Module I – Introduction CG

What is Computer Graphics?

-Using a computer as a rendering tool for the generation (from models) and
manipulation of images is called computer graphics.
-Computer graphics is used today in many different areas of industry,
business, government, education, entertainment, and most recently, the home.
-Computer graphics is the creation and manipulation of pictures with the aid
of computer. There are two types of computer graphics.
Interactive computer graphics
Non-interactive graphics or passive computer graphics

Interactive computer graphics:

-The computer graphics in which the observer has some control over the
image by providing him with an input device so that he can signal his request to
computer. Example: Video games.
-Interactive computer graphics involves two way communications between
computer and user. The user gives signals to computer through the input device and
computer can modify the displayed picture accordingly.
Non-interactive computer graphics:
The computer graphics in which the observer has no control over the image.
Example: Titles shown on TV.

Applications of Computer Graphics

Computers have become powerful tool for the rapid and economical
production of pictures. Computer graphics are used in several areas such as

Computer aided design:

A major use of computer graphics is in design process particularly for
engineering and architectural systems.

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 Computer aided design referred as CAD methods are now routinely used in the
design of buildings, automobiles, aircraft, space craft and textiles etc.,

 Useful for testing performance of a vehicle.

 System in virtual reality environments.
 Realistic renderings of design process.
 Realistic 3D renderings of building designs.

Presentation Graphics:
Presentation graphics used to produce illustration for reports or generate
35mm slides etc., These graphics are commonly used to summarize and economic
data for research reports, managerial reports, consumer information bulletins etc.,
Example: bar charts, line graphs and pie charts.

Computer art:
Computer graphics methods are widely used in both fine art and commercial
art applications. Artists uses variety of computer methods including special purpose
hardware, paint brush programs etc.,

Entertainment:
Computer graphics methods are now commonly used in making motion
pictures, music videos and television shows.
Sometimes graphics are displayed by themselves i.e., computer animation
and sometimes graphics objects are combined with the actors and live scenes.

Education and training:

Computer generated models of physical, financial and economic systems are
often used as educational aids. For some training applications special system are
designed.

Visualization:
Producing graphical representations for scientific, engineering and medical
data sets and processes is generally referred to as scientific visualization. For

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 commerce, industry and other non-scientific areas data sets and processes is
generally referred to as business visualization.

Image processing:
Image processing applies techniques to modify or interpret existing pictures
such as photographs and TV scans. Two principal applications of image processing
are
1. Improving picture quality
2. Machine perception of visual information as used in robotics.
Uses:
 To enhance the quality of a picture.
 In medical applications such as in tomography and in simulations of operations.

Graphical User Interfaces (GUI):

-The software packages provide a graphical interface. This provides a
window manager that allows a user to display multiple window areas.
-Each window contains a different process that can contain graphical or non-
graphical displays.
-To make a particular window active, we simply click in that window using
an interactive pointing device.
-Interfaces also display menus and icons for fast selections for fast selection
of processing operations.

Video Display Devices

The most common graphics output device is the video monitor which is
based on the standard cathode ray tube (CRT) design, but several other technologies
exist and solid state monitors may eventually predominate.

1. Refresh CRT
Basic Operation of CRT

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 Figure1 illustrates the basic operation of a CRT. A beam of electrons
(cathode rays), emitted by an electron gun, passes through focusing and deflection
systems that direct the beam toward specified positions on the phosphor-coated
screen.

Figure 1: Basic Design of a magnetic-deflection CRT

The phosphor then emits a small spot of light at each position contacted by
the electron beam.

Because the light emitted by the phosphor fades very rapidly, some method
is needed for maintaining the screen picture.
One Way to keep the phosphor glowing is to redraw the picture repeatedly
by quickly directing the electron beam back over the same points. This type of
display is called a refresh CRT.

Working
-Beam passes between two pairs of metal plates, one vertical and other
horizontal. A voltage difference is applied to each pair of plates according to the
amount that the beam is to be deflected in each direction. As the electron beam
passes between each pair of plates, it is bent towards the plate with the higher
positive voltage.
-In figure 2 the beam is first deflected towards one side of the screen. Then,
as the beam passes through the horizontal plates, it is deflected towards, the top or
bottom of the screen. To get the proper deflection, adjust the current through coils
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placed around the outside of the CRT loop. The primary components of an electron
gun in a CRT are the heated metal cathode and a control grid (Fig. 2).
-Heat is supplied to the cathode by directing a current through a coil of wire,
called the filament, inside the cylindrical cathode structure. This causes electrons to
be "boiled off" the hot cathode surface.
-In the vacuum inside the CRT envelope, the free, negatively charged
electrons are then accelerated toward the phosphor coating by a high positive
voltage.
-The accelerating voltage can be generated with a positively charged metal
coating on the in- side of the CRT envelope near the phosphor screen, or an
accelerating anode can be used, as in Fig. 2.

