COMPUTER GRAPHICS & VISUALIZATION

(18CS62)

Department of Computer Science & Engineering

6 Semester
2020-21
SYLLABUS & TEXT BOOKS
 What is Computer Graphics?
• “Computer graphics is a sub-field of computer science and is concerned
with digitally synthesizing and manipulating visual content.”
• Computer graphics deals with all aspects of creating images with a
computer- Imaging, Rendering, Modeling, Animation.
• Hardware: PC with graphics card for modeling and rendering.
• Software: OpenGL
• Applications: Any
Imaging (Representing 2D images)

• Image Representation
• Sampling
• Reconstruction
• Quantization & Aliasing
• Image Processing Image composition
• Filtering
• Warping
• Morphing
• Raster Graphics
• Display devices
• Color models
Image morphing
 Rendering (Constructing 2D images from 3D
models)
• 3D Rendering Pipeline
• Modeling transformations
• Viewing transformations
• Hidden surface removal
• Illumination, shading, and textures
• Scan conversion, clipping
• Hierarchical scene graphics
• OpenGL
• Global illumination
• Ray tracing
• Radiosity
Modeling (Representing 3D objects)

• Representations of geometry
• Curves
• Surfaces
• Solids
• Procedural modeling
• Fractals mean
Shell A curve or geometrical figure, each
(relating to or of the nature of a fractal)
part of which has the same
statistical character as the whole. 
 Animation (Simulating changes over
time)
• Key framing
• Kinematics
• Articulated figures
• Motion capture
• Dynamics
• Physically-based simulations

Ice Queen
 Graphics Applications
• Graphs and charts
• Computer-aided design
• Virtual-Reality Environments
• Scientific visualization
• Education and Training
• Computer art
• Entertainment
• Image Processing
• Graphical User Interfaces
Data plotting with dramatic effect, commonly used to summarize financial,
statistical, mathematical, scientific, engineering, and economic data for research
reports, managerial summaries, consumer information bulletins and other types of
publications
Graphs and charts
• Computer-aided design
• Virtual-Reality Environments
• Scientific visualization
• Education and Training
• Computer art
• Entertainment
• Image Processing
• Graphical User Interfaces
 In design of building, automobiles, aircrafts,
watercrafts, spacecrafts, computers, textiles, home
appliances and a multitude of other products

• Graphs and charts

Computer-aided design
Los Angeles Airport
• Virtual-Reality Environments
• Scientific visualization
• Education and Training
• Computer art
Gear Shaft Design
• Entertainment
• Image Processing CMOS Circuit Design

• Graphical User Interfaces Contd…

Such animations are often used to train heavy-equipment operators, analyze the
effectiveness of various cabin configuration and control placements, users can
interact with the objects in a 3D scene.

• Graphs and charts

• Computer-aided design
Virtual-Reality Environments
• Scientific visualization
• Education and Training
• Computer art
• Entertainment
• Image Processing
• Graphical User Interfaces
 Also called data visualization: produces graphical representations for scientific,
engineering and medical data sets and processes it. Business visualization is used in
connection with data sets related to commerce, industry, and other nonscientific areas.
Also used in understanding and analyzing complex processes and mathematical
functions
• Graphs and charts
• Computer-aided design
• Virtual-Reality Environments
Scientific visualization
• Education and Training
• Computer art
Airflow inside a thunderstorm
• Entertainment
• Image Processing Visible human

• Graphical User Interfaces Contd…

Computer generated models of physical, financial, political, social, economic, and other
systems are often used as educational aids. Eg: color-coded diagram in operation of a
nuclear reactor, aircraft, naval, spacecraft simulators
• Graphs and charts
• Computer-aided design
• Virtual-Reality Environments
• Scientific visualization
Education and Training Flight Simulation Flight Simulation
• Computer art
• Entertainment
• Image Processing
• Graphical User Interfaces
Driving Simulation
Graphics are used in Fine Art, Commercial Art applications and Mathematical Art. The
artist uses a combination of 3D modeling packages, texture mapping, drawing programs and
CAD software. Mathematical Art is produced using mathematical functions and fractal
procedures. Pen plotters create Automatic Art.
• Graphs and charts
• Computer-aided design
• Virtual-Reality Environments
• Scientific visualization
• Education and Training
Computer art
• Entertainment
• Image Processing
• Graphical User Interfaces
Graphics are commonly used in making motion pictures, music videos and television
shows. Graphics objects can be combined with live actions. Eg. Avtar movie

• Graphs and charts

• Computer-aided design
• Virtual-Reality Environments
• Scientific visualization
• Education and Training
• Computer art Jurasic Park

Entertainment
• Image Processing
• Graphical User Interfaces
Image processing applies techniques to modify or interpret existing pictures (photographs, TV
scans).to apply image processing methods, the image must be digitized first. Medical
applications also make extensive use of image processing techniques for picture enhancement,
simulations of surgical operations. It used to improve picture quality, analyze or recognize
visual• patterns.
Graphs and charts
• Computer-aided design
• Virtual-Reality Environments
• Scientific visualization
• Education and Training
• Computer art
• Entertainment
Image Processing
• Graphical User Interfaces
User is provided with point and click facility to select menu items, icons and objects on the
screen. User can manage multiple windows simultaneously. Word-processing spreadsheets and
desktop-publishing programs are typical applications that take advantage of such user
interface techniques.
• Graphs and charts
• Computer-aided design
• Virtual-Reality Environments
• Scientific visualization
• Education and Training
• Computer art
• Entertainment
• Image Processing
Graphical User Interfaces
 Basic Graphics System

Output device

Input devices

Image formed in FB
 Also…
Computer
Graphics

Model Image

Pattern
Recognition

Image
Processing
 From model to image

Model World View NDC Display

Graphics pipeline

Coordinates and transformations

 From model to image

Model World View NDC Display

Cylinder:
x2  y2  r 2
0 zh
Geometric modeling Local or modeling coordinates
 From model to image

