graphics
graphics
Overview of Computer Graphics System: Video Display Devices – Raster Scan Systems –
Random – Scan Systems - Graphics Monitors and Workstations – Input Devices – Hardcopy
Devices – Graphics Software.
Computer graphics is commonly seen as a computer science branch that deals with the
computerized image fusion theory and technology. As simple as a triangle outline, a computer-
generated image may represent a scene. The computer has become a powerful tool for producing
images quickly and economically.
When a computer is used to create images, the same process is followed as creating images
manually. The process’s primary computational steps give a boost to several important computer
graphics areas.
Also on computers, the term computer graphics covers almost everything. Here in the computer
graphics program’s classroom, we think of computer graphics as drawing images on machines,
often known as rendering. The images can be photos, sketches, animations, or pictures of items
imagined. Or they may be pictures, we cannot see directly, like internal body parts.
We have put a great deal of our time to develop how computer images can replicate real-world
scenes. We want objects on computers not only to look more real, but also their colors to be
more realistic and how different materials appear. We can call it “real synthesis of the image.”
The term computer graphics has been used to define “almost everything on the computer,
including text or sound.” Generally, the term computer graphics refer to the following things:
The next area of computer graphics that deals with the placement of a triangle is called
transformation. Here we can use matrices to get the mapping of a triangle in image space. We
can also set up the transformation matrix to control the location and orientation of the displayed
image. We can also resize the triangle.
Definition of Computer Graphics-Computer graphics can be a series of images which is most
often called a video or single image. Computer graphics is the technology that concerns with
designs and pictures on computers. That’s why, computer graphics are visual representations of
data shown on a monitor made on a computer.
“Computer graphics is the use of a computer to define, store, manipulate, interrogate, and
represent the pictorial output.” An image in computer graphics is made up of a number of pixels.
In interactive computer graphics, users have some controls over the image, i.e., the user can
make any changes to the image produced.
For Example:
• Ping-pong game.
• Drawing on touch screens.
• Display weather forecast or other moving charts/graphs on the screen.
• Animating pictures or graphics in movies. Graphics animation in video games.
The modern display of graphics is very simple to build. It is composed of three components:
• Display controller or video controller
• Digital memory or frame buffer
• Television monitor
In today’s term, the display controller is recognized as a display card, and one of our choices can
be a VGA(Video Graphics Array) card with a resolution of 640×480. Display Controller is also
capable of displaying the image in colors.
2. Digital memory or frame buffer-This is a place where images and pictures are stored
as an array (matrix of 0 & 1, 0 represents darkness, and 1 represents image or picture). It is also
called a frame buffer.
In today’s term frame buffer is called V-RAM (video RAM), and it helps to store the image in
bit form. It helps to increase the speed of graphics.
3. Television monitor- Monitor helps us to view the display, and they make use of
CRT(Cathode ray tube) technology.
Advantages
1. Superior Quality.
2. More accurate outcomes or products.
3. Increased Productivity.
4. Lower cost of development.
5. Increases the ability to understand information and interpret patterns significantly.
Non-interactive computer graphics are also known as passive computer graphics. It is a type of
computer graphics in which the user has no control over the image. The photo is completely
controlled by the instructions of the program, not by the user.
For Example:
• Screen savers.
• Map representation of the data.
• Graphic elements are used in the text, document, and PDF presentation.
• Static images are used in mobile applications and websites.
• Business graphics are used as brochures, business cards, menu of the hotel.
Representation of graphics
Raster images are also called bitmap images. Bitmap images are stored as the collection of small
individual dots called pixels.
Bitmap images require high resolution and anti-aliasing for a smooth appearance.
2. Vector Graphics: In vector graphics, the image is represented in the form of continuous
geometric objects: line, curve, etc.
Vector images are not based on pixel pattern. They use mathematical formulas to draw line and
curves. The lines and curves can be combined to create an image.
Raster images are the collection of the The Vector images are composed of
pixel. paths.
Scan conversion is required. Scan Conversion is not required.
Raster image takes less space to store. Vector image takes more space.
Raster graphics can draw mathematical Vector graphics can only draw
curves, polygons, and boundaries. continuous and smooth lines.
File Extension: .BMP, .TIF, .JPG etc. File Extension: .SVG, .PDF, .AI
etc.
Computer graphics is an art of drawing pictures on computer screens with the help of
programming. It involves computations, creation, and manipulation of data. In other words, we
can say that computer graphics is a rendering tool for the generation and manipulation of
images.
