, plane, triangle.
Intersection tests
Specify the ray using a parametric expression, e.g., E + tv
Specify an implicit representation of the object, e.g., for a sphere,
f(x, y, z) = (x – xc)2 + (y – c)2 + (z – zc)2 – R2
Solve for the positive values of t so that E + tv satisfies the implicit
equation f(x, y, z) = 0
Intersection between a ray and a sphere
Ray
•Specified by the parametric expression E + tv = E + tv
Sphere centered at (xc, yc, zc)
•Specify the sphere by the implicit equation
(x – xc)2 + (y – yc)2 + (z – zc)2 – R2 = 0
Equations
View ray: E + tv = (ex, ey, ez) + t (vx, vy, vz)
Implicit sphere: (x – xc)2 + (y – yc)2 + (z – zc)2 – R2 = 0
Substitute the expression for the ray into the implicit equation
(ex + tvx – xc)2 + (ey + tvy – yc)2 + (ez + tvz – zc)2 – R2 = 0
Expand and express as a function in t
t2(vx2+vy2+vz2) + 2t(vx(ex–xc) + vy(ey–yc) + vz(ez–zc)) +
(ex–xc)2 + (ey–yc)2 + (ez–zc)2 – R2 = 0
After expanding and rearranging terms, This is a quadratic expression
in t of the form
at2 + bt + c = 0
Intersection test yields a quadratic expression in t
at2 + bt + c = 0
•This expression can have 0, 1, or 2 solutions
t = (-b +/- √(b2 – 4ac)) / 2a
No solution if b2 – 4ac < 0 → no intersection
One solution if b2 – 4ac = 0 →ray grazes sphere
Two solutions if b2 – 4ac > 0 → ray enters and n exits the sphere, choose
the smallest t which is greater than 1
3.6 Texture
Texture can be used to modulate diffuse and ambient reflection
coefficients, as with Gouraud shading. We simply need a way to map
each point on the surface to a point in texture space, e.g. given an
intersection point p(λ∗), convert into parametric form s(α, β) and use (α,
β) to find texture coordinates (μ, ν). Unlike Gouraud shading, we don’t
need to interpolate (μ, ν) over polygons. We get a new (μ, ν) for each
intersection point.

89
The mapping will depend on the object

3D triangle
Specify the texture coordinates at the triangle’s 3 vertices
(u0, v0), (u1, v1), (u2, v2)

Project the triangle vertices and the intersection point onto a convenient
2D plane using orthographic projection. e.g., project onto the xy-plane

by dropping the z-coordinate.

Interpolate the texture coordinates at the ray-triangle intersection
point in the projected triangle
e.g., use Pineda’s method to perform both the inside/outside test to
see if the ray intersects the triangle and to interpolate the texture
coordinate
3.7 Inter-Object Illumination
In reality, the color at the intersection point depends on
•The object’s color or texture color
•Illumination from light sources (Phong illumination)
•Objects occluding the light sources
•Light from other objects that is reflected in the direction of the eye
•Light that is transmitted through the object in the direction of the eye
3.8 Shadows
A simple way to include some global effects with minimal work is to
turn off local reflection when the surface point p cannot see light
sources, i.e. when p is in shadow.

90
A light source only contributes to the color if it is visible from the
intersection point

How do we know if an object is in shadow?

A point is in shadow if there is no direct path to the light
source
Trace a ray from the intersection point to each light, if the
ray does not intersect an object, the light is visible

To determine if a light is visible, test to see if the shadow

ray from the intersection point to the light intersects any
object in the scene
Augment the Phong illumination model:

Si = 0 if the light Li is occluded by an object in the

scene
Si = 1 if the light Li is not occluded
Si | (0, 1) if there is a transparent object between the
intersection point and the light L1
Total illumination
The color of a particular point is determined by
The base color/texture of the object
Illumination directly from light sources (Phong illumination model)
Illumination from other objects in the scene (direct reflection).
3.9 Reflection
•How do we model illumination due to light reflected off of other
surfaces?

(A)Light leaves the light source, (B)Light leaves the light source, is
reflected off the back wall

How do we model illumination due to light reflected off of other

surfaces?

91
•Tracing rays from the light source is expensive as Lots of the reflected
rays do not affect the image
Direct reflection
•Recall that reflection off most surfaces is not perfect
Light is reflected in multiple directions.
Distribution depends on the material and the cosine of
the angle from the perfect reflection direction; Ir = ks (r ·
v)s
For most surfaces,
light is reflected in
multiple directions.
Assume that the amount of secondary light reaching the intersection
point after reflection off of another object is small unless was reflected
in the perfect reflection direction
Determine the contribution from other objects by looking backwards in
the direction of perfect reflection. Trace a ray backwards from the
intersection point in this direction to see what might contribute to the
reflected light.

Contributions from other objects in the scene are determined using

reflection rays
The local color at P is determined using Phong illumination
The reflected color at P is light from other objects (e.g., B) that is
reflected in the direction of the eye. The color from B is determined by
the local color at P’ and light from other objects reflected in the
direction of P
Note that the reflected color is usually much smaller than the local color
To compute the reflection contribution at P, trace ray r backwards until
it intersects another object
•The reflection ray is in the direction of perfect
reflection, r

By construction, r = 2(n ▪ v)n – v, where, r, n, v are all

unit vectors with directions as shown below

92
n, r, and v are the unit surface normal, reflection vector, and vector to
the eye respectively.
Ray Tracing – Refraction
3.10 Total illumination
•The color of a particular point is determined by
i. The base color/texture of the object
ii. llumination directly from light sources (Phong illumination
model)
iii. Illumination from other objects in the scene (direct reflection)

3.11 Refraction
Light travels at different speeds through different media
The speed of light in a material is inversely proportional to the
material’s index of refraction, n
n = (speed of light in vacuum) / (speed of light in material)
For example nair= 1.003, nwater = 1.33, nglass= 1.5, ndiamond= 2.5
When light crosses a surface between materials that have different
indices of refraction, it changes direction

Light travels at different speeds in different materials

Light changes speed when the wave front hits a new
material
•When it hits at an angle, the direction of the wave front
changes
Transmission – angle of refraction
Snell’s Law:
sinθr = (n1/n2) sinθi

4.0 Conclusion
This unit illustrates the concept of ray tracing by showing various cases
of ray-object intersection, shadow rays, reflected rays and transmitted
rays.

93
5.0 Summary
In this unit, we see how rays follow (trace) the path of a ray of light and
model how it interacts with the scene. When a ray intersects an object,
send off secondary rays (reflection, shadow, transmission) and
determine how they interact with the scene.
We also discovered that Ray tracing can handle shadows, specular
reflection, texture mapping, depth of field and other optical effects. The
rays do not have to stop when they hit an object they can be reflected
from the surfaces of reflective objects, and transmitted through
transparent objects. A recursive ray tracer can accurately model and
render optical effects such as reflections, transparency, translucency,
caustics, dispersion, global illumination, and other effects.

6.0 Tutor Marked Assignment

1. Write and explain the process of mapping image coordinates to

the viewport
2. Briefly describe the Basic ray casting algorithms that you know.
3. What do you understand by Ray casting
4. Why do rays bend? What are the factors responsible for this?
7.0 Refrences/Further reading:
A. Watt, 3D Computer Graphics, 3rd Ed., Addison-Wesley, 2000.
J.D. Foley, A. Van Dam, et al., Computer Graphics: Principles and
Practice, 2nd Ed. in C, Addison-Wesley, 1996.
D. Hearn, M.P. Baker, Computer Graphics, 2nd Ed. in C, Prentice-
Hall, 1996.
P.A. Egerton, W.S. Hall, Computer Graphics - Mathematical First
Steps, Prentice Hall, 1998.

