1 MODULE 1: DEFINITION AND CONCEPTS OF COMPUTER GRAPHICS

2 MODULE 1: DEFINITION AND CONCEPTS OF COMPUTER GRAPHICS

PROGRAM OUTCOMES:
In pursuance of the above-stated mission, the objectives of the College are as follows:

1. Apply knowledge of computing, theories, fundamentals, models, mathematics and science

appropriate to the discipline;
2. Analyze a problem, identify and define the need and user requirements appropriate to its
solution;
3. Design, implement and evaluate a computer-based system, process, component or program to
meet desired needs;
4. Develop ideas and solutions with creativity and innovation with appropriate considerations to
ethics, cultural, and environment factors;
5. Analyze the local and global impact of technology on individuals, organizations and society;
6. Function effectively as a member or leader of a development team recognizing the different roles
within a team to accomplish a common goal;
7. Assist in the creation of an effective project plan;
8. Recognize the legal, social, ethical and professional issues involved in the utilization of computer
technology and be guided by the adoption of appropriate professional, ethical and legal practices;
9. Recognize the fast-paced demands of industry allowing him or her to formulate personal goals
aligned to organizational goals in order to determine plans of action to improve own performance,
capability and self. Such goals allow the student to self-assess him/himself to determine his
development needs;
10. Ability to effectively communicate and present the designed solutions with a range of audiences
both in oral and in writing;
11. Apply current and appropriate techniques, skills and tools necessary for the IT profession

COURSE TITLE

GRAPHICS AND VISUALIZATION (DC 105)

COURSE DESCRIPTION
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.
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.
3 MODULE 1: DEFINITION AND CONCEPTS OF COMPUTER GRAPHICS

COURSE OUTCOMES (CMO)

In this course, you should be able to:

1. Explain the overall workflow and techniques involved in computer animation production.
2. To understand the fundamental computer graphics topics including graphics pipeline
architecture, transformations, modeling, viewing, shading, and texture mapping.
3. To study basic mathematical backgrounds related to computer graphics including linear
algebra and geometry.
4. Understand vividly, those computer graphic algorithms (such as object transformation,
geometric representation, shading and illumination model, anti-aliasing and Ray
tracing).
5. Study 3-D curve and surface algorithms, in rendering, surface and line removal
algorithms
6. 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
MODULE 1: DEFINITION AND CONCEPTS OF COMPUTER GRAPHICS

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.

Module Learning Outcomes:

In this module, you should be able to:

• have an understanding of the history of computer graphics
• have gained an appreciation for the art of computer graphics

The module is divided into four lessons, namely:

• Lesson 1: Computer Graphics and Applications

• Lesson 2: Hardware, Software and Display Devices
4 MODULE 1: DEFINITION AND CONCEPTS OF COMPUTER GRAPHICS

LESSON 1 – COMPUTER GRAPHICS AND APPLICATIONS

Learning Outcomes:

In this lesson, you should be able to:

• 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.

PRE-ASSESSMENT
Directions: Circle or darken the letter that corresponds to the BEST answer. There is only
one BEST answer for each question.

1. It means creation, storage and manipulation of models ang images.

a. Drawing
b. Graphics
c. Line
d. None of the Above
2. The first commercial successes for personal computing.
a. Apple I and II
b. Apple II and III
c. DEC VAX
d. All of the Above
3. Personal Computer marketed in 1981.
a. Apple
b. IBM
c. Acer
d. Sony
4. Important driving force in computer graphics.
a. Entertainment
b. Design
c. Games
d. Graphics
5. GUI stands for
a. Graphical User Interference
b. Graphical User International
c. Graphical User Interface
d. None of the Above
6. MCS stands for
5 MODULE 1: DEFINITION AND CONCEPTS OF COMPUTER GRAPHICS

a. Modeling Coordinate System

b. Modeling Coordination System
c. Model Coordinate System
d. All of the Above
7. VCS stands for
a. Video Color System
b. Viewer Coordinate System
c. Viewer Corporation System
d. All of the Above
8. Model to scene to image conversion broken into finer steps called
a. Graphical pipeline
b. Graphics pipeline
c. Graphics portal
d. None of the Above
9. Who taught us how to draw lines on a raster device?
a. Jack Bresenham
b. Doug Englebart
c. Pierre Bezier
d. Paul Heckbert
10. VGA stands for
a. Video Graphics Array
b. Video Graphical Array
c. Video Graphics Advance
d. None of the Above

LESSON MAP

Figure 1 this map shows good insight into historical development of computer graphics.
6 MODULE 1: DEFINITION AND CONCEPTS OF COMPUTER GRAPHICS

CORE CONTENTS

ENGAGE

Activity 1: Answer the following question below.

1. What is Computer Graphics all about?

EXPLORE

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.

HISTORY

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.
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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.

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 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.
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

8 MODULE 1: DEFINITION AND CONCEPTS OF COMPUTER GRAPHICS

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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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.

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.

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.
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Software and Algorithms

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.

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.

Ethical Issues

Graphics has had a tremendous effect 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 reenactment, 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.
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Application of Computer Graphics

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 a mere artifact. No cheating or tricks allowed.

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

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.

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 specialty. Today, nearly all professional
programmers must have an understanding of graphics in order to accept input and present
output to users.

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.

Entertainment
12 MODULE 1: DEFINITION AND CONCEPTS OF COMPUTER GRAPHICS

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.

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.

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.

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.

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
13 MODULE 1: DEFINITION AND CONCEPTS OF COMPUTER GRAPHICS

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).

EXPLAIN

ACTIVITY 2: Answer the following question below.

1. Write on the history of Computer graphics under the following:

i) the age of Sutherland
14 MODULE 1: DEFINITION AND CONCEPTS OF COMPUTER GRAPHICS

__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
ii) the Early ‘70’s
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

iii) the ‘00’s

__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

TOPIC SUMMARY

• the evolution of computer graphics from the early days to the recent times, the
technological innovations
• The various application areas of computer graphics
• What is needed in computer graphics
• Graphics rendering pipeline.

REFERENCES
From the Web:

• 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.
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