BONGA UNIVERSITY

College of Engineering and Technology

Department of Computer Science

Computer Graphics
(CoSc3072)
 Introduction to Computer Graphics
• Computer graphics is an art of drawing pictures on computer screens with
the help of programming.

• Such models come from diverse and expanding set of fields including
physical, mathematical, artistic, biological, and even conceptual (abstract)
structures.

• Is the means of creation, Manipulation, and Storage of geometric objects

(modelling) and their images (rendering)

• Display those images on screens or hardcopy devices

• Image processing 2
 Brief History of Computer Graphics
• First Generation (1951 - 1959)

• Crude hardcopy devices (line printer pictures)

• Data was displayed on printers or hardcopy plotters

• The primary output device in a graphical system is the video monitor. The main element of a
video display device monitor is the Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)

• Used CRT display consoles on which operators identified targets with light pens

• The system included interactive techniques that used the keyboard and light pen for making
choices, pointing, and drawing

• Formulated the ideas of display primitives (lines, polygons, arcs, characters).

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• The electron gun emits a beam of electrons (cathode rays).
• The electron beam passes through focusing and deflection systems that direct it towards
specified positions on the phosphor-coated screen.
• When the beam hits the screen, the phosphor emits a small spot of light at each position
contacted by the electron beam.
• It redraws the picture by directing the electron beam back over the same screen points
quickly.

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 Components of CRT:
• Main Components of CRT are:
• 1. Electron Gun: Electron gun consisting of a series of elements, primarily a
heating filament (heater) and a cathode. The electron gun creates a source of
electrons which are focused into a narrow beam directed at the face of the CRT.
• 2. Control Electrode: It is used to turn the electron beam on and off.
• 3. Focusing system: It is used to create a clear picture by focusing the electrons
into a narrow beam.
• 4. Deflection Yoke: It is used to control the direction of the electron beam. It
creates an electric or magnetic field which will bend the electron beam as it
passes through the area. In a conventional CRT, the yoke is linked to a sweep or
scan generator. The deflection yoke which is connected to the sweep generator
creates a fluctuating electric or magnetic potential.
• 5. Phosphorus-coated screen: The inside front surface of every CRT is coated
with phosphors. Phosphors glow when a high-energy electron beam hits them. 5
 …continued
• The light emitted by phosphor fades very rapidly, so it needs to redraw the picture
repeatedly.
• Basically there are 2 kinds (ways) of redrawing mechanisms by which we can display an
object on the screen. those are:
• Raster-Scan and Random-Scan
• Raster-Scan
• In a raster scan system, the electron beam is swept across the screen, one row at a time
from top to bottom.
• As the electron beam moves across each row, the beam intensity is turned on and off to
create a pattern of illuminated spots. This scanning process is called refreshing.
• Picture definition is stored in a memory area called the frame buffer.
• This frame buffer stores the intensity values for all the screen points also called a pixel
(picture element).
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 …continued
• On black and white systems, the frame buffer storing the values of the pixels is called a
bitmap. Whereas
• On color systems, the frame buffer storing the values of the pixels is called a Pixmap.

• Random Scan (Vector Scan)

• The electron beam is directed only to the part of the screen where the picture is to be drawn
rather than scanning from left to right and top to bottom as in raster scan.

• The picture definition is stored as a set of line-drawing commands in a refresh display

file or a refresh buffer in memory.

• Random-scan generally have higher resolution than raster systems and can produce smooth
line drawings, however it cannot display realistic shaded scenes.
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 ……Computer Graphics History continued
• SAGE air-defense system (mid 50s) used
command & control CRT
• Used CRT display consoles on which
operators identified targets with light pens

The Sutherland’s work

In the beginnings of modern interactive graphics attributed to Ivan Sutherland’s doctoral
work,
• He developed the Sketchpad drawing system
• developed algorithms for dragging, rubber banding, transforming (rotating, scaling,
translating)
• Introduced data structures for storing hierarchies built up via easy replication of standard
components
 Computer Graphics of the 60’s
• Hardware expensive
• large scale, expensive computing resources needed
• About 1965, IBM brought out the first widely
available interactive computer graphics terminal
• vector graphics display
• sold for more than $100,000
• only elite designers could use the display system

Introduced in 1968
The next landmark was a special type of CRT produced by
Tektronix - the direct-view storage tube (DVST)
• complete with keyboard, mouse, simple computer
• made interactive computer graphics affordable
• To make them realistic, solid-colored surfaces were
needed (not wireframe)
• TV raster displays were used to create such images.
 …continued
• PCs in the 80’s
• costs decrease drastically
• built-in raster displays
• bitmap graphics used
• OpenGL was introduced by SGI in 1992
• OpenGL is the “Assembler Language” of Computer Graphics has portable, interactive 2D and
3D graphics applications low-level, vendor-neutral software interface broad platform
accessibility in the industry

