Computer Graphics

‫ ﻋﺎل‬353
 Lecture-1 (Introduction)
Chapter2
Overview of Graphics Systems
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 Overview of Graphics Systems

• Video Display Devices

• Input Devices

• Raster-Scan Systems

• Graphics Software

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 Video Display Devices
É
• Cathode-ray tube (CRT) Monitor

• Raster-Scan Displays

• Random-Scan Displays no

• Color CRT Monitors

• Flat-Panel Displays

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 Cathode-ray tube (CRT) Monitors se

• Primary output device – Video monitors

– Standard design of video monitor: 9

Cathode-ray tube (CRT) ji

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Cathode-ray tube (CRT) Monitors

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Display Technologies
 Cathode-ray tube (CRT) Monitors

Refresh CRT ED C Rt
15
• Beam of electrons hit phosphor-coated screen, light
emitted by phosphor
• Direct electron beam to the same screen repeatedly,

É
keeping phosphor activated
• The frequency at which a picture is redrawn on the
screen is referred to as the “refresh rate”
• The maximum number of points that can be
displayed on a CRT is referred to as the “resolution”
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Display_resolution
Display principle:
– Raster Scan Display Principle
– Random Scan Display Principle

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 CRT Display Principles

• Raster-Scan Displays
– Based on TV
technology
• Electron beam swept
across screen one row
at a time from top to
bottom
• Each row is referred to
as a scan line

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 CRT Display Principles

• Raster-Scan Displays
– Picture elements: screen point referred as
“Pixel” mid 1
I
A
– Picture information stored in refresh (frame) a
buffer
f

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 CRT Display Principles
• Raster-Scan Displays
– Picture information stored in refresh (frame)
buffer
• The number of bits per pixel in the frame buffer is
called depth or bit planes
• Buffer with 1 bit per pixel – Bitmap x

t2
• Buffer with multiple bits per pixel – Pixmap
– Interlaced refresh procedure
• Beams sweeps across every other scan line

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 Interlaced Scanning
É II É
mi d•l Scan frame 30 times per second
• To reduce flicker, divide frame into two

__
fields—one consisting of the even scan lines
and the other of the odd scan lines.
• Even and odd fields are scanned out
alternately to produce an interlaced image.
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 TH w
Aspect Ratio
Frame aspect ratio (FAR) = horizontal/vertical size
TV 4:3
HDTV 16:9
Page 8.5:11 ~ 3/4

Far urea bras

Pixel aspect ratio (PAR) = FAR vres/hres

Nuisance inTAS
graphics if not 1
 CRT Display Principles
• Random-Scan Display Principles
– Calligraphic Displays also called vector, stroke or line
drawing graphics
– Electron beam directed only to the points of picture
to be displayed.
– Vector displays, electron beams trace out lines to
generate pictures
– Picture stores as a set of line-drawing commands
• Storage referred as display list, refresh display file, vector file
or display program
– http://groups.csail.mit.edu/graphics/classes/6.837/F9
8/Lecture1/Slide11.html

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 CRT Display Principles
• Sample of Random-Scan displays principles

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 CRT Display Principles

Random
79th
pal

• Images are described in terms of line segments rather than pixels

• Display processor cycles through the commands
 Pros and Cons mid I

• Advantages to Raster Displays Advantaged

– lower cost
I – filled regions/shaded images
• Disadvantages to Raster Displays
– a discrete representation, continuous primitives must be
scan-converted (i.e. fill in the appropriate scan lines)
– Aliasing or "jaggies" Arises
It
due to sampling error when
converting from a continuous to a discrete representation
Comparing Raster and Vector (1/2)
Randi
• advantages of vector:
– very fine detail of line drawings (sometimes curves),
whereas raster suffers from jagged edge problem due
to pixels (aliasing, quantization errors)
– geometry objects (lines) whereas raster only handles
pixels NEW
– eg. 1000 line plot: vector disply computes 2000
endpoints
– raster display computes all pixels on each line
Comparing Raster and Vector (2/2)
• advantages of raster:
– cheaper
– colours, textures, realism
It
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– unlimited complexity of picture: whatever you put in
refresh buffer, whereas vector complexity limited by
refresh rate
 Color CRT Monitors
I j w W
• Using a combination of phosphors that emit
different-colored light
• Beam-penetration sd Al
– Used in random-scan monitors I I di et
i am
– Use red and green phosphors layers d
– Color depends on the penetrated length of electrons
at
• Shadow mask test 81due
– Used in raster-scan systems
– Produce wide range of color with RGB color model