Model World View NDC Display

Position cylinders in scene:

World coordinates
 From model to image

Model World View NDC Display

Look at cylinders,
project on virtual screen

Viewing coordinates
Visible surfaces, shading
 From model to image

Model World View NDC Display

1
Display:

Normalized Device Coordinates

0 1
 From model to image

Model World View NDC Display

0
1024
Display on screen:

768 Device Coordinates

Interaction
 Video Display Devices
• Emissive display - Convert electrical energy into light
- Cathode ray tube (CRT)
- Flat panel CRT
- Plasma panels (gas-discharge display)
- Thin-film electroluminescent (EL) display
- Light-emitting diodes
• Non-Emissive display - Optical effect: convert sunlight or light from other
source into graphic patterns.
- Liquid-crystal device (LCD) – flat panel
- Passive-matrix LCD
- Active-matrix LCD
Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)
Cathode Ray – beam of electrons
o emitted by an electron gun Basic design of a
magnetic-deflection CRT
o accelerated by a high positive voltage near the face of the tube
o forced into a narrow stream by a focusing system
o directed toward a point on the screen by the magnetic field
generated by the deflection coils
o hit onto the phosphor-coated screen
o phosphor emits visible light, whose intensity depends on the
number of electrons striking on the screen
 Cathode Ray Tube
Operation of an electron gun with an accelerating anode.
2 primary components: Heated metal cathode and control
grid.
Intensity is controlled by voltage at the control grid..
Focusing system forces electron beam to converge to a
smaller cross section.
Accelerating anode produces positive voltage.

Electrostatic deflection of the

electron beam in a CRT
 Cathode Ray Tube (conti…)
• Phosphor Persistence (PP)
- the light output decays (fades) exponentially
exponentially with time.
-- a phosphor’s persistence
persistence is
is defined as
as the time from the removal of of excitation to the
moment of decaying the light to
to one-tenth of its original intensity.
intensity.
- one
one way:
way: store the picture
picture information
information as charge
charge distribution, that can be used
used to keep
keep the
the
phosphor activated.
- now: redraw the picture repeatedly by quickly
quickly directing the electron beam back over the
same screen points.
- low
low persistence ->-> good for
for animation
- high persistence -> good for static picture with high complexity
- typical range:
range: 10ms –– 60ms
• Refresh rate
rate (RR)
(RR) - number of times per second the image is redrawn (e.g., 60 or higher)
• Critical fusion
fusion frequency
frequency (CFF) - the refresh rate above which a picture stopsstops flickering and
becomes steady
 Longer
Longer PP -> lower CFF required
 Properties of the CRT
• Resolution
Resolution
-- the
the maximum
maximum number
number ofof points
points that
that can
can be
be displayed
displayed without
without overlap
overlap on
on
aa CRT
CRT
-- high-definition
high-definition system,
system, e.g. 1280 * 1024 pixels
pixels
-- resolution
resolution depends
depends on
on the
the type
type of
of phosphor,
phosphor, the
the intensity
intensity to
to be
be
displayed,
displayed, focusing
focusing and
and deflection
deflection systems,
systems, size
size of
of video
video memory
memory

• Horizontal
Horizontal scan
scan rate
rate
-- the
the number
number of of scan
scan lines
lines per
per second
second that
that the
the CRT
CRT is
is able
able to
to display
display
-- refresh
refresh rate
rate ** number
number ofof scan
scan lines
lines per
per frame
frame
 Color CRT Monitor
Displays color pictures by using a combination of phosphors that emit different-
colored light and merges to form a single perceived color.
CRT

Shadow Mask

Electron Guns

Red Input

Green
Input

Blue Input

Deflection
Yoke Red, Blue,
and Green
Phosphor Dots
 Beam Penetration Method
• Coat the screen with layers of different
colored phosphors.
 Beam of slow electrons excite outer red
layer, beam of very fast electrons penetrates
through red layer and excites the inner green
layer.
 (Drawback)Limited to number of colors
since only two colors used.
 (Drawback)Picture quality is not as good as
with the other method.
• Dot Pitch –the spacing between pixels on
a CRT, measured in millimeters.
Generally, the lower the number, the
more detailed the image.
• Uses 3 phosphor color dots at each pixel position, each emitting
one of red, blue and green lights.
• It has 3 electron guns, one for each color dot and shadow mask Shadow Mask
grid just behind the phosphor-coated screen.
• Shadow mask contains series of holes aligned with phosphor dot
Method
patterns, one hole for each phosphor triad.
• When the 3 beams pass through a hole in the shadow mask, they
activate a dot triangle, which appears as small color spot on the
screen. The phosphor dots in the triangles are arranged so that
each electron beam can activate only its corresponding color dot
when it passes through the shadow mask.
• The number of electrons in each beam controls the amount of
red, blue and green light generated by the triad.
• Another configuration is the in-line arrangement, in which the
electron guns and corresponding color dots are aligned along one
scan line.
• Color CRTs in graphics systems are designed as RGB monitors
 Architectures for displaying objects
• Vector system Architecture (Random-Scan)
 Line drawing and stroke drawing in a random order

• Raster Refresh Architecture(Raster-Scan)

 Horizontal scan line order
 Vector System Architecture(Random-Scan),
consists of:
• Vector system consists of: display processor (controller), display buffer memory, CRT
 In addition to the CPU, a special processor, called the Video controller or Display controller, is
used to control the operations of the display device - Connected as an I/O peripheral to the CPU.
 Display buffer memory: stores computer-produced display list or display program- contains
point and line plotting commands
 The commands interpreted by the display processor sends digital and point co-ordinates to
vector generator that converts digital co-ordinate values to analog voltages for beam-deflection
circuits that displays an electron beam writing on the CRT’s phosphor coating.
 Display commands dictate the beam deflection from endpoint to endpoint. This technique is
called Random-Scan - Line drawing and stroke drawing in a random order.
 Display list needed to be refreshed(Display processor must cycle through the display list- e.g
30Hz)
 Vector Display
Host Computer
Display Interaction
: cmds
Move 10,15 Display Controller (DC)
LINE 300,400
CHAR Lu, cy
LINE Monitor Keyboard/mouse
:
.
.
. User