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 3D Graphics Techniques and Terminology or Rendering.
• Rendering
• Rendering converts a model into an image either by simulating light transport to get photo-
realistic images, or
• By applying some kind of style as in non-photorealistic rendering.
• The two basic operations in realistic rendering are
• Transport (how much light gets from one place to another) and
• scattering (how surfaces interact with light). This step is usually performed using 3D
computer graphics software or a 3D graphics API.
• Altering the scene into a suitable form for rendering also involves 3D projection, which
displays a three-dimensional image in two dimensions.
• 3D rendering is the 3D computer graphics process of automatically converting 3D wire frame
models into 2D images with 3D photorealistic effects or non-photorealistic rendering on a
computer.
Rendering is the final process of creating the actual 2D image or animation from the prepared
scene.
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 …continued
1.2.2 Real-time
• Rendering for interactive media, such as games and simulations, is calculated and displayed
in real time, at rates of approximately 20 to 120 frames per second

A screenshot from Second Life of this picture shows, an

example of a modern simulation which renders frames
in real time.
1.2.3 Non-real-time
• Animations for non-interactive media, such as feature films and video, are rendered much
more slowly.
• Non-real time rendering enables the leveraging of limited processing power in order to
obtain higher image quality

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 Common Uses(Applications) of Computer Graphics
Computer graphical user interfaces (GUIs) – A graphic, mouse-oriented paradigm which allows
the user to interact with a computer.

• Computer Aided Design (CAD)

• Presentation Graphics

• Computer Art

• Entertainment (animation, games, …)

• Education & Training

• Visualization (scientific & business)

• Image Processing 13
 Applications- For Computer Aided Design(CAD)
• Used in design of buildings, automobiles, aircraft, watercraft, spacecraft, computers, textiles
& many other products
• Objects are displayed in wire frame outline form
• Software packages provide multi-window environment
• Mechanical, Electronic, Architecture,...
• Drives the high end of the hardware market
• Integration of computing and display resources
• Graphics design package provides standard shapes (useful for repeated placements)
• Animations are also used in CAD applications
• Realistic displays of architectural design permits simulated
“walk” through the rooms (virtual -reality systems)

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 Applications- For Presentation Graphics
▪ Used to produce illustrations for reports or generate slides for use with projectors

▪ Commonly used to summarize financial, statistical, mathematical, scientific,

economic data for research reports, managerial reports & customer information
bulletins Examples : Bar charts, line graphs, pie charts, surface graphs, time chart

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 Applications- For Computer Art
Used in fine art & commercial art
• Includes artist’s paintbrush programs, paint packages, CAD packages and animation
packages
• These packages provides facilities for designing object shapes & specifying object motions.
• Examples : Cartoon drawing, paintings, product advertisements, logo design

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 Computer Art… continued
Electronic painting
➢Picture painted electronically on a graphics tablet (digitizer) using a stylus
➢Cordless, pressure sensitive stylus
Morphing: A graphics method in which one object is transformed into another

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 Applications- For Entertainment
1.Movie Industry
• Leaders in quality and artistry
• Not slaves to conceptual purity
• Big budgets and tight schedules
• Reminder that there is more to CG than
Technology
• Used in motion pictures, music videos, and television shows.
• Used in making of cartoon animation films

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 Entertainment… continued
• Game Industry
• The newest driving force in CG Why? Volume and Profit
• This is why we have commodity GPUs
• Focus on interactivity
• Cost effective solutions
• Avoiding commutating and other tricks
• Games drive the baseline.

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 Applications- For Scientific Visualization
• For analysing scientific, engineering, medical and business data or behaviour.
• Converting data to visual form can help to understand mass volume of data very efficiently.
• Producing graphical representations for scientific, engineering, and medical data sets

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 Applications- For Image Processing
• Applies techniques to modify or interpret existing pictures such as photographs & TV scans
• Used to apply techniques to modify or interpret existing pictures. It is widely used in
medical applications.
• Medical applications
• Picture enhancements
• Tomography
• Simulations of operations
• Ultrasonic & nuclear medicine scanners
2 applications of image processing: Improving picture quality and Machine perception of
visual information (Robotics)

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 Image Processing …continued
• To apply image processing methods
• Digitize a photograph (or picture) into an image file
• Apply digital methods to rearrange picture parts to enhance color separations and Improve
quality of shading.
• Tomography: technique of X-ray photography that allows cross-sectional views of
physiological systems to be displayed.
• Computer-Aided Surgery is a technique to model and study physical functions to design
artificial limbs and to plan & practice surgery

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 Applications- For Graphical User Interfaces
• To make a particular window active, click in that window (using an interactive pointing
device)
• Multiple window, icons, menus allow a computer setup to be utilized more efficiently.
• Advantages of icons: less screen space, easily understood
• Menus contain lists of textual descriptions & icons
•

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 Applications- For Education and Training
Training with computer-generated models of specialized systems such as the training of
ship captains and aircraft pilots.
Training - Flight simulators, computer aided instruction, etc.
• It allows virtual experiments to be conducted on virtual models that obeys the laws of nature.
• It allows users to create simulation models of natural systems in computational physics,
chemistry and biology

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