Line Drawing Algorithms-

• In computer graphics, popular algorithms used to generate lines are-

i. Digital Differential Analyzer (DDA) Line Drawing Algorithm
ii. Bresenham Line Drawing Algorithm
iii. Mid Point Line Drawing Algorithm
DDA Algorithm-
• DDA Algorithm is the simplest line drawing algorithm.
• Given the starting and ending coordinates of a line, DDA Algorithm attempts to generate the
points between the starting and ending coordinates.
• Procedure-
• Given-
• Starting coordinates = (X0, Y0)
• Ending coordinates = (Xn, Yn)
• The points generation using DDA Algorithm involves the following steps-
•
• Step-01:
•
• Calculate ΔX, ΔY and M from the given input.
• These parameters are calculated as- NB: M is the gradient of
• ΔX = Xn – X0 the line
• ΔY =Yn – Y0
• M = ΔY / ΔX
Step-02:

Find the number of steps or points in between the starting and ending
coordinates.

if (absolute (ΔX) > absolute (ΔY))

Steps = absolute (ΔX);
else
Steps = absolute (ΔY);
• Step-03:
• Suppose the current point is (Xp, Yp) and the next point is (Xp+1, Yp+1).
• Find the next point by following the below three cases-
• Step-04:
• Keep repeating Step-03 until the end point is reached or the number
of generated new points (including the starting and ending points)
equals to the steps count.

• PRACTICE PROBLEMS BASED ON DDA ALGORITHM-

Problem-01:
• Calculate the points between the starting point (5, 6) and ending
point (8, 12).
• Solution-
• Given-
• Starting coordinates = (X0, Y0) = (5, 6)
• Ending coordinates = (Xn, Yn) = (8, 12)
•
• Step-01:
•
• Calculate ΔX, ΔY and M from the given input.
• ΔX = Xn – X0 = 8 – 5 = 3
• ΔY =Yn – Y0 = 12 – 6 = 6
• M = ΔY / ΔX = 6 / 3 = 2
• Step-02:
• Calculate the number of steps.
• As |ΔX| < |ΔY| = 3 < 6, so number of steps = ΔY = 6

• Step-03:
• As M > 1, so case-03 is satisfied.
• Now, Step-03 is executed until Step-04 is satisfied.
Xp Yp Xp+1 Yp+1 Round off (Xp+1, Yp+1)

5 6 5.5 7 (6, 7)

6 8 (6, 8)

6.5 9 (7, 9)

7 10 (7, 10)

7.5 11 (8, 11)

8 12 (8, 12)
Problem-02:
• Calculate the points between the starting point (5, 6) and ending
point (13, 10).
• Solution-
• Given-
• Starting coordinates = (X0, Y0) = (5, 6)
• Ending coordinates = (Xn, Yn) = (13, 10)
•
• Step-01:
•
• Calculate ΔX, ΔY and M from the given input.
• ΔX = Xn – X0 = 13 – 5 = 8
• ΔY =Yn – Y0 = 10 – 6 = 4
• M = ΔY / ΔX = 4 / 8 = 0.50
• Step-02:
• Calculate the number of steps.
• As |ΔX| > |ΔY| = 8 > 4, so number of steps = ΔX = 8
•
• Step-03:
• As M < 1, so case-01 is satisfied.
• Now, Step-03 is executed until Step-04 is satisfied.
Xp Yp Xp+1 Yp+1 Round off (Xp+1, Yp+1)

5 6 6 6.5 (6, 7)
7 7 (7, 7)
8 7.5 (8, 8)
9 8 (9, 8)
10 8.5 (10, 9)
11 9 (11, 9)
12 9.5 (12, 10)
13 10 (13, 10)
• Problem-03:
• Calculate the points between the starting point (1, 7) and ending
point (11, 17).
• Solution-
• Given-
• Starting coordinates = (X0, Y0) = (1, 7)
• Ending coordinates = (Xn, Yn) = (11, 17)
•
• Step-01:
•
• Calculate ΔX, ΔY and M from the given input.
• ΔX = Xn – X0 = 11 – 1 = 10
• ΔY =Yn – Y0 = 17 – 7 = 10
• M = ΔY / ΔX = 10 / 10 = 1
• Step-02:
• Calculate the number of steps.
• As |ΔX| = |ΔY| = 10 = 10, so number of steps = ΔX = ΔY = 10
•
• Step-03:
•
• As M = 1, so case-02 is satisfied.
• Now, Step-03 is executed until Step-04 is satisfied.
Xp Yp Xp+1 Yp+1 Round off (Xp+1, Yp+1)

1 7 2 8 (2, 8)
3 9 (3, 9)
4 10 (4, 10)
5 11 (5, 11)
6 12 (6, 12)
7 13 (7, 13)
8 14 (8, 14)
9 15 (9, 15)
10 16 (10, 16)
11 17 (11, 17)
Advantages of DDA Algorithm-
The advantages of DDA Algorithm are-
•It is a simple algorithm.
•It is easy to implement.
•It avoids using the multiplication operation which is costly in terms of time complexity.