94
95
Module 2: Geometric Modeling
Unit 5 Texture Mapping
Table of Contents
Title
Page
12.0 Introduction 2
13.0 Objectives 2
14.0 Mapping Functions 2
3.1 Backward Mapping 2
3.2 Two-part Mapping 3
3.3 Box Mapping 3
3.4 Resolution Issues
4
3.5 Illumination of Textured Surfaces 4
3.6 Environment Mapping 4
3.6 Dithering
6
3.7 Bump Maps 6
3.8 Aliasing 6
3.9 Area Averaging 6
4.0 Conclusion 7
5.0 Summary 7
6.0 Tutor Marked Assignment 7
7.0 References 7

96
33.0Introduction:
A texture is a digital image in that has to be mapped onto the surface of
a polygon as it is rendered into the colour buffer. There are several
issues involved:
Is the format of the texture the same as the colour buffer?
If no, convert image to the colour buffers format before use
Are the dimensions of the texture the same as the colour buffer?
No, polygons are 2D objects, textures can have 1, 2, 3 or 4 dimensions
How is the image stored?
The image is a bitmap, consisting of texels
How is the image mapped onto the polygon? Most of this lecture is
devoted to that topic
34.0Objectives:
The major objective is to introduce Mapping Methods
Texture Mapping
• Environmental Mapping
• Bump Mapping
And also to Consider basic strategies
• Forward vs backward mapping
• Point sampling vs area averaging
35.0 Mapping Functions
Basic problem is how to find the maps
Consider mapping from texture coordinates to a point a surface
Appear to need three functions
x = x(s,t)
y = y(s,t)
z = z(s,t)
But we really want to go the other way
3.1 Backward Mapping
Given a pixel, we want to know to which point on an object it
corresponds
Given a point on an object, we want to know to which point in the
texture it corresponds
As such we need a map of the form
s = s(x,y,z)
t = t(x,y,z)
Such functions are difficult to find in general.
Texture space is indexed by coordinates (s,t) which are normalised to
the range 0 ≤ s ≤ 1 and 0 ≤ t ≤ 1
Consider a rectangular polygon in model space, indexed by (u,v):

97
The mapping between the two spaces is defined parametrically in terms
of the maximum and minimum coordinates:

3.2 Two-part Mapping

An alternative is to texture a whole object a one go using a projection
from a simpler intermediate object
This is a 2 part mapping:
1. Map texture onto regular surface, e.g.:Sphere, Cylinder,Box
2. Project texture onto object:
Normal from intermediate, Normal to intermediate, Projector from
centre of object
All we have to do is define the mappings onto the intermediate
object:
3.3 Box Mapping
Map to each face: Easy to use with simple
orthographic projection. Also used in
environmental maps

Cylinder: of radius r and height h:

x = r cos( )
y = r sin( )
z= h
Sphere: use any one of the many cartographic projections
used by mapmakers – there will be distortions of the texture near the
poles.

3.4 Resolution Issues

One potential issue in texture mapping is the relationship between the
resolution of the texture and sampling frequency

This can be exacerbated by perspective effects. The solution is to use

mipmapping
This controls the level of detail by generating a pyramid of textures with
each level having half the resolution of the level below and using them
where appropriate

98
3.5 Illumination of Textured Surfaces
We have a final decision to make:
During scan conversion, how should a texel be treated with regards to
illumination
Two options:
1. If the polygon is being shaded should the illumination model be
applied to the texture?
The texture will not appear the same from all angles under all lights, but
rather the texture will be shaded using the same calculations as would be
applied to material properties of the polygon
2. Should the texture replace whatever underlying colour the polygons
material properties have defined or be blended with it?
This decides whether we see only texture or a mixture of texture and
material
3.6 Environment Mapping
We can simulate the appearance of a reflective object in a complex
environment without using ray tracing. This is called environment or
reflection mapping
We position a viewpoint within the object looking out, then use the
resulting image as a texture to apply to the object
• Replace reflective object S by projection surface P
• Compute image of environment on P and project image from P to
S

Pixel Operations
Besides texturing, there are other pixel operations available:
Fog: blend pixels with fog colour with blending governed by Z
coordinate
Antialiasing: replace pixels by the average of their own and their
nearest neighbours colours
Colour balancing: modify colours as they are written into the colour
buffer.
Direct manipulation: copy or replace pixels As well as the colour and
depth buffers OpenGL provides:
A stencil buffer used for masking areas of other buffers
An accumulation buffer used for whatever you want
A bitwise XOR operator is provided usually hardwired in the graphics
chip.
Halftones
The idea of halftoning is to increase the apparent number of available
intensities

99
The trade-off is a loss of spatial resolution. Rectangular pixel regions are
called halftone patterns:
• n2 pixel grid gives n2 intensities
• so 4 by 4 block has 17 shades from white to black
• level k → turn on pixels numbered ≤ k
• generalises to colour
Pattern generation is not trivial:
• Sub-grid patterns become evident
• Visual effects, e.g. contouring, to be avoided
• Isolated pixels not effective on some devices
Half toning is used by newspapers to print shaded
photographs using only black ink:

3.6 Dithering
Dithering uses the same principle that halftoning uses in printing, but
the output medium is pixels of a fixed size. Each “pixel” is represented
by a block of pixels – the dither matrix
3.7 Bump Maps
Bump Maps are used to capture fine-scale surface detail or roughness:
• Apply perturbation function to surface normal
• Use perturbed normal in lighting calculations
Elements from the bump map are mapped to a polygon in exactly the
same way as a surface texture, but they are interpreted as a perturbation
to the surface normal, which in turn affects the rendered intensity. The
bump map may contain:
• Random patterns
• Regular patterns
• Surface detail
Example

3.8 Aliasing
• Point sampling of the texture can lead to aliasing errors

3.9 Area Averaging

A better but slower option is to use area averaging

100
36.0Conclusion
Texture is one important feature to visualize a surface. Textures have
been studied by researchers in computer graphics, computer vision and
cognitive psychology. Sometimes the term pexel is used for perceptual
texture to emphasize the perceptual aspects of textures.

37.0Summary
In this unit, we have learnt seen texture a digital image in that has to be
mapped onto the surface of a polygon as it is rendered into the colour
buffer alongside issues involved in the mapping process. We also
discussed the various Mapping Methods ; environmental mapping and
the Bump Mapping. And also to Consider basic strategies such as
forward and backward mapping,
Point sampling and area averaging.

38.0Tutor Marked Assignment

1. When warping an image, we use either forward mapping or
reverse mapping.
Describe two problems with forward mapping
2. What is aliasing?
3. Why is the sinc filter useful for avoiding aliasing in image
processing applications?
4. Why don't we use the sinc filter in practice in image processing
applications?
39.0Refrences/Further reading:
A. Watt, 3D Computer Graphics, 3rd Ed., Addison-Wesley, 2000.
J.D. Foley, A. Van Dam, et al., Computer Graphics: Principles and
Practice, 2nd Ed. in C, Addison-Wesley, 1996.
D. Hearn, M.P. Baker, Computer Graphics, 2nd Ed. in C, Prentice-
Hall, 1996.
P.A. Egerton, W.S. Hall, Computer Graphics - Mathematical First
Steps, Prentice Hall, 1998.