CRT stands for Cathode ray tube. It is a technology which is used in traditional computer
monitor and television.
Cathode ray tube is a particular type of vacuum tube that displays images when an electron
beam collides on the radiant surface.
Component of CRT:
• Electron Gun: The electron gun is made up of several elements, mainly a heating
filament (heater) and a cathode.
The electron gun is a source of electrons focused on a narrow beam facing the CRT.
• Focusing & Accelerating Anodes: These anodes are used to produce a narrow and
sharply focused beam of electrons.
• Horizontal & Vertical Deflection Plates: These plates are used to guide the path of the
electron the beam. The plates produce an electromagnetic field that bends the electron
beam through the area as it travels.
• Phosphorus-coated Screen: The phosphorus coated screen is used to produce bright
spots when the high-velocity electron beam hits it.
The main element of a video monitor is the Cathode Ray Tube CRT, shown in the following
illustration.
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.
There are two ways Random scan and Raster scan by which we can display an object on the
screen.
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.
Picture definition is stored in memory area called the Refresh Buffer or Frame Buffer. This
memory area holds the set of intensity values for all the screen points. Stored intensity values
are then retrieved from the refresh buffer and “painted” on the screen one row scan line at a time
as shown in the following illustration.
Each screen point is referred to as a pixel picture element or pel. At the end of each scan line,
the electron beam returns to the left side of the screen to begin displaying the next scan line.
In this technique, 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. It is also
called vector display, stroke-writing display, or calligraphic display.
Random-scan displays are designed to draw all the component lines of a picture 30 to 60 times
each second.
Application of Computer Graphics
Computer Graphics has numerous applications, some of which are listed below −
The basic idea behind the color CRT monitor is to combine three basic colors- Red, Green, and
Blue. By using these three colors, we can produce millions of different colors.
The two basic color display producing techniques are:
1. Beam–Penetration Method: It is used with a random scan monitor for displaying pictures.
There are two phosphorus layers- Red and Green are coated inside the screen. The color
shown depends on how far the electron beam penetrates the phosphorus surface.
A powerful electron beam penetrates the CRT, it passes through the red layer and excites the
green layer within. A beam with slow electrons excites only the red layer. A beam with the
medium speed of electrons, a mixture of red and green light is emitted to display two more
colors- orange and yellow.
Advantages:
1. Better Resolution
2. Half cost
3. Inexpensive
Disadvantages:
2.Shadow–Mask Method: It is used with a raster scan monitor for displaying pictures. It has
more range of color than the beam penetration method. It is used in television sets and monitors.
Structure:
Working: A Shadow Mask is a metal plate with tiny holes present inside a color monitor.
A Shadow Mask directs the beam by consuming the electrons so that the beam hits only the
desired point and displays a resulting picture.
It has three different guns. These guns direct their beams to shadow mask, which allows them to
pass. It is a task of a shadow mask to direct the beam on its particular dot on the screen and
produce a picture on the screen.
A Shadow Mask can display a wider range of pictures than beam penetration.
Advantages:
Disadvantages:
Difficult to cover all three beams on the same
hole. Poor Resolution.
Liquid crystal display (LCD): The LCD depends upon the light modulating properties of liquid
crystals. LCD is used in watches and portable computers. LCD requires an AC power supply
instead of DC, so it is difficult to use it in circuits. It generally works on flat panel display
technology. LCD consumes less power than LED. The LCD screen uses the liquid crystal to turn
pixels on or off. Liquid Crystals are a mixture of solid and liquid. When the current flows inside
it, its position changes into the desired color. For Example: TFT(Thin Film Transistor)
Advantages:
Disadvantages:
Light Emitting Diode (LED): LED is a device which emits when current passes through it. It is
a semiconductor device. The size of the LED is small, so we can easily make any display unit by
arranging a large number of LEDs. LED consumes more power compared to LCD. LED is used
on TV, smartphones, motor vehicles, traffic light, etc. LEDs are powerful in structure, so they
are capable of withstanding mechanical pressure. LED also works at high temperatures.
Advantages:
Disadvantages:
Disadvantages:
Plasma Display: It is a type of flat panel display which uses tiny plasma cells. It is also known
as the GasDischarge display.
1. Anode: It is used to deliver a positive voltage. It also has the line wires.
2. Cathode: It is used to provide negative voltage to gas cells. It also has fine wires.
3. Gas Plates: These plates work as capacitors. When we pass the voltage, the cell lights
regularly.