Disadvantages of DDA Algorithm-

The disadvantages of DDA Algorithm are-
•There is an extra overhead of using round off( ) function.
•Using round off( ) function increases time complexity of the algorithm.
•Resulted lines are not smooth because of round off( ) function.
•The points generated by this algorithm are not accurate.
Bresenham Line Drawing Algorithm
• Given the starting and ending coordinates of a line, Bresenham Line Drawing Algorithm attempts
to generate the points between the starting and ending coordinates.
• Procedure-
• Given-
• Starting coordinates = (X0, Y0)
• Ending coordinates = (Xn, Yn)
• The points generation using Bresenham Line Drawing Algorithm involves the following steps-
•
• Step-01:
• Calculate ΔX and ΔY from the given input.
• These parameters are calculated as-
• ΔX = Xn – X0
• ΔY =Yn – Y0
Step-02:
Calculate the decision parameter Pk.
It is calculated as-
Pk = 2ΔY – ΔX
Step-03:
Suppose the current point is (Xk, Yk) and the next point is (Xk+1, Yk+1).
Find the next point depending on the value of decision parameter Pk.
Follow the below two cases-
Step-04:
Keep repeating Step-03 until the end point is reached or number of iterations equals to (ΔX-1) times.
PRACTICE PROBLEMS BASED ON BRESENHAM LINE DRAWING ALGORITHM-

•
• Problem-01:
• Calculate the points between the starting coordinates (9, 18) and
ending coordinates (14, 22).
•
• Solution-
•
• Given-
• Starting coordinates = (X0, Y0) = (9, 18)
• Ending coordinates = (Xn, Yn) = (14, 22)
• Step-01:
• Calculate ΔX and ΔY from the given input.
• ΔX = Xn – X0 = 14 – 9 = 5
Pk Pk+1 Xk+1 Yk+1
• ΔY =Yn – Y0 = 22 – 18 = 4
9 18
•
• Step-02: 3 1 10 19
• Calculate the decision parameter. 1 -1 11 20
• Pk = 2ΔY – ΔX
-1 7 12 20
• =2x4–5
•=3
7 5 13 21
• So, decision parameter Pk = 3 5 3 14 22
• Problem-02:
• Calculate the points between the starting coordinates (20, 10) and
ending coordinates (30, 18).
•
• Solution-
• Given-
• Starting coordinates = (X0, Y0) = (20, 10)
• Ending coordinates = (Xn, Yn) = (30, 18)
• Step-01:
• Calculate ΔX and ΔY from the given input.
• ΔX = Xn – X0 = 30 – 20 = 10
• ΔY =Yn – Y0 = 18 – 10 = 8
•
• Step-02:
• Calculate the decision parameter.
• Pk = 2ΔY – ΔX
• = 2 x 8 – 10
•=6
• So, decision parameter Pk = 6
• Step-03:
• As Pk >= 0, so case-02 is satisfied.
• Thus,
• Pk+1 = Pk + 2ΔY – 2ΔX = 6 + (2 x 8) – (2 x 10) = 2
• Xk+1 = Xk + 1 = 20 + 1 = 21
• Yk+1 = Yk + 1 = 10 + 1 = 11
•
• Similarly, Step-03 is executed until the end point is reached or
number of iterations equals to 9 times.
• (Number of iterations = ΔX – 1 = 10 – 1 = 9)
Pk Pk+1 Xk+1 Yk+1
20 10
6 2 21 11
2 -2 22 12
-2 14 23 12
14 10 24 13
10 6 25 14
6 2 26 15
2 -2 27 16
-2 14 28 16
14 10 29 17
10 6 30 18
• Advantages of Bresenham Line Drawing Algorithm-
• The advantages of Bresenham Line Drawing Algorithm are-
• It is easy to implement.
• It is fast and incremental.
• It executes fast but less faster than DDA Algorithm.
• The points generated by this algorithm are more accurate than DDA
Algorithm.
• It uses fixed points only.