:
JMP

display buffer
 Raster Display (since 1970s)
• Raster system consists of display processor (input, refreshing, scan converting),
video controller, buffer memory (frame buffer), CRT.
• The refresh buffer stores the display primitives(lines char and solid shaded or
patterned areas), rather than display list or display program.
• Raster: set of horizontal raster lines each a row of individual pixels and thus
stored as a matrix of pixels representing entire screen.
• Video controller reads these pixel contents to produce the actual image on the
screen, one raster line at a time, from top to bottom and then back to top.
• need refresh the raster display (e.g., 60Hz)
 Raster Display

Host Computer
Display Interaction
cmds data
Display Processor

Lucy
Video Controller Lucy

Frame buffer
Monitor
 Basic definitions
 Video raster devices display an image by sequentially
drawing out the pixels of the scan lines that form the
raster.
• Raster: A rectangular array of points or dots.
• Pixel (Pel, picture elements): One dot or picture element of the raster, defined as
smallest addressable area on screen.
• Scan line: A row of pixels.
• Resolution: # of pixel positions that can be plotted.
• Aspect Ratio: # of horizontal points to vertical points(or vice versa).
• Depth: # of bits per pixel in a frame buffer.
• Bitmap: a frame buffer with one bit per pixel
• Pixmap: a frame buffer with multiple bits per pixel.
• Horizontal retrace: return to the left of the screen, after refreshing each scan
line.
• Vertical retrace: electron beam returns to the top left corner of the screen to
begin the next frame.
• Refresh rates are described in units of cycles per seconds, or Hertz(Hz).
 Scanning An Image
• Frame: The image to be scanned out on the CRT.
• Some minimum number of frames must be redisplayed (or refreshed) each second
to eliminate flicker in the image.

• Critical Fusion Frequency --The refresh rate above

which a picture stops flickering and fuses into a steady
image is called the critical fusion frequency.
• Typically 60 times per second for raster displays.
• Varies with intensity, individuals, phosphor
persistence, room lighting.
• Access the frame buffer to refresh the screen
• Control the operation for display Video Controller
• Color look-up table

X
Linear address
Horizontal
address Raster-scan & vertical
generator Deflection signal
Frame Y
buffer address
Data Pixel Intensity
values or color
 Types of refresh
• Interlaced (mostly for TV for reduced flickering effect -National
Television System Committee NTSC) each frame is displayed
in two passes or two fields
 First pass: The beam sweeps across every other scan line form
top to bottom. odd-field: odd-numbered scan lines
 Second pass: After vertical retrace, the beam then sweeps out
the remaining scan lines. even-field: even-numbered scan lines
 Refresh rate: e.g., NTSC: 60Hz (60 fields per second); 30
frame/s. PAL(Phase Alternating Line) : 50Hz
• Non-interlaced (mostly for monitor) Odd-field
 refresh rate: e.g., 60Hz or more Even-field
 Display Processor
• Also called either a Graphics Controller or Display Co-Processor
• Specialized hardware to assist in scan converting output primitives into
the frame buffer.
• Fundamental difference among display systems is how much the display
processor does versus how much must be done by the graphics subroutine
package executing on the general-purpose CPU.
Architecture of a raster-graphics system with a
display processor
Peripheral
Devices CPU

System bus

Display Processor System

Memory

Display
Video Display
Frame
Controller Processor Buffer
Memory
 Frame Buffer

A frame buffer may be thought of as computer memory organized as a two-dimensional

array with each (x, y) addressable location corresponding to one pixel.
Bit Planes or Bit Depth is the number of bits corresponding to each pixel.
A typical frame buffer resolution might be
640 x 480 x 8
1280 x 1024 x 8
1280 x 1024 x 24
1-Bit Memory. Monochrome Display
(Bit-map Display)

1 bit
2 levels

Electron
Gun
 3-Bit Color Display
3

red

green

blue

COLOR: black red green blue yellow cyan magenta white

R 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1
G 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1
B 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1
 8
True Color Display
24 bit planes, 8 bits per color gun.
8
2 = 16,777,216 colors
24

32 bit true Color current system

232 = 4.3 billion colors
8 Red

Green
(1280 X 1024 X 24 ) = 3,840 KB or Blue
3,932,160 bytes
 Color Look-up Table
 LUT
LUT (Look-Up
(Look-Up Table)
Table)
•• LUT
LUT has
has as
as many
many entries
entries as
as there
there are
are pixel
pixel values,
values, values
values in
in the
the bit
bit planes
planes are
are used
used as
as indices
indices in
in one
one or
or more
more
LUT.
LUT.
•• A
A pixel
pixel value
value is
is used
used not
not to
to control
control the
the beam
beam directly,
directly, but
but rather
rather as
as an
an index
index into
into the
the look-up
look-up table.
table.
•• The
The table
table entry’s
entry’s value
value is
is used
used to
to control
control the
the intensity
intensity or
or color
color of
of the
the CRT.
CRT.
for
for example:
example:
If
If each
each pixel
pixel consists
consists ofof 88 bits
bits in
in the
the frame
frame buffer
buffer the
the LUT
LUT requires
requires aa table
table with
with 256
256 entries.
entries.
Pixel
Pixel value 67 
value 67  access
access the
the content
content in
in the
the entry
entry 67
67 of
of the table 
the table  use
use the
the color
color
content
content to
to control
control the
the CRT
CRT beam
beam
•• The
The total
total number
number of of bits
bits in
in each
each table
table entry
entry is
is called
called the
the width
width of
of the
the LUT,
LUT,
which
which isis the
the capability
capability for
for providing
providing allall possible
possible colors
colors
•• The
The look-up
look-up operation
operation isis done
done forfor each
each pixel
pixel on
on each
each display
display cycle,
cycle, fast
fast access
access of
of the
the table
table is
is required.
required.
•• LUT
LUT can
can be
be loaded
loaded on
on program
program command.
command.
 Color Map Look-Up Tables
y RED
max
GREEN
255
BLUE
1
1
0
y 0
0 67 Pixel displayed
0
1 1001 1010 0001
0
67 100110100001 at x', y'
R G B
Pixel in
bit map 0
0 at x', y'
0 x x
max

