4/24/2014

Computer Graphics Basics

Computer Graphics Basics

What are some of the key concepts in computer graphics?

What is it?
Computer graphics is the computational creation and manipulation of visual data.

What is it good for?

Understanding and interpreting information: Visualization is necessary for dealing with complex data. Improved communitcation with computers: Graphical and audio interfaces are helpful. Better product designs: Designers can explore more avenues in less time and can focus on the creative aspects of design (which do not include drafting). More economical designs: Design databases can be "tested" electronically, reducing dependence on complex and costly physical modes (e.g. aircraft). Better products: Design databases can be transmitted to robots for manufacturing (3-D output).

Where is the technology used?

User Interfaces Hypermedia Presentation Graphics Electronic Publication Office Automation Computer Aided Design Architecture Engineering (VLSI, complex machienery) Visualization Chemical Analyses Demographic Studies Financial Planning Cartography Particle Behavior Medical (ultrasound, CT, MRI, PET) Meteorological Studies Photograph Enhancement Education Tutorial Software Process Control Monitoring of power plants, computer networks, airplane traffic, tornados Entertainment Feature Films Animated Programs Virtual Reality
http://cs.lmu.edu/~ray/notes/graphicsintro/ 1/5

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Computer Graphics Basics

Arcade, Console, PC Games Simulation Factory Simulation Flight Simulators Graphic Arts Video Painting, etc.

Subfields of Computer Graphics

It seems to me there are eight fundamental areas of computer graphics. Obviously this is debatable, but this classification seems to work. Mathematical Structures Spaces, points, vectors; dusts, curves, surfaces, solids. Modeling Description of objects and their attributes, including: Primitives (e.g. pixels, polygons) Intrinsic Geometry Attributes (e.g. color, texture) Connectivity (e.g. scene graphs) Dynamics (e.g. motion, morphing) and techniques for object modeling, including: polygon meshes patches solid geometry sweeps fractals particle systems L-grammars User Interfaces Human factors, I/O devices, color theory, workstations, interactive techniques, dialog design, animation, metaphors for object manipulation, virtual reality. Graphics Software Graphics APIs; paint, draw, CAD and animation software; modeling and image databases; iconic operating systems; software standards. Graphics Hardware I/O devices, specialized chips, specialized architectures. Viewing Abstract to device coordinate transformations, the syntehetic camera, windows, viewports, clipping. Rendering Realism, physical modeling, ray tracing, radiosity, visible surface determination, transparency, translucency, reflection, refraction, shadows, shading, surface and texture mapping. Image Processing Image description, image storage, image transformations, image filtering, image enhancement, pattern recognition, edge detection, object reconstruction.

Objects vs. Images

Objects are the (usually 3-D) conceptual entities that exist in their own coordinate systems; images are the (usually 2-D) realizations of objects on some media.
http://cs.lmu.edu/~ray/notes/graphicsintro/ 2/5

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Computer Graphics Basics

To make images, we need to take into account The position and orientation of the viewer. The properties of the camera, such as its focal length and aspect ratio. Properties of the materials. How the scene is lit. To get an idea of what is involved in turning 3-D into 2-D, check out this completely oversimplified view of projection.

We'll work out in class how to compute x' and y' from x, y, z, and d.

Graphics Systems

Input Devices
Physical: Keyboard, mouse, tablet, touch pad, touch screen, data glove, camera, light pen, wand, joystick, joyswitch, trackball, spaceball, microphone, speech recognizer, etc.
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4/24/2014

Computer Graphics Basics

Logical: String, locator, pick, choice, valuator, stroke.

Output Devices
Examples: CRT display, LED display, LCD display, Plasma display, printer, plotter, e-paper, hologram generator, film recorder, sound recorder, speaker, robot arm, etc. 2-D output devices are either vector devices, which physically draw line segments (like a plotter), or raster devices, which display a grid of colored pixels (picture elements). The resolution of a raster display is written as width height. The ratio width height is also noteworthy. Examples: 1.25 5:4 1.33 4:3 1.5 3:2 480x320 (iPhone<4) 960x640 (iPhone4+) 1152x768 1280x854 1440x960 1.6 16:10 1.67 5:3 1.78 16:9 854x480 1280x720 (HD 720) 1366x768 1920x1080 (HD 1080) 1.89 17:9 2048x1080 (2K) 4096x2160 (4K)

1280x1024 320x240 2560x2048 640x480 (VGA) 768x576 800x600 (SVGA) 1024x768 (XGA) 1280x960 1400x1050 1600x1200 (UXGA) 2048x1536 (QXGA)

320x200 800x480 1280x800 1280x768 1440x900 1680x1050 1920x1200 2560x1600

Note that the ratio of the number of pixel columns to the number of pixel rows (the SAR, or storage apect ratio) may not be the same as the physical width of the display to the physical height of the display (the DAR, or display aspect ratio). If they match, we have square pixels the PAR, or pixel aspect ratio will be 1:1. If not, the pixels will be stretched (which may be ugly). Exercise: A 15"9" monitor is set to a display mode of 1280x1024 pixels. What is the pixel aspect ratio? Are the pixels short and fat or tall and skinny?

Frame Buffer
Memory that holds data for each pixel. May be separate buffers: color buffer, depth buffer, stencil buffer, accumulation buffer. Each buffer has a number of bits per pixel, called its depth. Exercise: State how many bytes are required for buffers of the following resolution and depth: (a) 1920x1080, 24bpp, (b) 1024x768, 16bpp, (c) 1440x900, 32bpp.

Graphics APIs
Several styles: Programmatic: Pen plotter: moveTo, lineTo, penUp, penDown. Maybe angleLeft, angleRight, push, pop. Pure raster: setPixel, getPixel. Vertex-based: begin, vertex, end, flush. Declarative (Retained mode):
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Computer Graphics Basics

Scene Graph

Graphics Pipelines
You should know the basic idea behind pipelines in computing. If not, read the Wikipedia article, and its subarticles, too. The OpenGL pipeline works roughly as follows:

See also the Wikipedia article on graphics pipelines.

http://cs.lmu.edu/~ray/notes/graphicsintro/

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