Computer Graphics: An ability of drawing pictures, lines, charts, etc by means of computers through programming is defined as computer graphics. It converts data to and/or from visual arrangement using computers. It uses a computer to create pictures. Algorithms, mathematics, data structures enable a computer to make Pretty Pictures. Ivan Edward Sutherland is widely regarded as the "father of computer graphics” [2]. Computer Graphics has two main aspects namely technical and art. Computer Scientists create libraries and tools etc for artists or non technical person, so that they can make use of it to create pretty pictures. Artistic person uses these computer graphics tools to create attractive pictures [1]. The technical definition of computer graphics includes composition of four important steps:
Imaging: It is the process of representing 2D images.
Modeling: It is the process of creating and representing 3D objects. Mainly deals with the shape of the object. Rendering: It is the process of constructing 2D images from 3D models. It focuses on light and perspective of objects. Animation: It is the process of describing the change in objects in time. I represent movement of the object [10].
Applications are listed as follows:
1) Graphical User Interface 2) Education and Training 3) CAD (Computer Aided Design) 4) Entertainment (animations, games etc.) 5) Presentation 6) Computer Generated Art 7) Scientific and Business Visualization 8) Image Processing Important Aspects of Computer Graphics
1) Pixel: In computer graphics, pictures or graphics objects or each screen point is
represented as a collection of discrete picture elements which are called as pixels. It is also referred to as a pel, as it is a smallest addressable screen element. It is the smallest piece of screen, which we can control by setting the intensity and color. Each pixel on the graphics display does not represent the mathematical point but the region which theoretically can contain an infinite number of points. For instance, if we want to display point P1 & P2 with coordinates (4.2, 3.8) and (4.8, 3.1) respectively, then points P1 & P2 are represented by only one pixel (4, 3) as shown in fig. below. In general point is represented by Pixel (int (x), int (y)).
Fig. 9. Pixel display area of 6 × 5
2) Frame Buffer: A special area of memory is dedicated to graphics only, and picture definition is stored in this memory area which is called frame buffer or refresh buffer. This memory area holds the set of intensity values for all the screen points and the stored intensity value are then retrieved from this frame buffer and painted on the screen one row at a time to display picture. 3) Resolution: It refers to the maximum number of dots or points that can be displayed on the screen without overlap on the Cathode Ray Tube (CRT). It is expressed as the number of points per centimeter that can be plotted horizontally and vertically. Resolution depends on the type of phosphor, the intensity to be displayed and the focusing and deflection systems used in the CRT. The most commonly used four resolutions today are: 640 × 480, 1024 × 768, 800 × 600, 1280 × 1024.
4) Aspect Ratio: This number gives the ratio of vertical points to horizontal points necessary to produce equal-length line in both directions on the screen. Sometimes it is also referred to as the ratio of horizontal to vertical points. An aspect ratio of 5/6 means that a vertical line plotted with 5 points has the same length as a horizontal line plotted with 6 points. eg. aspect ratio of 12” × 16” display is 12/16 = 3/4.
5) Persistence: The operation of most video monitors is based on standard Cathode Ray Tube (CRT). The screen of the video monitors is usually phosphor coated. Different kinds of phosphors are available for use in a CRT. Besides color, a major difference between phosphors is their persistence i.e. how long they continue to emit light after the CRT beam is removed. Persistence is basically defined as the time it takes the emitted light from the screen to decay to one-tenth of its original intensity. Lower persistence phosphors required higher refresh rates to maintain a picture on the screen without flicker. A phosphor with low persistence is useful for animation, a high –persistence phosphor is used for displaying highly complex static pictures. Although, some phosphors have persistence greater than 1 second, graphics monitors are usually constructed with persistence in the range from 10 to 60 microseconds Plotting Primitives of Computer Graphics
1) Scan Conversion: Display processor digitizes a picture definition given in an
application program into a set of pixel intensity values for storage in the frame buffer. This digitization process is called scan conversion.