101
Module 3: 3D Graphics Rendering
Unit 1 Transformation
Table of Contents
Title
Page
40.0 Introduction:
2
41.0 Objectives: 2
3.0 Transformation
2
3.1 Translation 3
3.2 Rotation 4
3.2.1 How do we define a 2D rotation? 5
3.3 Scaling 6
3.4 Linear transformations
7
3.4.1 Affine Transformations 7
3.5 Homogeneous Coordinates 8
3.6 Matrix Transformations 8
4.0 Conclusion 10
5.0 Summary 10
6.0 Tutor Marked Assignment 10
7.0 References 11

42.0 Introduction:
In Computer Graphics we most commonly model objects using points,
i.e. locations in 2D or
3D space. For example, we can model a 2D shape as a polygon whose
vertices are points. By manipulating the points, we can define the shape
of an object, or move it around in space.
In 3D too, we can model a shape using points. Points might define the
locations (perhaps the corners) of surfaces in space. In this unit, we will
describe how to manipulate models of objects and display them on the
screen.
43.0 Objectives:
On completing this unit, we will determine how a scene is mapped to a
particular computer screen. We will also learn about Projection
transform that:

102
 • Specifies how a 3D scene is mapped to the 2D screen
• Specifies the shape of the view volume Viewport (i.e., image)
transformation
We will also apply appropriate transformation matrices to primitive
graphics shape data structures:
• rotate 2D and 3D shapes
• translate 2D and 3D shapes
• scale 2D and 3D shapes.
3.0 Transformation
Transformations are often considered to be one of the hardest concepts
in elementary computer graphics. But transformations are
straightforward, as long as you
•Have a clear representation of the geometry
•Understand the underlying mathematics
•Are systematic about concatenating transformations
Given a point cloud, polygon, or sampled parametric curve, we can use
transformations for several purposes:
1. Change coordinate frames (world, window, viewport, device, etc).
2. Compose objects of simple parts with local scale/position/orientation
of one part defined with regard to other parts. For example, for
articulated objects.
3. Use deformation to create new shapes.
3.1 Translation
Suppose we want to move a point from A to B e.g, the vertex of a
polygon. This operation is called a translation
To translate point A by (tx, ty), we add (tx, ty) to A’s coordinates

To translate a 2D shape by (tx, ty) …

•Translate each point that defines the shape e.g, each vertex of a
polygon, the center point of a circle, the control points of a curve

Translation by (tx, ty) moves each object point by (tx, ty)

(x, y) →(x + tx, y + ty)
Translation is a linear operation. The new coordinates are a linear
combination of the previous coordinates, the new
coordinates are determined from a linear system

103
x’ = x + tx
y’ = y + ty
Hence, translations can be expressed using matrix notation

for (x, y) = P1, P2, and P3

Using matrices to represent transformations is convenient e.g., if the
transformation is part of an animation

3.2 Rotation
Suppose we want to rotate a point
about the origin

To rotate a 2D shape defined by a set of points

Rotate each point

and redraw the shape.

3.2.1 How do we define a 2D rotation?
First, represent (x, y) and (x’, y’) in polar coordinates and compute the
corresponding cartesian coordinates

This is a Cartesian coordinates as functions of polar coordinates

(x, y) = (R cosφ,R sinφ), and
(x’, y’) = (R cos(φ+θ),R sin(φ+θ))
Use trig identities

104
cos(φ+θ) = cosφcosθ–sinφsinθ
sin(φ+θ) = cosφsinθ+sinφcosθ
Thus,
x’ = x cosθ–y sinθ
y’ = x cosθ+y sinθ
Rotation by θ moves each object point according to (x, y) → (x
cosθ–y sinθ, x cosθ+y sinθ)
Rotation is a linear operation (like translation). The new coordinates are
a linear combination of the previous coordinates and the new
coordinates are determined from a linear system
x’ = x cosθ–y sinθ
y’ = x cosθ+y sinθ
Hence, rotations can be expressed using matrix notation

Using matrices to represent

transformations is convenient if you have
many points to transform.

Or if the transformation is part of an animation

3.3 Scaling
Scale by (sx, sy) about the origin
–Scale the coordinates (x,y) by (sx, sy)

Otherwise, the scale is non-uniform.

To scale an object about the origin by (s x, sy),
Scale each point, and redraw the shape.

Scaling by (sx, sy) scales each coordinate point

(x, y) → (sxx, syy)
Scaling is a linear operation. The new coordinates are a linear
combination of the previous coordinates. The new coordinates are
determined from a linear system

105
x’ = sx x
y’ = sy y
Hence, scaling can be expressed using matrix
notation
Using matrices to represent transformations is convenient e.g., (a)if you
have many points to transform or (b) if the transformation is part of an
animation

3.4 Linear transformations

The coordinate transformations for translation, rotation, and scaling can
all be described by linear systems
Translation
x’ = x + tx
y’ = y + ty
Rotation
x’ = xcosθ–ysinθ
y’ = xcosθ+ysinθ
Scale
x’ = sxx
y’ = sxy
3.4.1 Affine Transformations
Affine transformations are coordinate transforms that can be described
by linear systems
i.e., affine transformations can be written in the form
x’ = axx + bxy + cx
y’ = ayx + byy + cy

106
Translation, rotation, and scale are special examples of affine
transformations
Affine transformations can be expressed in matrix notation
Linear system
x’ = axx + bxy + cx
y’ = ayx + byy + cy

Matrix notation

3.5 Homogeneous Coordinates

Homogeneous coordinates are another way to represent points to
simplify the way in which we express affine transformations
Conventional matrix notation
Homogeneous coordinates are a more
convenient notation for 2D transformations
•An equivalent representation
•Require a single matrix to represent general affine transformations
•Can be used to represent perspective transformations (later)

3.6 Matrix Transformations

Translation by (tx, ty)
Inverse of translation by (tx, ty) is
translation by (-tx, -ty)
Rotation by θ about the origin
Inverse of rotation by θ is rotation by –θ
Recall cos(-θ) = cosθ and sin(-θ) = -sinθ
Scale by (sx, sy) about the origin
Inverse of scale by (sx, sy) is scale by (1/sx,1/sy)
4.0 Conclusion
Simple transformations such as translation, rotation and scaling of
objects and vectors can be performed using matrices. Firstly we look at
these 3 transformations as applied to a 2D co-ordinate system.

5.0 Summary
In computer graphics, we use combinations of the following types of
transformations (the affine transformations):
• Translation
• Rotation
• Scaling
• Shear
The order of transformations matters in some cases. We also use
homogeneous coordinates because they allow us to write the affine
transformations purely in terms of matrix multiplications:

6.0 Tutor Marked Assignment

107
 1. Consider a rectangle whose corners are (1, 1), (3, 1), (3, 2), (1,
2).
(a) Describe the transformations which would rotate this rectangle
by 90o around its center
2. Consider a rectangle whose corners are (1, 1), (3, 1), (3, 2), (1,
2).
(a) Describe the transformations which would shear the rectangle so
that its vertical sides are tilted 30◦ clockwise but the base of the
rectangle is unchanged.
3. For each of the following cases, write a single 4x4 matrix that
applies the given transformation to any arbitrary 3D point ( x, y, z, 1
). Assume that points to be transformed are represented as a column
vectors and they are left-multiplied by the matrix. If it is impossible
to define a matrix for the given transformation, say so and explain
why.
(a) Transform ( x, y, z, 1 ) to ( x+3, -2y, 2z - 4, 1 ).
(b) Transform ( x, y, z, 1 ) to ( x+y/2, y, z, 1 ).
Also, what is the name for this kind of transformation?
(c) Rotate (x, y, z, 1) by Θ degrees around the Z axis (clockwise
when viewed in the Z direction).
(d) Transform ( x, y, z, 1 ) to ( x, yz, 0, 1 ).
(e) Scale ( x, y, z, 1 ) by a factor S around the point C = ( 1, 2, -3, 1 )
(you may leave your answer as a product of matrices):

7.0 Refrences/Further reading:

A. Watt, 3D Computer Graphics, 3rd Ed., Addison-Wesley, 2000.
J.D. Foley, A. Van Dam, et al., Computer Graphics: Principles and
Practice, 2nd Ed. in C, Addison-Wesley, 1996.
D. Hearn, M.P. Baker, Computer Graphics, 2nd Ed. in C, Prentice-
Hall, 1996.
P.A. Egerton, W.S. Hall, Computer Graphics - Mathematical First
Steps, Prentice Hall, 1998.