Figure 2: Operation of an electron gun with an acceleration anode

-The focusing system in a CRT is needed to force the electron beam to
converge into a small spot as it strikes the phosphor.
-Focusing is accomplished with either electric or magnetic fields.
-Cathode-ray tubes are now commonly constructed with magnetic deflection
coils mounted on the outside of the CRT envelope, as illustrated in Fig.1.
-Two pairs of coils are used, with the coils in each pair mounted on opposite
sides of the neck of the CRT envelope. One pair is mounted on the top and bottom
of the neck and the other pair is mounted on opposite sides of the neck.
-The magnetic field produced by each pair of coils results in a transverse
deflection force that is perpendicular both to the direction of the magnetic field and
to the direction of travel of the electron beam.

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 -Horizontal deflection is accomplished with one pair of coils, and vertical
deflection by the other pair. The proper deflection amounts are attained by adjusting
the current through the coils.
-When electrostatic deflection is used, two pairs of parallel plates are
mounted inside the CRT envelope.
-One pair of plates is mounted horizontally to control the vertical deflection,
and the other pair is mounted vertically to control horizontal deflection (Fig.3).

Figure 3: Electrostatic deflection of the electron beam in a CRT

Properties of CRT

Persistence- Persistence means how long they continue to emit light after the CRT
beam is removed. It is defined as the time it takes the emitted light from screen to
decay to one-tenth of its original intensity.
Resolution
The maximum number of points that can be displayed without overlap on a
CRT is referred to as the resolution.
Aspect Ratio
Another property of video monitors is aspect ratio. This number gives the
ratio of vertical points to horizontal points necessary to produce equal-length lines
in both directions on the screen. (Sometimes aspect ratio is stated in terms of the
ratio of horizontal to vertical points.)
An aspect ratio of 3/4 means that a vertical line plotted with three points has
the same length as a horizontal line plotted with four points.

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2. Raster scan and Random scan displays
Random scan display
-Random scan system uses an electron beam which operates like a pencil to
create a line image on the CRT. The image is constructed out of a sequence of
straight line segments.
-Each line segment is drawn on the screen by directing the beam to move
from one point on screen to the next, where each point is defined by its x and y
coordinates.
-After drawing the picture, the system cycles back to the first line and design
all the lines of the picture 30 to 60 time each second.
-Random-scan monitors draw a picture one line at a time and for this reason
are also referred to as vector displays (or stroke-writing or calligraphic displays)
Fig. 4.
-A pen plotter operates in a similar way and is an example of a random-scan,
hard-copy device.

Figure 4: A random-scan system draws the component lines of an object in any

order specified
-Refresh rate on a random-scan system depends on the number of lines to be
displayed.
-Picture definition is now stored as a set of line-drawing commands in an
area of memory referred to as the refresh display file.

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 -Random-scan systems are designed for line-drawing applications and can-
not display realistic shaded scenes. Since picture definition is stored as a set of line-
drawing instructions and not as a set of intensity values for all screen points, vector
displays generally have higher resolution than raster systems.
-Also, vector displays produce smooth line drawings because the CRT beam
directly follows the line path.

Raster-Scan Displays
-In raster scan approach, the viewing screen is divided into a large number of
discrete phosphor picture elements, called pixels.
-Each pixel on the screen can be made to glow with a different brightness.
Color screen provide for the pixels to have different colors as well as brightness.
-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 a 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 (Fig.6).
Each screen point is referred to as a pixel or pel (shortened forms of picture
element). The capability of a raster-scan system to store intensity information for
each screen point makes it well suited for the realistic display of scenes containing
subtle shading and color patterns.
Home television sets and printers are examples of other systems using raster-
scan methods.

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 Figure 5: A raster-scan system displays an object as a set of discrete points
across each scan line
Advantages
 produce realistic images
 produced different colors and shadows scenes.

Disadvantages
 low resolution
 expensive
 electron beam directed to whole screen

3. Color CRT Monitors

To display color pictures, combination of phosphorus is used that emits different

colored light. There are two different techniques for producing color displays with a
CRT.