Frame Buffer Look-up table Display

Fig. LUT Video look-up table organization. A pixel with value 67 (binary 01000011) is displayed on the
screen with the red electron gun at 9/15 of maximum, green at 10/15, and blue at 1/15. This look-up table is
shown with 12 bits per entry. Up to 24 bits per entry are common.
Pseudo Color: 2 x 24 Color Map LUT 8

RED GREEN BLUE

255
254

256 colors chosen from a

palette of 16,777,216.

Each entry in the color map 3

2
LUT can be user defined.
1
0
 Color Look-up Table

• The number of the bit planes in the frame buffer determines the number of
colors displayable on the screen simultaneously

• The width of the LUT determines the number of possible colors that we can
choose from (also called the color palette)

• Example:
8 bit planes  288 or 256 colors can be displayed simultaneously
A LUT width of 12 bits  color palette consists of 21212 colors in all
 Flat Panel Display
• The term flat panel display refers to a class of video device that have reduced
volume, weight, power requirement and are thinner than CRTs (that could be
hung on walls or worn on wrists).
• We can separate flat panel display in two categories:
1. Emissive displays (Emitters): - convert electrical energy into light.
Eg. Plasma panel,
Thin film electroluminescent displays
Light emitting diodes(LED).
2. Non emissive displays (Non Emitters): - use optical effects to convert sunlight or
light from some other source into graphics patterns.
Eg. Liquid Crystal Display(LCD).
 Plasma Panels
• This is also called gas discharge displays.
• It is constructed by filling the region between two glass
displays
plates with a mixture of gases that usually includes neon.
• A series of vertical conducting ribbons is placed on one
glass panel and a set of horizontal ribbon is built into the
other glass panel.
• Firing voltage is applied to a pair of horizontal and vertical
conductors cause the gas at the intersection of the two
conductors to break down into glowing plasma of
electrons and ions.
• Refresh rate: 60 times per second.
• Separation between pixels is provided by the electric field
of conductor.
• Disadvantage: strictly monochromatic device
 Thin Film Electroluminescent Displays
• It is similar to plasma panel display but region between
the glass plates is filled with phosphors such as Zinc
sulfide doped with magnesium instead of gas.
• When sufficient voltage is applied the phosphors
becomes a conductor in area of intersection of the two
electrodes.
• Electrical energy is then absorbed by the manganese
atoms which then release the energy as a spot of light
similar to the glowing plasma effect in plasma panel.
• It requires more power than plasma panel.
• In this good color displays are difficult to achieve.
 Light Emitting Diode (LED)

• In this display a matrix of multi-color light emitting diode is arranged to

form the pixel position in the display and the picture definition is stored in
refresh buffer.
• Similar to scan line refreshing of CRT information is read from the refresh
buffer and converted to voltage levels that are applied to the diodes to
produce the light pattern on the display.
 Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)
• This non emissive device produce picture by passing polarized light from the
surrounding or from an internal light source through liquid crystal material that
can be aligned to either block or transmit the light.
• The liquid crystal refreshes to fact that these compounds have crystalline
arrangement of molecules then also flows like liquid.
• It consists of two glass plates each with light polarizer at right angles to each
other sandwich the liquid crystal material between the plates.
• Rows of horizontal transparent conductors are built into one glass plate, and
column of vertical conductors are put into the other plates.
• The intersection of two conductors defines a pixel position.
• Passive-matrix LCD:
• In the ON state polarized light
passing through material is twisted
so that it will pass through the
opposite polarizer, the light is then
reflected back to the viewer.
• In the OFF state, voltage applied to
the two intersecting conductors
align the molecules so that the light
is not twisted.
• Active-matrix LCD:
• A transistor is placed at each pixel
location, using thin-film transistor
technology, that control the voltage
at pixel locations and prevent
charge from gradually leaking out
of the liquid-crystal cells.
 Graphics workstations and viewing
systems
• Most graphics monitors today operate as raster-scan displays,
and both CRT and flat panel systems are in common use.
• Graphics workstation range from small general-purpose
computer systems to multi monitor facilities, often with ultra –
large viewing screens.
• High-definition graphics systems, with resolutions up to 2560 by
2048, are commonly used in medical imaging, air-traffic control,
simulation, and CAD. A high-resolution
• Many high-end graphics workstations also include large viewing (2048 by 2048)
graphics monitor.
screens, often with specialized features.
• Multi-panel display screens are used in a variety of
applications that require “wall-sized” viewing
areas. These systems are designed for presenting
graphics displays at meetings, conferences, A multi-panel display system
called the “Super Wall”.
conventions, trade shows, retail stores etc.
• A multi-panel display can be used to show a large
view of a single scene or several individual
images. Each panel in the system displays one
section of the overall picture
• A large, curved-screen system can be useful for
viewing by a group of people studying a particular
graphics application.
 A geophysical visualization presented on a 25 foot
semicircular screen, which provides a 160 degree
horizontal and 40 degree vertical field of view.