4. Fluorescent cells: It contains small pockets of gas liquids when the voltage is passed to this
neon gas. It emits light.
Advantages:
1. Wall Mounted
2. Slim
3. Wider angle
Disadvantages:
Advantages:
Disadvantage:
• Expensive
• Binocular Fusion
Input Devices
Following are some of the important input devices which are used in a computer −
• Keyboard
• Mouse
• Joy Stick
• Light pen
• Track Ball
• Scanner
• Graphic Tablet
• Microphone
• Magnetic Ink Card Reader(MICR)
• Optical Character Reader(OCR)
• Bar Code Reader
• Optical Mark Reader(OMR)
Keyboard
Keyboard is the most common and very popular input device which helps to input data to the
computer. The layout of the keyboard is like that of traditional typewriter, although there are
some additional keys provided for performing additional functions.
Keyboards are of two sizes 84 keys or 101/102 keys, but now keyboards with 104 keys or 108
keys are also available for Windows and Internet.
Typing Keys
1
These keys include the letter keys (A-Z) and digit keys (09) which generally give the
same layout as that of typewriters.
Numeric Keypad
Function Keys
3 The twelve function keys are present on the keyboard which are arranged in a row
at the top of the keyboard. Each function key has a unique meaning and is used for
some specific purpose.
Control keys
4 These keys provide cursor and screen control. It includes four directional arrow
keys. Control keys also include Home, End, Insert, Delete, Page Up, Page Down,
Control(Ctrl), Alternate(Alt), Escape(Esc).
Mouse is the most popular pointing device. It is a very famous cursor-control device having a
small palm size box with a round ball at its base, which senses the movement of the mouse and
sends corresponding signals to the CPU when the mouse buttons are pressed.
Generally, it has two buttons called the left and the right button and a wheel is present between
the buttons. A mouse can be used to control the position of the cursor on the screen, but it
cannot be used to enter text into the computer.
Advantages
• Easy to use
• Not very expensive
• Moves the cursor faster than the arrow keys of the keyboard.
Joystick
Joystick is also a pointing device, which is used to move the cursor position on a monitor screen.
It is a stick having a spherical ball at its both lower and upper ends. The lower spherical ball
moves in a socket. The joystick can be moved in all four directions.
The function of the joystick is similar to that of a mouse. It is mainly used in Computer Aided
Designing (CAD) and playing computer games.
Light Pen
Light pen is a pointing device similar to a pen. It is used to select a displayed menu item or draw
pictures on the monitor screen. It consists of a photocell and an optical system placed in a small
tube.
When the tip of a light pen is moved over the monitor screen and the pen button is pressed, its
photocell sensing element detects the screen location and sends the corresponding signal to the
CPU.
Track Ball
Track ball is an input device that is mostly used in notebook or laptop computer, instead of a
mouse. This is a ball which is half inserted and by moving fingers on the ball, the pointer can be
moved.
Since the whole device is not moved, a track ball requires less space than a mouse. A track ball
comes in various shapes like a ball, a button, or a square.
Scanner
Scanner is an input device, which works more like a photocopy machine. It is used when some
information is available on paper and it is to be transferred to the hard disk of the computer for
further manipulation.
Scanner captures images from the source which are then converted into a digital form that can
be stored on the disk. These images can be edited before they are printed.
Digitizer
Digitizer is an input device which converts analog information into digital form. Digitizer can
convert a signal from the television or camera into a series of numbers that could be stored in a
computer. They can be used by the computer to create a picture of whatever the camera had
been pointed at.
Digitizer is also known as Tablet or Graphics Tablet as it converts graphics and pictorial data
into binary inputs. A graphic tablet as digitizer is used for fine works of drawing and image
manipulation applications.
Microphone
Microphone is an input device to input sound that is then stored in a digital form.
The microphone is used for various applications such as adding sound to a multimedia
presentation or for mixing music.
MICR input device is generally used in banks as there are large number of cheques to be
processed every day. The bank's code number and cheque number are printed on the cheques
with a special type of ink that contains particles of magnetic material that are machine readable.
This reading process is called Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR). The main
advantages of MICR is that it is fast and less error prone.
Bar Code Reader is a device used for reading bar coded data (data in the form of light and dark
lines). Bar coded data is generally used in labelling goods, numbering the books, etc. It may be a
handheld scanner or may be embedded in a stationary scanner.
Bar Code Reader scans a bar code image, converts it into an alphanumeric value, which is then
fed to the computer that the bar code reader is connected to.