• Advantages of Bresenham Line Drawing Algorithm-

• The disadvantages of Bresenham Line Drawing Algorithm are-

• Though it improves the accuracy of generated points but still the resulted line
is not smooth.
• This algorithm is for the basic line drawing.
• It can not handle diminishing jaggies.
Circle Drawing Algorithms-
• In computer graphics, popular algorithms used to generate circle are-
i. Mid Point Circle Drawing Algorithm
ii. Bresenham Circle Drawing Algorithm
• Bresenham Circle Drawing Algorithm-
• Given the centre point and radius of circle, Bresenham Circle Drawing
Algorithm attempts to generate the points of one octant.
• The points for other octacts are generated using the eight symmetry
property.

•
• Procedure-
• Given-
• Centre point of Circle = (X0, Y0)
• Radius of Circle = R
•
• The points generation using Bresenham Circle Drawing Algorithm involves
the following steps-
•
• Step-01:
•
• Assign the starting point coordinates (X0, Y0) as-
• X0 = 0
• Y0 = R
• Step-02:
• Calculate the value of initial decision parameter P0 as-
• P0 = 3 – 2 x R

• Step-03:
• Suppose the current point is (Xk, Yk) and the next point is (Xk+1, Yk+1).
• Find the next point of the first octant depending on the value of
decision parameter Pk.
• Follow the below two cases-
• Step-04:
• If the given centre point (X0, Y0) is not (0, 0), then do the following and plot
the point-
• Xplot = Xc + X0
• Yplot = Yc + Y0
• Here, (Xc, Yc) denotes the current value of X and Y coordinates.
•
• Step-05:
• Keep repeating Step-03 and Step-04 until Xplot => Yplot.

• Step-06:
• Step-05 generates all the points for one octant.
• To find the points for other seven octants, follow the eight symmetry
property of circle.
• This is depicted by the following figure-
• PRACTICE PROBLEMS BASED ON BRESENHAM CIRCLE DRAWING
ALGORITHM-

• Problem-01:
• Given the centre point coordinates (0, 0) and radius as 8, generate all
the points to form a circle.
•
• Solution-
• Given-
• Centre Coordinates of Circle (X0, Y0) = (0, 0)
• Radius of Circle = 8
• Step-01:
• Assign the starting point coordinates (X0, Y0) as-
• X0 = 0
• Y0 = R = 8
• Step-02:
• Calculate the value of initial decision parameter P0 as-
• P0 = 3 – 2 x R
• P0 = 3 – 2 x 8
• P0 = -13
•
• Step-03:
• As Pinitial < 0, so case-01 is satisfied.
• Thus,
• Xk+1 = Xk + 1 = 0 + 1 = 1
• Yk+1 = Yk = 8
• Pk+1 = Pk + 4 x Xk+1 + 6 = -13 + (4 x 1) + 6 = -3
• Step-04:
• This step is not applicable here as the given centre point coordinates
is (0, 0).
• Step-05:
• Step-03 is executed similarly until Xk+1 >= Yk+1 as follows-
Pk Pk+1 (Xk+1, Yk+1)
(0, 8)
-13 -3 (1, 8)
-3 11 (2, 8)
11 5 (3, 7)
5 7 (4, 6)
7 (5, 5)
Algorithm Terminates
These are all points for Octant-1.
• Algorithm calculates all the points of octant-1 and terminates.
• Now, the points of octant-2 are obtained using the mirror effect by
swapping X and Y coordinates.
Octant-1 Octant-2
Points Points
(0, 8) (5, 5)
(1, 8) (6, 4)
(2, 8) (7, 3)
(3, 7) (8, 2)
(4, 6) (8, 1)
(5, 5) (8, 0)
These are all points for Quadrant-1.
• Now, the points for rest of the part are generated by following the
signs of other quadrants.
• The other points can also be generated by calculating each octant
separately.
• Here, all the points have been generated with respect to quadrant-1-
Quadrant-1 (X,Y) Quadrant-2 (-X,Y) Quadrant-3 (-X,-Y) Quadrant-4 (X,-Y)

(0, 8) (0, 8) (0, -8) (0, -8)