108
Module 3: 3D Graphics Rendering
Unit 2 Scan conversion

Table of Contents
Title
Page
15.0 Introduction 2
16.0 Objectives 2
17.0 Scan Conversion for Lines 2
3.2 Pixel Space 2
3.3 Digital Differential Analyser (DDA) Algorithm 3
3.4 Bressenham’s algorithm 4
3.4.1 Bresenham’s Algorithm: Implementation 7
3.5 Line Intensity 8
3.6 Rasterisation and Clipping 9
4.0 Conclusion 10
5.0 Summary 10
6.0 Tutor Marked Assignment 10
7.0 References 10

44.0Introduction:
No matter how complex the rendering process (2D/3D,
orthographic/perspective, flat/smooth shading etc), ultimately all
graphics comes down to:
write_pixel(x,y,colour)
We are likely to have to perform this operation many times for every
pixel.
If we wish to draw frames fast enough for smooth 3D graphics, we
clearly need to be able to turn our graphical primitives into write_pixel
operations extremely quickly. It turns out even division operations need
to be avoided. This process is called scan conversion or rasterisation

45.0Objectives:
109
In this unit, we are expected to look in some detail at two scan
conversion algorithms for lines:
• DDA Algorithm
• Bresenham’s Algorithm
Plus issues related to line intensity.
We will then look at methods for polygons:
• Filled polygons
• Edge tables

46.0 Scan Conversion for Lines

In order to scan convert lines, we must tackle the following problem:
Input
We have a line defined on the plane of real numbers (x, y). We have a
discrete model of the (x, y) plane consisting of a regular array of
rectangles called pixels, which can be coloured.
What we wish to do
Map the line onto the pixel array, while satisfying or optimising the
following constraints:
Maintain constant brightness
Differing pen styles or thicknesses may be required
Shape of endpoints if line thicker than one pixel.

3.2 Pixel Space

The pixel space is a rectangle on the x y plane, bounded by:
0 ≤ x ≤ xmax and 0 ≤ y ≤ ymax
Each axis is divided into an integer number of pixels, Nx and Ny. The
pixels there for have width and height:

Pixels are referred to using integer coordinates that either refers to the
location of their lower left hand corners or their centres. Knowing the
W and H values allows the pixel aspect ratio to be defined. Assume that
W and H are equal so pixels are square.

Assumptions on Gradient
Both of the algorithms we will look at make the assumption that the
gradient of the line satisfies 0 ≤ m ≤ 1
However, through symmetry we can handle all other cases
110
3.3 Digital Differential Analyser (DDA) Algorithm
A line segment is to be drawn from (x1,y1) to (x2,y2)

The DDA algorithm uses a function round(x) to convert floating point,

real valued coordinates to integer pixel coordinates:

There is no scaling involved in moving from projection to viewport

coordinates, so we can use these directly.

3.4 Bresenham’s Algorithm

111
The DDA algorithm requires a floating point addition and rounding
operation for every iteration Bresenham’s algorithm operates only on
integers requiring only that the start and end points of a line segment are
rounded

The key idea of Bresenham’s algorithm is to reduce line drawing to the

decision problem of choosing between N and NE for the next pixel
It turns out that we can design a decision variable on which to base this
choice which we can compute without division. Rewrite equation of a
straight line:

The useful property of this function is that:

F(x,y) < 0 for points above the line
F(x,y) > 0 for points below the line
We can now use the decision variable to derive our line drawing
algorithm. This involves some rational numbers in the derivation, but we
cancel for these at the end. Consider an arbitrary pixel (xp, yp) that is on
the line segment. We need to design a test to decide which of the next 2
pixels to colour. The point to test is (xp+1, yp+1/2):
This point will be on the boundary between pixels E and NE and at the
horizontal midpoint
So:
If F(xp+1, yp+1/2) ≤ 0 then next pixel is E
Otherwise next pixel is NE

The decision for our next step is dependent on the decision we have just
made:
112
If E was chosen then the next test will be F(xp+2, yp+1/2)
If NE was chosen the next test will be F(xp+2, yp+3/2)
We can obtain an iterative form of this decision variable which accounts
for these two cases
Let dn = F(xp+1, yp+1/2)
If we substitute (x+2, y+1/2) and (x+2, y+3/2) back into the definition of
F we end up with:
If E was chosen, the next test will be dn+1 = dn + Δy
If NE was chosen, the next test will be dn+1 = dn + (Δy-Δx)
To initialise the process we need a formula to compute d1:

This still has a factor of 1/2 in it and we wanted only integers

Solution: simply multiply everything by 2

3.4.1 Bresenham’s Algorithm: Implementation

113
Bresenham’s Algorithm: Worked Example

3.5 Line Intensity

Simple line drawing algorithms such as DDA and Bresenham’s
algorithm do not give lines that appear with the correct intensity:
Apparent line intensity is a function of the gradient
Lines with different slopes have a different number of pixels per unit
length
To draw two such lines with the same intensity must make
pixelintensity a function of the gradient (or use antialiasing)

114
Anti-aliasing
The best solution to the problem of maintaining consistent line intensity
is to use antialiasing:

If lines are assigned a thickness, we can calculate

what proportion of each pixel is covered by the line and colour
accordingly. Pixels only partially covered should be blended with
whatever is behind
3.6 Rasterisation and Clipping
If a line segment has been clipped, we need to be careful how the
clipped end is treated:
At the clipping boundary, one coordinate will be integer, one
real
Pixel at boundary will be correctly drawn
Subsequent pixels may not be as gradient of clipped line is
different
The solution is:
Draw edge pixel
Initialise F(…) for next column over
Use original (not clipped gradient)
Filled Polygons

115
47.0Conclusion
Displaying graphical content of any kind, whether 2D or 3D,
orthographic or perspective, flat/smooth shading etc, eventually it comes
down to drawing individual pixels with individual colours to the screen.
This is the fundamental operation in graphics.

48.0 Summary
Pixels are discrete elements of a grid defined over the same plane. For a
given primitive, we tried to determine which pixels should be coloured.
We also discussed the basic line drawing algorithms:
• DDA Algorithm: Conceptually simple, but requires floating point
arithmetic at every iteration
• Bresenham’s Algorithm: Draws the same lines, but avoids all
floating point operation. Based on evaluating a decision variable
at every iteration which
• Rasterizing polygons is in some ways easier. We just need to
keep track of when we enter and exit a polygon as we move along
a scanline, either colouring pixels or not. Need to be careful with
abutting polygons etc.

49.0Tutor Marked Assignment

1. Describe a way to test whether a point is inside a triangle
2. Can this “inside triangle test” be applied to arbitrary polygons?
(Explain in one short sentence.)
3. What modifications must be made to the sweep-line algorithm
for scan converting triangles in order to apply it to arbitrary
polygons?
4. What approach is normally implemented in modern graphics
systems for scan-converting arbitrary polygons?

116
50.0Refrences/Further reading:
A. Watt, 3D Computer Graphics, 3rd Ed., Addison-Wesley, 2000.
J.D. Foley, A. Van Dam, et al., Computer Graphics: Principles and
Practice, 2nd Ed. in C, Addison-Wesley, 1996.
D. Hearn, M.P. Baker, Computer Graphics, 2nd Ed. in C, Prentice-
Hall, 1996.
P.A. Egerton, W.S. Hall, Computer Graphics - Mathematical First
Steps, Prentice Hall, 1998.

117
Module 3: 3D Graphics Rendering
Unit 3 Three-Dimensional Viewing

Table of Contents
Title
Page
18.0 Introduction 2
19.0 Objectives 2
20.0 3D Camera Transforms
2
3.1 Camera Projection 2
3.1.1 Orthogonal Projection
3
3.1.2 Perspective Projection
3
3.1.3 Orthographic Projection 3
3.2 View Port 3
3.3 Performing the Orthographic Projection 4
3.4 Perspective Projection
4
3.5 Non-Parallel Projection 5
3.6 View Frustum
5
3.6.1 Specifying the View Frustum
5
3.7 Performing the Perspective Projection 6
3.7.1 Specifying Perspective Projection 6
3.8 Graphic Pipeline Transformations 8
3.9 View transform 8
3.9.1 Orthographic or Perspective Transform 8
3.10 Projective Transform
8
3.11 Image Transform 9
4.0 Conclusion 10
5.0 Summary 10
6.0 Tutor Marked Assignment 10
7.0 References 11

51.0Introduction:
This unit will introduce you to the concept of 3D viewing. The concepts
are the same as
2D viewing except there is a new dimension to work with depth.
In this unit you will gain the skills to design more complex 3D scenes
and to manipulate a viewing camera.