1. Beam Penetration Method

2. Shadow Mask Method

Beam Penetration Method

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 The beam-penetration method for displaying color pictures has been used
with random-scan monitors.
Two layers of phosphor, usually red and green, are coated onto the inside of
the CRT screen, and the displayed color depends on how far the electron beam
penetrates into the phosphor layers.
A beam of slow electrons excites only the outer red layer. A beam of very
fast electrons penetrates through the red layer and excites the inner green layer. At
intermediate beam speeds, combinations of red and green light are emitted to show
two additional colors, orange and yellow.
The speed of the electrons, and hence the screen color at any point, is
controlled by the beam-acceleration voltage.
Beam penetration has been an inexpensive way to produce color in random-
scan monitors, but only four colors are possible, and the quality of pictures is not as
good as with other methods.

Shadow Mask Method

Shadow-mask methods are commonly used in raster-scan systems (including
color TV) because they produce a much wider range of colors than the beam-
penetration method.
A shadow-mask CRT has three phosphor color dots at each pixel position.
One phosphor dot emits a red light, another emits a green light, and the third emits a
blue light.
This type of CRT has three electron guns, one for each color dot, and a
shadow-mask grid just behind the phosphor-coated screen. Figure (6) illustrates the
delta-delta shadow-mask method, commonly used in color CRT- systems.
The three electron beams are deflected and focused as a group onto the
shadow mask, which contains a series of holes aligned with the phosphor-dot
patterns.
When the three beams pass through a hole 'in the shadow mask, they activate
a dot triangle, which appears as a small color spot on the screen.

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 Figure 6: Operation of a delta–delta, shadow-mask CRT.

4. Direct-View Storage Tubes (DVST)

This is an alternative method to monitor a screen image, as it sores the
picture information inside the CRT instead of refreshing the screen.
A direct-view storage tube (DVST) stores the picture information as a charge
distribution just behind the phosphor-coated screen. Two electron guns are used in a
DVST.
One, the primary gun, is used to store the picture pattern; the second, the
flood gun, maintains the picture display.
A DVST monitor has both disadvantages and advantages compared to the
refresh CRT. Because no refreshing is needed, very complex pictures can be
displayed at very high resolutions without flicker.
Disadvantages of DVST systems are that they ordinarily do not display color
and that selected parts of a picture cannot be erased. To eliminate a picture section,
the entire screen must be erased and the modified picture redrawn. The erasing and
redrawing process can take several seconds for a complex picture. For these reasons,
storage displays have been largely replaced by raster systems.

5. Flat-Panel Displays
The term flat panel display refers to a class of video device that have
reduced volume, weight and power requirement compared to a CRT.

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 A significant feature of flat-panel displays is that they are thinner than
CRTs, and we can hang them on walls or wear them on our wrists.
Current uses for flat-panel displays include small TV monitors, calculators,
pocket video games, laptop computers, armrest viewing of movies on airlines, as
advertisement boards in elevators, and as graphics displays in applications requiring
rugged, portable monitors.
We can separate flat-panel displays into two categories: emissive displays
and non emissive displays.
The emissive displays (or emitters) are devices that convert electrical energy
into light. Plasma panels, thin-film electroluminescent displays, and- light-emitting
diodes are examples of emissive displays.
Non emissive displays (or non emitters) use optical effects to convert
sunlight or light from some other source into graphics patterns. The most important
example of a non emissive flat-panel display is a liquid-crystal device.

Plasma panels
- also called gas discharge displays
- It is constructed by filling the region between two glass plates with a mixture of
gases that usually includes neon
- A series of vertical ribbons is placed on one glass panel, and set of horizontal
ribbons in to other glass panels
- A voltage is applied to these conductors to break down in to a glowing plasma of
voltages
Figure Refer text page no 66

Thin film electro luminescent displays

- Similar to the construction of plasma panel
- Difference is the region between glass plate is filled with a phosphor instead of gas
- When high voltage is applied, phosphor emits light
Figure refer text- page no 67

Light-emitting Diode (LED)

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 In LED, a matrix of diodes is arranged to form the pixel positions in the
display and picture definition is stored in a refresh buffer.
Information is read from the refresh buffer and converted to voltage levels
that are applied to the diodes to produce the light patterns in the display.