(1, 8) (-1, 8) (-1, -8) (1, -8)
(2, 8) (-2, 8) (-2, -8) (2, -8)
(3, 7) (-3, 7) (-3, -7) (3, -7)
(4, 6) (-4, 6) (-4, -6) (4, -6)
(5, 5) (-5, 5) (-5, -5) (5, -5)
(6, 4) (-6, 4) (-6, -4) (6, -4)
(7, 3) (-7, 3) (-7, -3) (7, -3)
(8, 2) (-8, 2) (-8, -2) (8, -2)
(8, 1) (-8, 1) (-8, -1) (8, -1)
(8, 0) (-8, 0) (-8, 0) (8, 0)
These are all points of the Circle.
• Problem-02:
• Given the centre point coordinates (10, 10) and radius as 10,
generate all the points to form a circle.
•
• Solution-
• Given-
• Centre Coordinates of Circle (X0, Y0) = (10, 10)
• Radius of Circle = 10
• Step-01:
• Assign the starting point coordinates (X0, Y0) as-
• X0 = 0
• Y0 = R = 10
•
• Step-02:
• Calculate the value of initial decision parameter P0 as-
• P0 = 3 – 2 x R
• P0 = 3 – 2 x 10
• P0 = -17
• Step-03:
•
• As Pinitial < 0, so case-01 is satisfied.
•
• Thus,
• Xk+1 = Xk + 1 = 0 + 1 = 1
• Yk+1 = Yk = 10
• Pk+1 = Pk + 4 x Xk+1 + 6 = -17 + (4 x 1) + 6 = -7
•
• Step-04:
• This step is applicable here as the given centre point coordinates is (10,
10).
• Xplot = Xc + X0 = 1 + 10 = 11
• Yplot = Yc + Y0 = 10 + 10 = 20
• Step-05:
• Step-03 and Step-04 are executed similarly until Xplot => Yplot as follows-
Pk Pk+1 (Xk+1, Yk+1) (Xplot, Yplot)
(0, 10) (10, 20)
-17 -7 (1, 10) (11, 20)
-7 7 (2, 10) (12, 20)
7 -7 (3, 9) (13, 19)
-7 15 (4, 9) (14, 19)
15 13 (5, 8) (15, 18)
13 19 (6, 7) (16, 17)
Algorithm Terminates
These are all points for Octant-1.
Algorithm calculates all the points of octant-1 and terminates.
• Now, the points of octant-2 are obtained using the mirror effect by
swapping X and Y coordinates. Octant-1 Points Octant-2 Points
(10, 20) (17, 16)

(11, 20) (18, 15)

(12, 20) (19, 14)

(13, 19) (19, 13)

(14, 19) (20, 12)

(15, 18) (20, 11)

(16, 17) (20, 10)

These are all points for Quadrant-1.

Now, the points for rest of the part are generated by following the signs of other quadrants.
The other points can also be generated by calculating each octant separately.
• Here, all the points have been generated with respect to quadrant-1-
Quadrant-1 (X,Y) Quadrant-2 (-X,Y) Quadrant-3 (-X,-Y) Quadrant-4 (X,-Y)
(10, 20) (10, 20) (10, 0) (10, 0)
(11, 20) (9, 20) (9, 0) (11, 0)
(12, 20) (8, 20) (8, 0) (12, 0)
(13, 19) (7, 19) (7, 1) (13, 1)
(14, 19) (6, 19) (6, 1) (14, 1)
(15, 18) (5, 18) (5, 2) (15, 2)
(16, 17) (4, 17) (4, 3) (16, 3)
(17, 16) (3, 16) (3, 4) (17, 4)
(18, 15) (2, 15) (2, 5) (18, 5)
(19, 14) (1, 14) (1, 6) (19, 6)
(19, 13) (1, 13) (1, 7) (19, 7)
(20, 12) (0, 12) (0, 8) (20, 8)
(20, 11) (0, 11) (0, 9) (20, 9)
(20, 10) (0, 10) (0, 10) (20, 10)

These are all points of the Circle.

• Advantages of Bresenham Circle Drawing Algorithm-
• The advantages of Bresenham Circle Drawing Algorithm are-
• The entire algorithm is based on the simple equation of circle X2 + Y2 = R2.
• It is easy to implement.
•
• Disadvantages of Bresenham Circle Drawing Algorithm-
• The disadvantages of Bresenham Circle Drawing Algorithm are-
• Accuracy of the generating points is an issue in this algorithm.
• This algorithm suffers when used to generate complex and high graphical
images.
• There is no significant enhancement with respect to performance.