118
52.0Objectives:
• Upon successful completion of this module students will be able
to:
• Learn the basic ways of projecting a tree dimensional scene
• Develop 3D tools for use in controlling the camera in a scene
• Understand the transformations used in 3D animation.
53.0 3D Camera Transforms
Camera Analogy
The rendering pipeline mimics photography;
The viewing transform: performs the same operation as mounting a
camera on a tripod to view a scene.
The model transform: places objects in the scene, just as objects are
placed in front of the camera.
The projection transform: defines the shape of the viewing volume, just
as the camera’s lens determines what the camera sees, e.g., a wide angle
lens sees a wide viewing volume while a telephoto lens sees a narrow
viewing volume.
The image is rendered to the viewport just as the photograph is rendered
on film.
3.1 Camera Projection
Projecting camera space onto the image plane
3D objects are projected onto the 2D image plane (a.k.a. viewport). The
2D projected shapes are rasterized into the image.

There are two basic forms of projection

3.1.1 Orthogonal projection
• Parallel lines remain parallel
• Relative distances and angles are better preserved
Used for CAD/CAM, architectural drawings, medical
applications
3.1.2 Perspective projection
• Parallel lines don’t remain parallel, rendered object size
decreases with distance from the image plane
• More realistic, provides a sense of being in the scene
Used for immersive environments
3.1.3 Orthographic Projection
Parallel projection

119
Points are projected from 3D camera space onto the 2D screen in a
direction parallel to the view direction;
Points map to points, Straight lines map to straight lines. 3D polygons
are mapped to 2D polygons in the 2D image plane. The 2D polygons
can be rendered using a polygon fill method

3.2 View port

What is seen depends on the
window, or view port, that you look through
• A large view port sees more of camera space
• A small view port sees less of camera space
The view port corresponds to what is recorded on the image. The view
port is specified by the left, right, top, bottom, near and far planes
l <= x <= r
b <= y <= t
n <= -z <= f, where n and f are specified as positive values. These limits
define a rectangular prism that is perpendicular to viewing plane for
orthographic projection.
The view port defines the view volume – the volume of space visible to
the camera

3.3 Performing the orthographic projection

It is convenient for lots of algorithms to transform points in the view
volume so that the x, y, and z boundaries map to +/-1. The orthographic
projection scales x, y, and z so that the rectangular prism is in from -1 to
1 in x, y, and z. This is a cube with sides of length 2, centered on the
camera axis.

To translate the camera axis to the origin

tx = -(r+l)/(r-l), ty = -(t+b)/(t-b), tz = -(f+n)/(f-
n)

120
To scale to a 2x2x2 cube
sx = 2/(r-l), sy = (2/(t-b), sz = (2/f-n)
Translate the camera axis to the origin

Scale to a 2x2x2 cube

3.4 Perspective Projection
Models the optics of the eye. Objects are
projected towards an eye point situated behind
the camera plane. Perspective projection tends
to look more realistic than orthographic
projection

3.5 Non-parallel projection

The Points are projected from 3D camera
space onto the 2D screen along rays that
converge to the eye point
Properties:
• Points map to points
• Straight lines map to straight lines
• 3D polygons are mapped to 2D polygons in
the 2D image plane
• The 2D polygons can be rendered using a
polygon fill method
What is seen depends on the view port:
A large view port sees more of camera space
A small view port sees less of camera space
And its location relative to the eye point
The eye point and the location of the view port determine the field of
view
3.6 View frustum
The view port and its location relative to the eye point define the view
volume. The view frustum is the volume of space visible to the camera.
For perspective projection, the view frustum is a truncated pyramid.

3.6.1 Specifying the view frustum

Assume the camera looks down the negative z-axis and that the eye
point lies at the origin, then the view frustum is symmetric about the z-
axis. The view frustum is fully specified by the width and height at the
near plane and znear and zfar

121
3.7 Performing the perspective projection
Like orthographic projection, it is convenient (e.g., for clipping) to
transform the view frustum so its boundaries map to +/-1
• Map the truncated pyramid to a cube with sides of length 2, centered
on the camera axis
• How do we determine the mapping?

Note: Objects are deformed by perspective projection

Mapping the truncated pyramid to the 2x2x2 cube deforms the camera
space

Objects farther from the view port become smaller

Assumptions about the view frustum
• The camera looks down the negative z-
axis
• The view port is symmetric about the z-
axis
It has width w and height h
• The eye point lies at the origin
• The camera plane lies at the near plane,
znear = -n
• The far plane is zfar = -f
3.7.1 Specifying perspective projection
What happens to a point (x,y,z) when it is projected onto the view
window?

Use similar triangles to verify that

122
x’ = xn /z
y’ = yn /z
Note that as z gets larger, x’ and y’ get smaller
Objects look smaller when they are farther away
To map (x, y, z) into the 2x2x2 box
• Scale x and y by -n/z to model converging line of sight
• Scale x and y so that x’ and y’ range from -1 to 1 instead of –w/2 to w/
2 and –h/2 to h/2
x’ = -(xn/z) / (w/2) = -(x/z)(2n/w)
y’ = -(yn/z) / (h/2) = -(y/z)(2n/h)

How do we map z into the 2x2x2 box?

One possibility would be to map z between n and f to values between -1
and 1 using a linear function, i.e.
z’ = -1+ 2(z – n) / (f – n)

The function z’ = -1+ 2(z – n) / (f – n) is a linear function that maps

points between z = -n and z = -f to points from -1 to 1

3.8 Graphics Pipeline Transformations

Model transform
Place the object in the world coordinates
The triangle is originally specified in the coordinates of the model
(perhaps in a hierarchy). The model is then transformed into world
coordinates to place it in the scene
(x,y,z)Object → (x,y,z)WorldCoordinates
3.9 View transform
Determine what is seen from the camera
• Perform the coordinate transform (rotation and translation) to camera
space
(x,y,z)WorldCoordinates → (x,y,z)CameraSpace
3.9.1 Orthographic or perspective transform
Transform what is seen by the camera into the standard 2x2x2 view
volume

123
• Perform the orthographic or perspective projection into the view
volume
(x,y,z)CameraSpace → (x,y,z)ViewVolume
Projecting camera space onto the image
plane
3D objects are projected onto the 2D view
port
The viewport is mapped to the image
The 2D projected shapes are rasterized into
the image
3.10 Projective transform
Project each point in the view volume onto the view port
• Points in the view volume are projected onto the viewport by
discarding the z component of view volume coordinates (x,y,z)ViewVolume
→ (x,y)Viewport
• Use the z component of the view volume;
To determine which object is in front if two objects overlap
To modify the pixel color if depth-based shading is used
For special effects (e.g., depth-based fog)

3.11 Image transform

Transform viewport coordinates into image coordinates;
• Maps (-1,1) x (-1x1)Viewport → (0,W-1) x (0,H-1)Image
• Requires (another) scale and translation
(1) Scale the view port to the size of the image sx = W/2, sy = H/2
(2) Translate the origin of the view port to the center of the image t x =
W/2, ty = H/2

54.0Conclusion
Great visual realism can be achieved using complex texturing and
lighting effects. However even before applying these to a 3D scene
the computer graphics programmer needs to understand how issues
of perspective can best be addressed.