Liquid-crystal Displays (LCDs)

Liquid crystal displays are the devices that produce a picture by passing
polarized light from the surroundings or from an internal light source through a
liquid crystal material that transmit the light.
Liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) are commonly used in small systems, such '
as calculators and portable, laptop computers.
These non-emissive devices produce a picture by passing polarized light
from the surroundings or from an internal light source through a liquid-crystal
material that can be aligned to either block or transmit the light.
The term liquid crystal refers to the fact that these compounds have a
crystalline arrangement of molecules, yet they flow like a liquid. Flat-panel displays
commonly use threadlike liquid-crystal compounds that tend to keep the long axes
of the rod-shaped molecules aligned.
A flat-panel display can then be constructed with a nematic liquid crystal, as
demonstrated in Fig.(7) . Two glass plates, each containing a light polarizer at right
angles to the other plate, sandwich the liquid-crystal material. Rows of horizontal
transparent conductors are built into one glass plate, and columns of vertical
conductors are put into the other plate. The intersection of two conductors defines a
pixel position.
Normally, the molecules are aligned as shown in the "on state" of Fig. 7.
Polarized light passing through the material is twisted so that it will pass through the
opposite polarizer. The light is then reflected back to the viewer.
To turn off the pixel, we apply a voltage to the two intersecting conductors
to align the molecules so that the light is not twisted.
Picture definitions are stored in a refresh buffer, and the screen is refreshed
at the rate of 60 frames per second, as in the emissive devices.

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Figure7 : The light-twisting, shutter effect used in the design of most liquid-
crystal display devices

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 Raster Scan Systems

Interactive raster-graphics systems typically employ several processing

units. In addition to the CPU, a special purpose processor called the video controller
or display controller is used to control the operation of the display device.
The figure shows the organization of a raster system. The frame buffer can
be anywhere in the system memory, and the video controller access the frame buffer
to refresh the screen.

Architecture of raster system with a fixed portion of the system memory

reserved for the frame buffer

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Video Controller
A fixed area of the system memory is reserved for the frame buffer, and the
video controller is given direct access to the frame buffer memory.
The co-ordinates of the graphics monitor starts at the lower left screen
corner. Positive x values increasing to the right and y values increasing from bottom
to top.

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 The above diagram shows the refresh operation of video controller. Two
registers are used to store the co-ordinates of the screen pixels. Initially x=0 and
y=ymax. The value stored in the frame buffer corresponding to this pixel position is
retrieved. And the x value is incremented by 1 and the corresponding y value is
retrieved, like that the pixel values are retrieved line by line. Once the last pixel is
reached again the registers are reset to initial value to repeat the process.

Raster scan Display Processor

Architecture of a raster graphics system with a display processor

-The purpose of the display processor or graphics controller is to free the

CPU from the graphics chores. In addition to the system memory a separate display
processor memory area can also provided.
-A major task of the display processor is digitizing a picture definition given
in an application program into a set of pixel-intensity values for storage in the frame
buffer. This digitization process is called scan conversion. Lines and other
geometric objects are converted into set of discrete intensity points. Characters can
be defined with rectangular grids, or they can be defined with curved outlines.
-To reduce the memory space required to store the image information, each
scan line are stored as a set of integer pairs.
-One number of each pair indicates an intensity value, and the second
number specifies number of adjacent pixels the scan line that is also having same
intensity. This technique is called run-length encoding.

Random-scan Systems:
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 An application program is input and stored in the system memory along with
a graphics package. Graphics commands in the program are translated by the
graphics package into a display file stored in the system memory.
This display file is then accessed by the display processor to refresh the
screen.
-The display processor cycles through each command in the display file
program once during every refresh cycle. Sometimes the display processor in a
random-scan system is refreshed to as a display processing unit or a graphics
controller.
Graphical patterns are drawn on a random scan system by directing the
electron beam along the component lines of the picture. Lines are defined by the
values for their co-ordinate endpoints, and these input co-ordinate values are
converted to x and y deflection voltages. A scene is then drawn one line at a time by
positioning the beam to fill in the line between specified endpoints.

Difference between Raster scan and Random scan systems

Base of
Raster Scan System Random Scan System
Difference

The electron beam is swept The electron beam is directed only

Electron
across the screen, one row at a to the parts of screen where a picture is to
Beam
time, from top to bottom. be drawn.

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 Its resolution is poor because Its resolution is good because this
raster system in contrast produces system produces smooth lines drawings
Resolution
zig-zag lines that are plotted as because CRT beam directly follows the
discrete point sets. line path.
Picture definition is stored
Picture definition is stored as a set
Picture as a set of intensity values for all
of line drawing instructions in a display
Definition screen points, called pixels in a
file.
refresh buffer area.

The capability of this system

to store intensity values for pixel These systems are designed for
Realistic
makes it well suited for the realistic line-drawing and can’t display realistic
display
display of scenes contain shadow shaded scenes.
and color pattern.

Draw an Screen points/pixels are Mathematical functions are used to

Image used to draw an image. draw an image.
Graphic

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