• A 360 degree paneled viewing system in the NASA

control-tower simulator, which is used for training and
for testing ways to solve air-traffic and runway problems
at airports.
• A large screen stereoscopic view of pressure contours in
a vascular blood-flow simulation.
 Input devices
• Graphics workstations make use of various devices for data input. Most
systems have keyboards and mouses, while some other systems have
trackball, spaceball, joystick, digitizers, dials, button boxes, data gloves,
touch panels, image scanners and voice systems.
• Locator Devices
• Keyboard
• Scanner
• Images
• Laser
• Cameras (research)
• Graphical input is more varied than input to standard programs which is usually
numbers, characters, or bits
• Two older APIs (GKS, PHIGS) defined six types of logical input for graphics
• Locator: return a position
• Pick: return ID of an object
• Keyboard: return strings of characters
• Stroke: return array of positions
• Valuator: return floating point number
• Choice: return one of n items
• Why necessary --- To make input devices independent of hardware
implementations.
• Text input Keyboard
• List boxes, GUI
• CAD/CAM
• Modeling
• Hard coded
• Vertex locations are inserted into code
• Keyboard on graphics system is used for entering text strings, issuing certain commands and selecting
menu options.
• Keyboards can also be provided with features for entry of screen coordinates, menu
• selections or graphics functions.
• General purpose keyboard uses function keys and cursor-control keys.
• Function keys allow user to select frequently accessed operations with a single keystroke. Cursor-control
keys are used for selecting a displayed object or a location by positioning the screen cursor.
 Button Boxes and Dials
• Buttons are often used to input predefined functions .Dials are common
devices for entering scalar values.
• Numerical values within some defined range are selected for input with
dial rotations.
 Locator Devices

When queried, locator devices return a position and/or

orientation.
•Mouse (2D and 3D)
•Trackball
•Joystick (2D and 3D)
 Mouse Devices
• Mouse is a hand-held device, usually moved around on a flat surface to position
the screen cursor. wheeler or roolers on the bottom of the mouse used to record
the amount and direction of movement.
• Some of the mouses uses optical sensors, which detects movement across the
horizontal and vertical grid lines.
• Since a mouse can be picked up and put down, it is used for making relative
changes in the position of the screen.
• Most general purpose graphics systems now include a mouse and a keyboard as
the primary input devices.
 Trackballs and Spaceballs
• A trackball is a ball device that can be rotated with the fingers or palm of
the hand to produce screen cursor movement.
• Laptop keyboards are equipped with a trackball to eliminate the extra
space required by a mouse.
• Spaceball is an extension of two-dimensional trackball concept.
• Spaceballs are used for three-dimensional positioning and selection
operations in virtual reality systems, modeling, animation, CAD and other
applications.
 Joysticks
• Joystick is used as a positioning device, which uses a small
vertical lever(stick) mounded on a base. It is used to steer the
screen cursor around and select screen position with the stick
movement.
• A push or pull on the stick is measured with strain gauges and
converted to movement of the screen cursor in the direction of the
applied pressure.
 Locator Devices

When queried, locator devices return a

position and/or orientation.
• Tablet
• Virtual Reality Trackers
• Data Gloves
• Digitizers
 Data Gloves
• Data glove can be used to
grasp a virtual object. The
glove is constructed with a
series of sensors that detect
hand and finger motions.
• Input from the glove is used to
position or manipulate objects
in a virtual scene.
 Digitizers
• Digitizer is a common device for drawing, painting or selecting
positions.
• Graphics tablet is one type of digitizer, which is used to input 2-
dimensional coordinates by activating a hand cursor or stylus at
selected positions on a flat surface.
• A hand cursor contains cross hairs for sighting positions and stylus
is a pencil-shaped device that is pointed at positions on the tablet.
 Image Scanners
• Drawings, graphs, photographs or text can be stored for computer
processing with an image scanner by passing an optical scanning
mechanism over the information to be stored.
• Once we have the representation of the picture, then we can apply
various image processing method to modify the representation of the
picture and various editing operations can be performed on the
stored documents.
 Scanners
• Image Scanners - Flatbed, etc.
• What type of data is returned?
Bitmap
• Laser Scanners - Deltasphere
• Emits a laser and does time of
flight. Returns 3D point
• Camera based - research
• Examine camera image(s) and
try to figure out vertices from
them.
 Touch Panels
• Touch panels allow displayed objects or screen positions to be selected with
the touch of a finger.
• Touch panel is used for the selection of processing options that are
represented as a menu of graphical icons.
• Optical touch panel-uses LEDs along one vertical and horizontal edge of the
frame.
• Acoustical touch panels generates high-frequency sound waves in horizontal
and vertical directions across a glass plate.
 Light Pens
• Light pens are pencil-shaped devices used to select positions by
detecting the light coming from points on the CRT screen.
• To select positions in any screen area with a light pen, we must have
some nonzero light intensity emitted from each pixel within that
area.
• Light pens sometimes give false readings due to background lighting
in a room.
 Voice Systems
• Speech recognizers are used with some graphics workstations as
input devices for voice commands. The voice system input can be
used to initiate operations or to enter data.
• A dictionary is set up by speaking command words several times,
then the system analyses each word and matches with the voice
command to match the pattern.
 Graphics Networks
• So far, we have mainly considered graphics applications on an isolated system with a single user.
• Multiuser environments & computer networks are now common elements in many graphics
applications.
• Various resources, such as processors, printers, plotters and data files can be distributed on a
network & shared by multiple users.
• A graphics monitor on a network is generally referred to as a graphics server.
• The computer on a network that is executing a graphics application is called the client.
• A workstation that includes processors, as well as a monitor and input devices can function as
both a server and a client.
 Graphics on Internet
• A great deal of graphics development is now done on the Internet.
• Computers on the Internet communicate using TCP/IP.
• Resources such as graphics files are identified by URL (Uniform resource locator).
• The World Wide Web provides a hypertext system that allows users to locate and view
documents, audio and graphics.
• Each URL sometimes also called as universal resource locator.
• The URL contains two parts Protocol- for transferring the document, and Server
contains the document.
 Graphics Software
• There are two broad classifications for computer-graphics software
• Special-purpose packages: Special-purpose packages are designed for
nonprogrammers
• Example: generate pictures, graphs, charts, painting programs or CAD systems in some
application area without worrying about the graphics procedure
• General programming packages: general programming package provides a library of
graphics functions that can be used in a programming language such as C, C++, Java,
or FORTRAN.
• Example: GL (Graphics Library), OpenGL, VRML (Virtual-Reality Modeling
Language), Java 2D And Java 3D
NOTE: A set of graphics functions is often called a computer-graphics application
programming interface (CG API)
 Graphics Programming/ Software
• Development of the OpenGL API (Open Graphics Library Application Program
Interface)
• OpenGL Architecture
• OpenGL as a state machine
• Functions
• Types
• Formats
• Simple program
 Early History of APIs
• IFIPS (1973) formed two committees to come up with a standard graphics API
• Graphical Kernel System (GKS) Two versions 2D & 3D
• 2D but contained good workstation model
• Core
• Both 2D and 3D
• GKS adopted as IS0 and later ANSI standard (1980s)
• GKS not easily extended to 3D (GKS-3D)
• Far behind hardware development
 PHIGS
• Programmers Hierarchical Graphics System (PHIGS)
• Arose from CAD community
• Database model with retained graphics (structures)
• X Window System
• DEC/MIT effort
• Client-server architecture with graphics
• PEX combined the two
• Not easy to use (all the defects of each)
 SGI
• Silicon Graphics (SGI) revolutionized the graphics workstation by
implementing the pipeline in hardware (1982)
• To use the system, application programmers used a library called GL
• With GL, it was relatively simple to program three dimensional interactive
applications
 OpenGL
• The success of GL lead to OpenGL (1992), a platform-independent API
that was
• Easy to use
• Close enough to the hardware to get excellent performance
• Focus on rendering
• Omitted windowing and input to avoid window system dependencies
 OpenGL Evolution
• Controlled by an Architectural Review Board (ARB)
• Members include SGI, Microsoft, Nvidia, HP, 3DLabs,IBM,…….
• Relatively stable (present version 1.4)
• Evolution reflects new hardware capabilities
 3D texture mapping and texture objects
 Vertex programs
• Allows for platform specific features through extensions
 OpenGL Libraries
• OpenGL core library
• OpenGL32 on Windows
• GL on most unix/linux systems
• OpenGL Utility Library (GLU)
• Provides functionality in OpenGL core but avoids having to rewrite code
• Links with window system
• GLX for X window systems
• WGL for Widows
• AGL for Macintosh
 GLUT
• OpenGL Utility Library (GLUT)
• Provides functionality common to all window systems
• Open a window
• Get input from mouse and keyboard
• Menus
• Event-driven
• Code is portable but GLUT lacks the functionality of a good
toolkit for a specific platform
• Slide bars
 Software Organization
application program