55.0Summary
This introduces us to the basic camera concepts. It explains how you can
create perspective views of 3D scenes and how to position and move the
camera.
You should be familiar with the concepts of:
• eye
• view volume

124
 • view angle
• near plane
• far plane
• aspect ratio
• viewplane.

56.0Tutor Marked Assignment

1. Draw four pictures of a rectangular box. From left to right, the
drawings should be in
(1) one-point, (2) two-point, and (3) three-point perspective, and (4)
orthographic projection
2. What is the difference between orthographic and oblique projection?
3. Write out the 4x4 perspective projection
matrix that projects from 3D camera
coordinates into screen coordinates:

57.0 Refrences/Further
reading:
A. Watt, 3D Computer Graphics, 3rd Ed., Addison-Wesley, 2000.
J.D. Foley, A. Van Dam, et al., Computer Graphics: Principles and
Practice, 2nd Ed. in C, Addison-Wesley, 1996.
D. Hearn, M.P. Baker, Computer Graphics, 2nd Ed. in C, Prentice-
Hall, 1996.
P.A. Egerton, W.S. Hall, Computer Graphics - Mathematical First
Steps, Prentice Hall, 1998.

Module 3: 3D Graphics Rendering

125
Unit 4 3D transform and Animation

Table of Contents
Title
Page
21.0 Introduction 2
22.0 Objectives 2
23.0 3D Transformation 2
3.0.1 3D Transation
2
3.1 In matrix coordinates
2
3.1.1 3D Scale about the origin 3
3.1.2 3D Scaling about an arbitrary point (px, py, pz) 3
3.2 3D Rotation 3
3.2.1 Rotation about the x-axis 4
3.2.2 Rotation about the y-axis 4
3.2.3 General 3D Rotation
4
3.3 Traditional Animation
5
3.3.2 Cel Animation
6
3.4 Keyframing 7
3.5 Interpolation 7
3.6 Kinematics 8
3.7 Motion capture 9
3.8 Procedural Animation
9
4.0 Conclusion 10
5.0 Summary 10
6.0 Tutor Marked Assignment 10
7.0 References 11

58.0Introduction:
In this unit, we will address 3D transformation. This allows us to
represent translations, scalings, and rotations as multiplication of a
vector by a matrix in a three dimensional scene. And also take a brief
look at computer animation principles.
59.0Objectives:
To give explore the different ways of transforming 3D objects
To provide a comprehensive introduction to computer animation
To study the difference between Traditional and Computer Animation
60.03D Transformations

126
We can represent 3D transformations by 4 × 4 matrices in the same way
as we represent
2D transformations by 3 × 3 matrices.
•Much of computer graphics deals with 3D spaces
3D transformations are similar to 2D transforms, Some important
transformations are:
•Translation
•Rotation
•Scaling
•Reflection
•Shears
3.0.1 3D Translation
(x, y, z) → (x + tx, y + ty, z + tz)
It is similar to 2D transformations, a 3D translation can be written as a
set of linear equations in x, y, and z
x’ = 1x + 0y + 0z + tx
y’ = 0x + 1y + 0z + ty
z’ = 0x + 0y + 1z + tz
3.1 In matrix notation

Using homogenous coordinates

3.1.1 3D Scale about the origin

(x, y, z) → (ax, by, cz)
–In matrix notation

Using homogenous coordinates

3.1.2 3D Scaling about an arbitrary point (px, py, pz)

1.Translate (px, py, pz) to the origin
2.Scale about the origin
3.Translate the origin back to (px, py, pz)

127
3.2 3D Rotation
We can rotate about any axis but will start with rotations about the
coordinate (x, y, and z) axes
Rotation about the z-axis:
This is related to a 2D rotation in the x-y plane:

x’ = xcosθ – ysinθ
y’ = xsinθ + ycosθ
z’ = z

In (homogeneous) matrix form:

Notes about the direction of rotation

By convention, the rotation angle is positive if it is in a counter-
clockwise direction when looking in the negative direction down the
axis of rotation.
3.2.1 Rotation about the x-axis:
x’ = x
y’ = ycosθ – zsinθ
z’ = ysinθ + zcosθ
In (homogeneous) matrix form:

3.2.2 Rotation about

the y-axis:
x’ = xcosθ + zsinθ
y’ = y
z’ = -xsinθ + zcosθ
In (homogeneous) matrix form:

3.2.3 General 3D
Rotation
To rotate about an arbitrary axis
•Translate the object so the rotation axis passes through the origin
•Rotate the object so that the rotation axis coincides with one of the
coordinate (x, y, or z) axes
•Perform the specified rotation about the selected coordinate axis
•Apply the inverse rotations to bring the coordinate axis back to its
original orientation
•Apply the inverse translation to bring the rotation axis back to its
original spatial location

128
To rotate about an arbitrary axis

R(θ) = T-1Rx-1Ry-1RzRyRxT
These matrices are derived from the direction vector of the axis of
rotation and a point on the axis.
3.3 Traditional Animation
At the early day of the history of animation, it took a lot of effort to
make an animation, even the shortest ones. In film, every second
requires 24 picture frames for the movement to be so smooth that
humans cannot recognise discrete changes between frames. Before the
appearance of cameras and computers, animations were produced by
hand. Artists had to draw every single frame and then combined them as
one animation.
It is worth mentioning about some of the techniques that were used to
produce animations in the early days that are still being employed in
computer-based animations:
3.1.1 Key frames: this technique is used to sub divide the whole
animation into key points between which a lot of actions happen. For
example, to specify an action of raising a hand, at this stage the manager
only specifies the start and finish positions of the hand without having to
worry about the image sequence in between. It is then the artist’s job to
129
draw images in between the start and finish positions of the hand, a
process called in-betweening. Using this technique, many people can be
involved in producing one animation and hence it helps reduce the
amount of time to get the product done. In today’s computer animation
packages, key frame technique is used as a powerful tool for designing.
Here, the software does the in-betweening.
3.3.2 Cel animation: this is also a very powerful technique in producing
animations. It is common that only a few objects will change in the
animation. It is time consuming to draw the whole image background
for every single frame. When using Cel animation method, moving
objects and background are drawn on separate pictures and they will be
laid on top of each other when merging. This technique significantly
reduces production time by reducing the work and allowing many
people can work independently at the same time.
Motion can bring the simplest of characters to life. Even simple
polygonal shapes can convey a number of human qualities when
animated: identity, character, gender, mood, intention, emotion, and so
on. Animation make objects change over time according to scripted
actions.
In general, animation may be achieved by specifying a model with n
parameters that identify degrees of freedom that an animator may be
interested in such as
• polygon vertices,
• spline control,
• joint angles,
• muscle contraction,
• camera parameters, or
• color.
With n parameters, this results in a vector ~q in n-dimensional state
space. Parameters may be varied to generate animation. A model’s
motion is a trajectory through its state space or a set of motion curves
for each parameter over time, i.e. ~q(t), where t is the time of the current
frame.
Every animation technique reduces to specifying the state space
trajectory. The basic animation algorithm is then: for t = t1 to tend:
render(~q(t)).
Modeling and animation are loosely coupled. Modeling describes
control values and their actions.
Animation describes how to vary the control values. There are a number
of animation techniques, including the following:
• User driven animation
Keyframing
Motion capture
• Procedural animation
Physical simulation
Particle systems

130
 Crowd behaviors
• Data-driven animation
3.4 Keyframing
Keyframing is an animation technique where motion curves are
interpolated through states at times,
(~q1, ..., ~qT ), called keyframes, specified by a user.