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 Color CRT Monitors
• Color CRTs are much more complicated
– Requires manufacturing very precise geometry
– Uses a pattern of color phosphors on the screen:

Delta electron gun arrangement In-line electron gun arrangement

http://www.udayton.edu/~cps/cps460/notes/displays/
 Flat-Panel Displays
• A class of video devices that have reduced volume,
weight and power requirement compared with CRT
• Two main categories
– Emissive Displays
• Convert electrical energy to light energy
• e.g. Plasma panels
– Non-emissive Displays
• Use optical effects to convert light from other sources
into graphics patterns
• e.g. LCD monitors

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 Plasma Panel Display
• Plasma panels (gas-discharge display)
– Contracted by filling the region between two
glass plates
with a mixture of gases
– Refresh buffer used to store picture information
– Firing voltages applied to refresh the pixel
positions

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 Liquid-crystal Displays
• Liquid-crystal displays (LCD) commonly used in
small systems
– Liquid crystal, compounds have a crystalline
arrangement of molecules, flow like a liquid
– Passive-matrix LCD
To control light twisting, voltage applied to
____
intersecting conductors to align the molecules
– Active-matrix LCD
Using thin-film transistor
CULT technology, place a
transistor at each
A pixel location
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 Video Output Devices
• Immersive
– Head-mounted displays (HMD)
– Stereo shutter glasses
– Virtual Retinal Display (VRD)
– CAVE™
x

http://www.evl.uic.edu/research/template_res_project.php3?indi=27
 Video Output Devices
• Desktop
– Vector display
– CRT
– LCD flatpanel
– Plasma
– workstation displays(Sun Lab)
– PC and Mac laptops
– Tablet computers
– Wacom’s display tablet

yyyy
– Digital Micromirror Devices (projectors)
– Field Emission Devices (FEDs)
– Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) Arrays
 Traditional Input Device (1/4)
• Commonly used today
• Mouse-like devices it

– mouse
– wheel mouse
– trackball
• Keyboards
 Traditional Input Device (2/4)
• Pen-based devices
– pressure sensitive
i – absolute positioning
– tablet computers
• IPAQ, WinCE machines
• Microsoft
IIE eTablet

– palm-top devices
• Handspring Visor, PalmOS™
 Traditional Input Device (3/4)
• Joysticks
– game pads
– flightsticks
– Touchscreens
• Microphones
– wireless vs. wired
– headset
 Traditional Input Device (4/4)
• Digital still and video cameras,
scanners
• MIDI devices
too
– input from electronic
musical instruments
– more convenient
than entering scores
with just a
mouse/keyboard
 3D Input Device (1/2)
• Electromagnetic trackers x
– can be attached to any head, hands, joints, objects
– Polhemus FASTRAK™(used in Brown’s Cave)

http://www.polhemus.com/ftrakds.htm
http://www.isense.com/products/prec/is900/index.htm
 3D Input Device (2/2)
• Gloves
– attach electromagnetic tracker to the hand
• Pinch gloves
– contact between digits is a “pinch” gesture
– in CAVE, extended Fakespace PINCH™ gloves with
extra contacts

http://www.fakespacelabs.com/products/pinch.html
 Raster-Scan systems
• Organization of raster system
– Fixed area of system memory reserved for frame
buffer which can be directly accessed by video controller

CPU
System
Memory
Video
Controller Monitor
x

System Bus

I/O Devices

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 Raster-Scan systems
x
• Video Controller
– Refresh operations
• X, Y register used to indicate pixel position
• Fix Y register and increment X register to generate
scan line
– Double buffering
• Pixel value can be loaded in buffer while
• Provide a fast mechanism for real-time animation
generation

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 Raster-Scan Systems
• Raster-Scan Display Processor
– Free the CPU from the graphics chores
– Provide separate display-processor memory
– Fig. Architecture of raster-scan display system with
display processor
Display Processor
Video
memory Monitor
(Frame Buffer) Controller

Display System
CPU
Processor Memory

System Bus

I/O Devices

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 Graphics Software
• Classifications w

– Special purpose package

• Designed for non-programmers
• No graphics procedures involved
• Communicate with a set of menus
– General programming package
• Designed for programmers
• Provide library of graphics functions used in
programming language