OpenGL Motif
widget or similar GLUT
GLX, AGL
or WGL GLU

X, Win32, Mac O/S GL

software and/or hardware

 OpenGL Architecture
Immediate Mode Geometric
pipeline
Per Vertex
Polynomial Operations &
Evaluator Primitive
Assembly

Display Per Fragment Frame

CPU List
Rasterization
Operations Buffer

Texture
Memory
Pixel
Operations
 OpenGL Functions
• Primitives
• Points
• Line Segments
• Polygons
• Attributes
• Transformations
• Viewing
• Modeling
• Control
• Input (GLUT)
 OpenGL State
• OpenGL is a state machine
• OpenGL functions are of two types
• Primitive generating
• Can cause output if primitive is visible
• How vertices are processes and appearance of primitive are controlled by the state
• State changing
• Transformation functions
• Attribute functions
 Lack of Object Orientation
• OpenGL is not object oriented so that there are multiple functions for a
given logical function, e.g. glVertex3f, glVertex2i,
glVertex3dv,…..
• Underlying storage mode is the same
• Easy to create overloaded functions in C++ but issue is efficiency
 OpenGL Function Format
function name
3 is Dimension can be 2 or 3

glVertex3f(x,y,z)

x,y,z are floats

belongs to GL library

glVertex3fv(p)

p is a pointer to an array
 OpenGL #defines
• Most constants are defined in the include files gl.h, glu.h and
glut.h
• Note #include <glut.h> should automatically include the others
• Examples
• glBegin(GL_PLOYGON)
• glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT)
• Include files also define OpenGL data types: Glfloat, Gldouble,….
 Program Structure
• Most OpenGL programs have a similar structure that consists of the following functions
• main():
• defines the callback functions
• opens one or more windows with the required properties
• enters event loop (last executable statement)
• init(): sets the state variables
• viewing
• Attributes
• callbacks
• Display function
• Input and window functions
 OpenGL Primitives

GL_POINTS GL_POLYGON
GL_LINES GL_LINE_STRIP

GL_LINE_LOOP

GL_TRIANGLES
GL_QUAD_STRIP

GL_TRIANGLE_STRIP GL_TRIANGLE_FAN
 Attributes

• Attributes are part of the OpenGL state and determine the appearance of objects
• Color (points, lines, polygons)
• Size and width (points, lines)
• Stipple pattern (lines, polygons)
• Polygon mode
• Display as filled: solid color or stipple pattern
• Display edges
• Display vertices
 Graphics Pipelines
• Graphics processes generally execute sequentially
• Typical ‘pipeline’ model
• There are two ‘graphics’ pipelines
• The Geometry or 3D pipeline
• The Imaging or 2D pipeline

04/19/21
Narendra V G CSE MIT 105
06:46 AM
 2D Graphics Pipeline
Clipping
Object window to
Object Applying
subset viewport
World Coordinates world window
mapping

Simple 2D Drawing Pipeline

Object
Display Rasterization
Screen coordinates
 Rasterization (Scan Conversion)