Underlying technique is interpolation

The in-between frames are interpolated from the keyframes. Originally
done by armies of underpaid animators but now done with computers
3.5 Interpolation
• Interpolating splines are smooth curves that interpolate their
control points. it is perfect for keyframe animation
• Typically, time is directly associated with the parameter value,
controlling speed

Anything can be keyframed and interpolated. Position, Orientation,

Scale, Deformation, Patch Control Points (facial animation), Color,
Surface normals
Special interpolation schemes for things like rotations. Use quaternions
to represent rotation and do spherical interpolation, Control of
parameterization controls speed of animation
3.6 Kinematics
Kinematics describe the properties of shape and motion independent of
physical forces that cause motion. Kinematic techniques are used often
in keyframing, with an animator either setting joint parameters explicitly
with forward kinematics or specifying a few key joint orientations and
having the rest computed automatically with inverse kinematics.
Forward Kinematics
With forward kinematics, a point ¯p is positioned by ¯p = f(θ) whereθ is
a state vector (θ1, θ2, ...θn) specifying the position, orientation, and
rotation of all joints.

131
For the above example, ¯p = (l1 cos(θ1) + l2 cos(θ1 + θ2), l1 sin(θ1) + l2
sin(θ1 + θ2)).
Inverse Kinematics
With inverse kinematics, a user specifies the position of the end effector,
p, and the algorithm has to evaluate the required θ give p. That is, θ = f
−1
(p). Usually, numerical methods are used to solve this problem, as it is
often nonlinear and either underdetermined or over determined. A
system is underdetermined when there is not a unique solution, such as
when there are more equations than unknowns. A system is
overdetermined when it is inconsistent and has no solutions.
Extra constraints are necessary to obtain unique and stable solutions. For
example, constraints may be placed on the range of joint motion and the
solution may be required to minimize the kinetic energy of the system.
3.7 Motion Capture
In motion capture, an actor has a number of small, round markers
attached to his or her body that reflect light in frequency ranges that
motion capture cameras are specifically designed to pick up.
With enough cameras, it is possible to reconstruct the position of the
markers accurately in 3D.
In practice, this is a laborious process. Markers tend to be hidden from
cameras and 3D reconstructions fail, requiring a user to manually fix
such drop outs. The resulting motion curves are often noisy, requiring
yet more effort to clean up the motion data to more accurately match
what an animator wants.
Despite the labor involved, motion capture has become a popular
technique in the movie and game industries, as it allows fairly accurate
animations to be created from the motion of actors. However, this is
limited by the density of markers that can be placed on a single actor.
Faces, for example, are still very difficult to convincingly reconstruct.
Motion capture is one of the primary animation techniques for computer
games
Gather lots of snippets of motion capture e.g.: Several ways to dunk,
dribble, pass, and arrange them so that they can be pieced together
smoothly. At run time, figure out which pieces to play to have the
character do the desired thing
Problems:
Once the data is captured, it’s hard to modify for a different purpose
• Uses:
Character animation
Medicine, such as kinesiology and biomechanics
3.8 Procedural Animation

132
Animation is generated by writing a program that outputs the
position/shape/whatever of the scene over time
Generally:
Program some rules for how the system will behave
Choose some initial conditions for the world
Run the program, maybe with user input to guide what happens
Advantage: Once you have the program, you can get lots of motion
Disadvantage: The animation is generally hard to control, which makes
it hard to tell a story with purely procedural means
61.0Conclusion
3D objects are transformed the same as 2D except the we have to
consider the depth in 3D
Animation produces the illusion of movement which are displayed in a
series of frames with small differences between them done in rapid
succession, eye blends to get motion.
62.0Summary
In 3D computer graphics, we also use combinations of the following
types of transformations (the affine transformations):
• Translation
• Rotation
• Scaling
• Shear
Computer animation became available when computers and animation
creating software packages became available. With the processing
power of computers and the utilities offered by many drawing software
packages, making animations has become more efficient and less time
consuming.
63.0Tutor Marked Assignment
1 One principle of traditional animation is called “squash and
stretch.” Name and describe three more principles.
2 Describe a problem with using linear interpolation between
keyframes.
3 Describe a problem with using interpolating splines between
keyframes
4 What is the basic difference between dynamics and kinematics?
5 What is the basic difference between forward kinematics and
inverse kinematics?
6 Where did the word cel in “cel animation” come from?

64.0Refrences/Further reading:

Rick Parent. “Computer Animation: Algorithms and

Techniques": Morgan-Kaufmann.

A. Watt, 3D Computer Graphics, 3rd Ed., Addison-Wesley, 2000.

133
 J.D. Foley, A. Van Dam, et al., Computer Graphics: Principles and
Practice, 2nd Ed. in C, Addison-Wesley, 1996.

Module 3: 3D Graphics Rendering

Unit 5 Hidden Surface Elimination

Table of Contents
Title
Page
24.0 Introduction 2
25.0 Objectives 2
26.0 Algorithm Types 2
3.0.1 Object precision 2
3.0.2 Image precision
2

134
3.1 Culling: 3
3.1.1 Back-face Culling: 3
3.1.2 View Frustum Culling: 3
3.1.3 Visibility Culling: 3
3.2 Depth-Sort Algorithm 4
3.3 Depth-buffer Algorithm
5
4.0 Conclusion 7
5.0 Summary 7
6.0 Tutor Marked Assignment 7
7.0 References 8

65.0Introduction:
We consider algorithmic approaches to an important problem in
computer graphics, hidden surface removal. We are given a collection of
objects in 3-space, represented, say, by a set of polygons, and a viewing
situation, and we want to render only the visible surfaces. This unit will
guide us through the various techniques of rendering only the visible
surfaces.
66.0Objectives:
• To determine which of the various objects that project to the
same pixel is closest to the viewer and hence is displayed.
• To determine which objects are visible to the eye and what
colors to use to paint the pixels
The unit will address the surfaces we cannot see and their elimination
methods:
• Occluded surfaces: hidden surface removal (visibility).
• Back faces: back face culling
• Faces outside view volume: viewing frustrum culling
67.0 Algorithm Types
3.0.1 Object precision: The algorithm computes its results to machine
precision (the precision used to represent object coordinates). The
resulting image may be enlarged many times without significant loss of
accuracy. The output is a set of visible object faces, and the portions of
faces that are only partially visible.
3.0.2 Image precision: The algorithm computes its results to the
precision of a pixel of the image. Thus, once the image is generated, any
attempt to enlarge some portion of the image will result in reduced
resolution.

135
Although image precision approaches have the obvious drawback that
they cannot be enlarged without loss of resolution, the fastest and
simplest algorithms usually operate by this approach.
The hidden-surface elimination problem for object precision is
interesting from the perspective of algorithm design, because it is an
example of a problem that is rather hard to solve in the worst-case, and
yet there exists a number of fast algorithms that work well in practice.
As an example of this, consider a patch-work of n thin horizontal strips
in front of n thin vertical strips.

Worst-case example for hidden-surface elimination.

3.1 Culling:
Before performing a general hidden surface removal algorithm, it is
common to first apply heuristics to remove objects that are obviously
not visible. This process is called culling. There are three common
forms of culling.