OMR is a special type of optical scanner used to recognize the type of mark made by pen or
pencil. It is used where one out of a few alternatives is to be selected and marked.
It is specially used for checking the answer sheets of examinations having multiple choice
questions.
Output Devices
An output device is a component of hardware or the main physical part of a computer that can
be touched and seen. An output device is an electromechanical device.
“The Computer gives instructions and data from input devices and processes it and returns
the result called as output.”
Printers:
A printer is a peripheral device which is used to represent the graphics or text on paper. The
quality is measured by its resolution. The resolution of any printer is measured in dot per inch
(dpi).
The printer usually works with the computer and connected via a cable. In present, many digital
device support printer features so that we can use Bluetooth, Wi-fi, and cloud technology to
print. Types of Printers
• Impact Printers
• Non-impact Printers
Impact Printers
In impact printers, there is a physical contact established between the print head, ribbon, ink-
cartridge, and paper.
The printers hit print head on an ink-filled ribbon than the letter prints on the paper. Impact
printers are works like a typewriter.
Impact printers print the characters by striking them on the ribbon, which is then pressed on the
paper.
• Character printers
• Line printers
Character Printers
Character printers are the printers which print one character at a time.
In the market, one of the most popular printers is Dot Matrix Printer. These printers are popular
because of their ease of printing and economical price. Each character printed is in the form of
pattern of dots and head consists of a Matrix of Pins of size (5*7, 7*9, 9*7 or 9*9) which come
out to form a character which is why it is called Dot Matrix Printer.
Advantages
• Inexpensive
• Widely Used
• Other language characters can be printed
Disadvantages
• Slow Speed
• Poor Quality
Daisy Wheel
Head is lying on a wheel and pins corresponding to characters are like petals of Daisy (flower)
which is why it is called Daisy Wheel Printer. These printers are generally used for word-
processing in offices that require a few letters to be sent here and there with very nice quality.
Advantages
Disadvantages
Line printers are the printers which print one line at a time.
• Drum Printer
• Chain Printer
Drum Printer
This printer is like a drum in shape hence it is called drum printer. The surface of the drum is
divided into a number of tracks. Total tracks are equal to the size of the paper, i.e. for a paper
width of 132 characters, drum will have 132 tracks. A character set is embossed on the track.
Different character sets available in the market are 48 character set, 64 and 96 characters set.
One rotation of drum prints one line. Drum printers are fast in speed and can print 300 to 2000
lines per minute.
Advantages
Disadvantages
• Very expensive
• Characters fonts cannot be changed
Chain Printer
In this printer, a chain of character sets is used, hence it is called Chain Printer. A standard
character set may have 48, 64, or 96 characters.
Advantages
• Noisy
Non-impact Printers
Non-impact printers print the characters without using the ribbon. These printers print a
complete page at a time, thus they are also called as Page Printers.
• Laser Printers
• Inkjet Printers
Laser Printers
These are non-impact page printers. They use laser lights to produce the dots needed to form the
characters to be printed on a page.
Advantages
Disadvantages
• Expensive
• Cannot be used to produce multiple copies of a document in a single printing
Inkjet Printers
Inkjet printers are non-impact character printers based on a relatively new technology. They
print characters by spraying small drops of ink onto paper. Inkjet printers produce high quality
output with presentable features.
They make less noise because no hammering is done and these have many styles of printing
modes available.
Color printing is also possible. Some models of Inkjet printers can produce multiple copies of
printing also.
Advantages
Monitors
Monitors, commonly called as Visual Display Unit (VDU), are the main output device of a
computer. It forms images from tiny dots, called pixels that are arranged in a rectangular form.
The sharpness of the image depends upon the number of pixels.
The CRT display is made up of small picture elements called pixels. The smaller the pixels, the
better the image clarity or resolution. It takes more than one illuminated pixel to form a whole
character, such as the letter ‘e’ in the word help.
A finite number of characters can be displayed on a screen at once. The screen can be divided
into a series of character boxes - fixed location on the screen where a standard character can be
placed. Most screens are capable of displaying 80 characters of data horizontally and 25 lines
vertically.
• Large in Size
• High power consumption
Flat-Panel Display Monitor
The flat-panel display refers to a class of video devices that have reduced volume, weight and
power requirement in comparison to the CRT. You can hang them on walls or wear them on
your wrists. Current uses of flat-panel displays include calculators, video games, monitors,
laptop computer, and graphics display.