• Convert high-level geometry description to pixel colors in the

frame buffer
• Example: given vertex x, y coordinates determine pixel colors to
draw line
Viewport
• Two ways to create an image: Transformation
Rasterization
• Scan existing photograph
• Procedurally compute values (rendering)
 Rasterization
• A fundamental computer graphics function
• Determine the pixels’ colors, illuminations, textures, etc.
• Implemented by graphics hardware
• Rasterization algorithms
• Lines
• Circles
• Triangles
• Polygons
 Rasterization Operations
• Drawing lines on the screen
• Manipulating pixel maps (pixmaps): copying, scaling, rotating, etc
• Compositing images, defining and modifying regions
• Drawing and filling polygons
• Previously glBegin(GL_POLYGON), etc
• Aliasing and anti-aliasing methods
 Line drawing algorithm
• Programmer specifies (x,y) values of end pixels
• Need algorithm to figure out which intermediate pixels are on line path
• Pixel (x,y) values constrained to integer values
• Actual computed intermediate line values may be floats
• Rounding may be required. E.g. computed point
(10.48, 20.51) rounded to (10, 21)
• Rounded pixel value is off actual line path (jaggy!!)
• Sloped lines end up having jaggies
• Vertical, horizontal lines, no jaggies
Line Drawing Algorithm
Line: (3,2) -> (9,6)

6
5
? Which intermediate
4
pixels to turn on?
3
2
1

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
 Line Drawing Algorithm
• Slope-intercept line equation
• y = mx + b Equation of Line where m is slope & b is intercept
• Given two end points (x0,y0), (x1, y1), how to compute m and b?
dy y1  y 0 b  y 0  m * x0
m 
dx x1  x0

(x1,y1)
dy

(x0,y0)
dx
 Line Drawing Algorithm
• Numerical example of finding slope m:
• (Ax, Ay) = (23, 41), (Bx, By) = (125, 96)
By  Ay 96  41 55
m    0.5392
Bx  Ax 125  23 102
 Digital Differential Analyzer (DDA): Line
Drawing Algorithm
Walk through the line, starting at (x0,y0)

Constrain x, y increments to values in [0,1] range

Case a: x is incrementing faster (m < 1)

Step in x=1 increments, compute and round y (x1,y1)
dy
Case b: y is incrementing faster (m > 1)
(x0,y0)
Step in y=1 increments, compute and round x dx
DDA Line Drawing Algorithm (Case a: m <
1) x = x0 y = y0

y k 1  y k  m Illuminate pixel (x, round(y))

(x1,y1)
x = x0 + 1 y = y0 + 1 * m

Illuminate pixel (x, round(y))

x=x+1 y=y+1*m

Illuminate pixel (x, round(y))

Until x == x1
(x0, y0)
DDA Line Drawing Algorithm (Case b: m >
1) x = x0 y = y0
1
x k 1  xk  (x1,y1)
m Illuminate pixel (round(x), y)

y = y0 + 1 x = x0 + 1 * 1/m

Illuminate pixel (round(x), y)

y=y+1 x = x + 1 /m

Illuminate pixel (round(x), y)

(x0,y0) Until y == y1
 DDA Line Drawing Algorithm Pseudocode
compute m;
if m < 1:
{
float y = y0; // initial value
for(int x = x0;x <= x1; x++, y += m)
setPixel(x, round(y));
}
else // m > 1
{
float x = x0; // initial value
for(int y = y0;y <= y1; y++, x += 1/m)
setPixel(round(x), y);
} Note: setPixel(x, y) writes current color into pixel in column x and row y in
frame buffer
 DDA Line Drawing Algorithm
Drawbacks
• DDA is the simplest line drawing algorithm
• Not very efficient
• Round operation is expensive
• Optimized algorithms typically used.
• Integer DDA
• Eg. Bresenham algorithm (Hill, 10.4.1)
• Bresenham algorithm
• Incremental algorithm: current value uses previous value
• Integers only: avoid floating point arithmetic
• Several versions of algorithm: we’ll describe midpoint version of
algorithm
Bresenham’s Line-Drawing Algorithm
• Accurate and efficient
• Uses only incremental integer calculations

 The method is described for a line segment with a positive slope less
than one
 The method generalizes to line segments of other slopes by considering
the symmetry between the various octants and quadrants of the xy plane
Bresenham’s Line-Drawing Algorithm

• Decide what is the

13 Specified next pixel position
line path
• (11,11) or (11,12)
12

11

10

10 11 12 13
Bresenham’s Line-Drawing Algorithm

yk+3 • For the pixel position

xk+1=xk+1, which one we
yk+2
y=mx+b should choose:
yk+1 • (xk+1,yk) or (xk+1, yk+1)

yk

xk xk+1 xk+2 xk+3

 Bresenham’s Approach
• y=m(xk + 1)+b
yk+1
dupper
y
• dlower=y-yk
dlower =m(xk + 1)+b-yk
yk

• dupper=(yk+1)-y
xk+1
= yk+1 -m(xk + 1)-b
• dlower- dupper= 2m(xk + 1)-2yk+2b-1
• Rearrange it to have integer calculations:
m=Δy/Δx
Decision parameter: pk= Δx(dlower- dupper)=2Δy.xk - 2Δx. yk + c
 The Decision Parameter
Decision parameter: pk= Δx(dlower- dupper)=2Δy.xk - 2Δx. yk + c

• pk has the same sign with dlower- dupper since Δx>0.

• c is constant and has the value c= 2Δy + Δx(2b-1)
• c is independent of the pixel positions and is eliminated from decision parameter p k.
• If dlower< dupper then pk is negative.
• Plot the lower pixel (East)
• Otherwise
• Plot the upper pixel (North East)
 Successive decision parameter
• At step k+1
pk+1= 2Δy.xk+1 - 2Δx. yk+1 + c
• Subtracting two subsequent decision parameters yields:
pk+1-pk= 2Δy.(xk+1-xk) - 2Δx. (yk+1-yk)
• xk+1=xk+1 so
pk+1= pk + 2Δy - 2Δx. (yk+1-yk)
• yk+1-yk is either 0 or 1 depending on the sign of pk
• First parameter p0
• p0=2 Δy - Δx
 Bresenham's Line-Drawing Algorithm for |m| < 1