3.1.1 Back-face Culling: This is a simple trick, which can eliminate

roughly half of the faces from consideration. Assuming that the viewer
is never inside any of the objects of the scene, then the back sides of
objects are never visible to the viewer, and hence they can be eliminated
from consideration.
For each polygonal face, we assume an outward pointing normal has
been computed. If this normal is directed away from the viewpoint, that
is, if its dot product with a vector directed towards the viewer is
negative, then the face can be immediately discarded from
consideration. 3.1.2 View Frustum Culling: If a polygon does not lie
within the view frustum (recall from the lecture on perspective), that is,
the region that is visible to the viewer, then it does not need to be
rendered. This automatically eliminates polygons that lie behind the
viewer.
This amounts to clipping a 2-dimensional polygon against a 3-
dimensional frustum. The Liang-Barsky clipping algorithm can be
generalized to do this.
3.1.3 Visibility Culling: Sometimes a polygon can be culled because it
is “known” that the polygon cannot be visible, based on knowledge of
the domain. For example, if you are rendering a room of a building, then
it is reasonable to infer that furniture on other floors or in distant rooms

136
on the same floor are not visible. This is the hardest type of culling,
because it relies on knowledge of the environment. This information is
typically precomputed, based on expert knowledge or complex analysis
of the environment.
3.2 Depth-Sort Algorithm: A fairly simple hidden-surface algorithm is
based on the principle of painting objects from back to front, so that
more distant polygons are overwritten by closer polygons. This is called
the depthsort algorithm. This suggests the following algorithm: sort all
the polygons according to increasing distance from the viewpoint, and
then scan convert them in reverse order (back to front). This is
sometimes called thepainter’s algorithm because it mimics the way that
oil painters usually work (painting the background before the
foreground). The painting process involves setting pixels, so the
algorithm is an image precision algorithm.
There is a very quick-and-dirty technique for sorting polygons, which
unfortunately does not generally work.
Compute a representative point on each polygon (e.g. the centroid or the
farthest point to the viewer). Sort the objects by decreasing order of
distance from the viewer to the representative point (or using the
pseudodepth which we discussed in discussing perspective) and draw
the polygons in this order. Unfortunately, just because the representative
points are ordered, it does not imply that the entire polygons are ordered.
Worse yet, it may be impossible to order polygons so that this type of
algorithm will work. The Fig. blow shows such an example, in which
the polygons overlap one another cyclically.

Hard cases to depth-sort.

In these cases we may need to cut one or more of the polygons into
smaller polygons so that the depth order can be uniquely assigned. Also
observe that if two polygons do not overlap in x; y space, then it does
not matter what order they are drawn in.
Here is a snapshot of one step of the depth-sort algorithm. Given any
object, define its z-extents to be an interval along the z-axis defined by
the object’s minimum and maximum z-coordinates. We begin by sorting
the polygons by depth using farthest point as the representative point, as
described above. Let’s consider the polygon P that is currently at the
end of the list. Consider all polygons Q whose z-extents overlaps P’s.
This can be done by walking towards the head of the list until finding
the first polygon whose maximum z-coordinate is less than P’s
minimum z-coordinate. Before drawing P we apply the following tests
to each of these polygons Q. If any answers is “yes”, then we can safely
draw P before Q.
(1) Are the x-extents of P and Q disjoint?

137
 (2) Are the y-extents of P and Q disjoint?
(3) Consider the plane containing Q. Does P lie entirely on the
opposite side of this plane from the viewer?
(4) Consider the plane containing P. Does Q lie entirely on the
same side of this plane from the viewer?
(5) Are the projections of the polygons onto the view window
disjoint?
In the cases of (1) and (2), the order of drawing is arbitrary. In cases (3)
and (4) observe that if there is any plane with the property that P lies to
one side and Q and the viewer lie to the other side, then P may be drawn
before Q. The plane containing P and the plane containing Q are just
two convenient planes to test. Observe that tests (1) and (2) are very
fast, (3) and (4) are pretty fast, and that (5) can be pretty slow, especially
if the polygons are nonconvex.
If all tests fail, then the only way to resolve the situation may be to split
one or both of the polygons. Before doing this, we first see whether this
can be avoided by putting Q at the end of the list, and then applying the
process on Q. To avoid going into infinite loops, we mark each polygon
once it is moved to the back of the list.
Once marked, a polygon is never moved to the back again. If a marked
polygon fails all the tests, then we need to split. To do this, we use P’s
plane like a knife to split Q. We then take the resulting pieces of Q,
compute the farthest point for each and put them back into the depth
sorted list.
In theory this partitioning could generate O(n2) individual polygons, but
in practice the number of polygons is much smaller. The depth-sort
algorithm needs no storage other than the frame buffer and a linked list
for storing the polygons (and their fragments). However, it suffers from
the deficiency that each pixel is written as many times as there are
overlapping polygons.
3.3 Depth-buffer Algorithm: The depth-buffer algorithm is one of the
simplest and fastest hidden-surface algorithms.
Its main drawbacks are that it requires a lot of memory, and that it only
produces a result that is accurate to pixel resolution and the resolution of
the depth buffer. Thus the result cannot be scaled easily and edges
appear jagged (unless some effort is made to remove these effects called
“aliasing”). It is also called the z-buffer algorithm because the z-
coordinate is used to represent depth. This algorithm assumes that for
each pixel we store two pieces of information, (1) the color of the pixel
(as usual), and (2) the depth of the object that gave rise to this color. The
depth-buffer values are initially set to the maximum possible depth
value.
Suppose that we have a k-bit depth buffer, implying that we can store
integer depths ranging from 0 to D = 2k − 1. After applying the
perspective-with-depth transformation (recall Lecture 12), we know that
all depth values have been scaled to the range [−1; 1]. We scale the

138
depth value to the range of the depth-buffer and convert this to an
integer, e.g. b(z + 1)=(2D)c. If this depth is less than or equal to the
depth at this point of the buffer, then we store its RGB value in the color
buffer. Otherwise we do nothing.
This algorithm is favored for hardware implementations because it is so
simple and essentially reuses the same algorithms needed for basic scan
conversion.
Z-Buffering: Algorithm
allocate z-buffer; // Allocate depth buffer →Same size as
viewport.
for each pixel (x,y) // For each pixel in viewport.
writePixel(x,y,backgrnd); // Initialize color.
writeDepth(x,y,farPlane); // Initialize depth (z) buffer.
for each polygon // Draw each polygon (in any order).
for each pixel (x,y) in polygon // Rasterize polygon.
pz = polygon’s z-value at (x,y); // Interpolate z-value at (x, y).
if (pz < z-buffer(x,y)) // If new depth is closer:
writePixel(x,y,color); // Write new (polygon) color.
writeDepth(x,y,pz); // Write new depth.
Note: This assumes’ you’ve negated the z values!right edges.
Advantages:
Easy to implement in hardware (and software!)
Fast with hardware support Fast depth buffer memory
Hardware supported
Process polygons in arbitrary order
Handles polygon interpenetration trivially
Disadvantages:
Lots of memory for z-buffer:
Integer depth values
Scan-line algorithm
Prone to aliasing
Super-sampling
Overhead in z-checking: requires fast memory
68.0Conclusion
There are several approaches to drawing only the things that should be
visible in a 3D scene. The "painter's algorithm" says to sort the objects
by distance from the camera, and draw the farther things first, and the
nearer ones on top ("painting over") the farther ones. This approach may
be too inefficient We need an approach that removes the hidden parts
mathematically before submitting primitives for rendering.
z-buffers, or depth buffers, which are extra memory buffers, to track
different objects' relative depths.

69.0Summary

139
Elements that are closer to the camera obscure more distant ones. We
needed to determine which surfaces are visible to the eye, those which
are not, and what colors to use to paint the pixels.
The following techniques were applied to eliminate the back surfaces.
• The Painter’s algorithm; to draw visible surfaces from back
(farthest) to front (nearest) by applying back-face culling, depth-
sort, BSP tree.
• Image precision algorithms; to determine which object is visible
at each pixel by applying z-buffering, ray tracing

70.0Tutor Marked Assignment

1. Specify whether the following visibility algorithms operate with
object-space precision or image-space (pixel) precision by writing the
letter ‘O’ or ‘I’ next to each.
(a) back-face culling:
(b) depth-sort:
(c) z-buffer:
(d) ray casting:
2. what do you understand by the term culling? Write on the various
culling methods.

71.0Refrences/Further reading:
A. Watt, 3D Computer Graphics, 3rd Ed., Addison-Wesley, 2000.
J.D. Foley, A. Van Dam, et al., Computer Graphics: Principles and
Practice, 2nd Ed. in C, Addison-Wesley, 1996.
D. Hearn, M.P. Baker, Computer Graphics, 2nd Ed. in C, Prentice-
Hall, 1996.
P.A. Egerton, W.S. Hall, Computer Graphics - Mathematical First
Steps, Prentice Hall, 1998.

140