Lines and Line Segments: Point can be specified by giving pair of numbers (x, y), where x represents horizontal distance and y represents vertical distance. Every line is described by the equation such that if a point (x, y) satisfies the equation, then that point is on the line. If the two points used to specify a line are (x1, y1) and (x2, y2) then the equation of line will be,
Above equation justify that slope between any point on the line and point (x1, y1) is the same as the slope between (x1, y1) and (x2, y2). Slope is usually denoted by m and is defined as the change in height divided by the change in width for any two points on the line. Slope m is defined in equation form as follows:
There is a difference between line and line segment. The lines can extend forever both forward and backward direction but a line segment is a piece of line lying in between two end points P1 and P2. If the end points are P1 = (x1, y1) and (x1, y1) = (x2, y2) and these two points yield a equation y = mx +b then point P3 = (x3, y3) lies on the segment if y3 = m x3 + b, x3 is in between x1 and x2 and y3 is in between y1 and y2. We can identify where two lines are intersecting. Two lines are crossing or intersecting means they share common point. That point satisfies the equation for both the lines. The intersection point is given by below equation:
Fig.11. Line and Line Segments
3) Vectors and Vector Generation: Vector has a single direction and length. A vector is denoted by [Dx, Dy], where Dx indicates how far to move in x-axis direction and Dy indicates how far to move in y-axis direction. Vectors specify how far and in what direction to move, but don’t specify from where to start. If vector V 1 = [Dx1, Dy1] and vector V2 = [Dx2, Dy2] then resultant vector can be derived as: V1 + V2 = [Dx1, Dy1] + [Dx2, Dy2] = [Dx1 + Dx2, Dy1 + Dy2 ]
v Dy
Dx We can multiply vector by a number and length of the vector can be given by Pythagorean theorem.
If we multiply a vector by reciprocal of its length then the resultant vector is of length equal to 1 and such a vector is called unit vector.
The process of “Turning ON” the pixels for a line segment is called a vector generation. Whenever we need to draw a line, we need to turn ON the pixels on that line i.e. we need to change the intensity of the pixels present on the line. Two well known algorithms used for vector generation are Digital Differential Analyzers (DDA) and Bresenhans Line Drawing Algorithm. Both the algorithms make use of increment method. Line Drawing Algorithms
A basic element in graphics is that a line connects two points.. To draw a line, we need two points between which we can draw a line. In line drawing algorithms, line is drawn between one point of line as (x0, y0) and the second point of line as (x1, y1).
1) Digital Differential Analyzer (DDA):
DDA algorithm is an incremental scan conversion method. Here we perform calculations at each step using the results from the preceding step. The characteristic of the DDA algorithm is to take unit steps along one coordinate and compute the corresponding values along the other coordinate. The unit steps are always along the coordinate of greatest change, e.g. if dx = 10 and dy = 5, then we would take unit steps along x and compute the steps along y [14]. Algorithm for DDA line drawing is described stepwise as follows:
Algorithm [15] Step 1: Accept the two end points (x0 , y0 ) and (x1 , y1 ) as an input.
Step 2: Calculate the horizontal and vertical difference between two end points.
dx = |x1 - x0| dy = |y1 - y0|
Step 3: Based on the calculated difference in step 2, identify the number of steps to put pixel. If dx > dy, then we need more steps in x coordinate; otherwise in y coordinate.
if (dx > dy)
length = abs (dx); else length = abs (dy);
Step 4: Calculate the increment in x coordinate and y coordinate.
xincrement = dx / (float) length;
xincrement = dy / (float) length; Advantages
1. It is the simplest algorithm and it does not require special skills for implementation. 2. It is a faster method for calculating pixel positions than the direct use of equation y = mx + b. It eliminates the multiplication in the equation by making use of raster characteristics, so that appropriate increments are applied in the x or y direction to find the pixel positions along the line path [14].
Disadvantages
1. Floating point arithmetic in DDA algorithm is still time-consuming.
2. The algorithm is orientation dependent. Hence end point accuracy is poor [14]. 3.
2) Bresenham’s Line Drawing Algorithm:
The Bresenham’s algorithm is another incremental scan conversion algorithm. The big advantage of this algorithm is that, it uses only integer calculations. Moving across the x axis in unit intervals and at each step choose between two different y coordinates. The basis program of Bresenham’s line drawing algorithm is to select the optimum raster location to represent a straight line. The increment in the other variable is determined by examining the distance between the actual line location and the nearest pixel [17]. This distance is called decision variable or the error. Consider a line with initial point (x1, y1) and terminal point (x2, y2) in device space. If ∆x = x2 − x1 and ∆y = y2 − y1, we define the driving axis (DA) to be the x-axis if |∆x| ≥ |∆y|, and the y-axis if |∆y| > |∆x|. The DA is used as the “axis of control” for the algorithm and is the axis of maximum movement. Within the main loop of the algorithm, the coordinate corresponding to the DA is incremented by one unit. The coordinate corresponding to the other axis (usually denoted the passive axis or PA) is only incremented as needed [19]. Algorithm
Step 1: Read the line end points (x1, y1) and (x2, y2) such that they are not equal.
Step 2: dx = |x2 – x1| and dy =|y2 – y1|.
Step 3: Initialize starting points; x = x1 and y = y1
Step 4: Initialize the value of error or decision varaiable to compensate for non-zero interrupts; e = 2 * dx - dy Step 5:Initialize counter; i = 0
Step 6: Plot(x, y)
Step 7: while(e >= 0)
{ y = y +1; e = e – 2 * dx } x = x + 1; e = e + 2 * dy; Step 8: increment counter by 1; i = i +1