1. Input the twoline endpoints and store the left endpoint in (x0 ,y0).
2. Load (x0 ,y0) into the frame buffer; that is, plot the first point.
3. Calculate constants Δx, Δy, 2Δy, and 2Δy - 2Δx, and obtain the starting value for the decision
parameter as
p0=2 Δy - Δx
4. At each xk along the line, starting at k = 0, perform the following test:
If pk < 0, the next point to plot is (xk+1, yk) and
pk+1=pk + 2Δy
Otherwise, the next point to plot is (xk+1, yk+1) and
pk+1=pk + 2Δy - 2Δx
5. Repeat step 4 Δx -1 times.
Trivial Situations: Do not need Bresenham

 m0  horizontal line

 m  1  line y   x
 m  vertical line
 Example
• Draw the line with endpoints (20,10) and (30, 18).
• Δx=30-20=10, Δy=18-10=8,
• p0 = 2Δy – Δx=16-10=6
• 2Δy=16, and 2Δy - 2Δx=-4
• Plot the initial position at (20,10), then
Example
 Example
• Line end points: ( x0 , y0 )  (5,8); ( x1 , y1 )  (9,11)
• Deltas:
dx  4; dy  3

initially p (5,8)  2(dy )-(dx)

 64  2  0
p  2  NE
 Pseudocode
/* Bresenham line-drawing procedure for |m| < 1.0. */
void lineBres (int x0, int y0, int xEnd, int yEnd)
{
int dx = fabs (xEnd - x0), dy = fabs(yEnd - y0);
int x, y, p = 2 * dy - dx;
int twoDy = 2 * dy, twoDyMinusDx = 2 * (dy - dx);
/* Determine which endpoint to use as start position. */
if (x0 > xEnd) {
x = xEnd; y = yEnd; xEnd = x0;
}
else {
x = x0; y = y0;
}
setPixel (x, y);
 Pseudocode
while (x < xEnd) {
x++;
if (p < 0)
p += twoDy;
else {
y++;
p += twoDyMinusDx;
}
setPixel (x, y);
}
}
 Scan Converting Circles
3 Methods: Parametric, Trignometric & mid-point
1 Parametric method
( x  xc ) 2  ( y  yc ) 2  R 2

y  yc  R 2  ( x  xc ) 2
• Explicit: y = f(x)
y   R2  x2
We could draw a quarter circle by
incrementing x from 0 to R in unit steps
and solving for +y for each step.

Method needs lots of computation, and gives non-uniform pixel spacing

 Scan converting Circles
• 2 Trignometric :
x  R cos 
y  R sin 

Draw quarter circle by stepping through the angle from 0 to 90

-avoids large gaps but still unsatisfactory
-How to set angular increment
Computationally expensive trigonometric calculations
Circle Generation with mid-point
• Implicit: f(x,y) = x2+y2-R2
If f(x,y) = 0 then it is on the circle.
f(x,y) > 0 then it is outside the circle.
f(x,y) < 0 then it is inside the circle.

Try to adapt the Bresenham midpoint approach

Again, exploit symmetries
Circle Symmetry
 Generalising the Bresenham midpoint
approach
• Set up decision parameters for finding the closest pixel to the cırcumference at
each sampling step
• Avoid square root calculations by considering the squares of the pixel separation distances
• Use direct comparison without squaring.
Adapt the midpoint test idea: test the halfway position between pixels to
determine if this midpoint is inside or outside the curve
This gives the midpoint algorithm for circles
Can be adapted to other curves: conic sections
 Eight-way Symmetry
only one octant’s calculation needed
 The 2nd Octant is a good arc to draw
• It is a well-defined function in this domain
– single-valued
– no vertical tangents: |slope|  1
• Lends itself to the midpoint approach
– only need consider E or SE
• Implicit formulation F(x,y) = x 2 + y 2 – r 2

– For (x,y) on the circle, F(x,y) = 0

– F(x,y) > 0  (x,y) Outside
– F(x,y) < 0  (x,y) Inside
 The 2nd Octant is a good arc to draw

• Decision variable d is x 2 + y 2 – r 2
• Then d = F(M)  0  SE
• Or d = F(M) < 0  E
 F (M)  0  SE
current
pixel E
ideal
curve M

SE
 F (M) < 0  E

E
ideal
curve
M

SE
As in the Bresenham line algorithm we use a decision
variable to direct the selection of pixels.
Use the implicit form of the circle equation
p = F (M ) = x 2 + y 2 – r 2
Midpoint coordinates are ( xk  1, yk  1 )
2
Assuming we have just plotted point at (xk,yk) we determine whether move E or SE
by evaluating the circle function at the midpoint between the two candidate pixel
positions pk  Fcirc ( xk  1, yk  1 )
2
 ( xk  1) 2  ( yk  1 ) 2  r 2
2
pk is the decision variable
if pk <0 the midpoint is inside the circle
Thus the pixel above the midpoint is closer to the ideal circle, and we select pixel on
scan line yk. i.e. Go E
If pk >0 the midpoint is outside the circle.
Thus the pixel below the midpoint is closer to the ideal circle, and we select pixel
on scan line yk-1. i.e. Go SE

Calculate successive decision parameter values p by incremental calculations.

pk 1  Fcirc ( xk 1  1, yk 1  1 )
2
 [( xk  1)  1]2  ( yk 1  1 ) 2  r 2
2
recursive definition for successive decision parameter values p
pk 1  Fcirc ( xk 1  1, yk 1  1 )
2
 [( xk  1)  1]2  ( yk 1  1 ) 2  r 2
2

pk 1  pk  2( xk  1)  ( yk21  yk2 )  ( yk 1  yk )  1

Where yk+1 = yk if p<0 (move E)

yk+1 = yk-1 if p>0 (move SE) yk+1 and xk+1 can also be defined
recursively
Initialisation

x0 = 0, y0 = r
Initial decision variable found by evaluating circle function at first midpoint test
position

p0  Fcirc (1, r  1 )
2
 1  (r  1 ) 2  r 2
2
5
 r
4
For integer radius r p0 can be rounded to p0 =1-r
since all increments are integer.
• r=10
• End of Module 1