COMPUTER GRAPHICS

COURSE CS 334
 Over view of
Graphics systems
 Content

1. Video Display Devices

2. Raster-Scan Systems
3. Graphics Workstations and Viewing Systems
4. Input Devices
5. Hard-Copy Devices
6. Graphics Networks
7. Graphics on the Internet
Computer Graphics Hardware
• The power and utility of computer graphics is widely recognized, and
a broad range of graphics hardware and software systems is now
available for applications in virtually all fields.
• Graphics capabilities for both two-dimensional and threedimensional
applications are now common, even on general-purpose computers and
handheld calculators.
• With personal computers, we can use a variety of interactive input
devices and graphics software packages.
• For higher-quality applications, we can choose from a number of
sophisticated special-purpose graphics hardware systems and
technologies.
• In this chapter, we explore the basic features of graphics hardware
components and graphics software packages.
Video Display Devices .1

• The primary output device in a graphic system is a video monitor.

• The operation of most video monitors was based on the standard
cathode-ray tube (CRT) design.
• In recent years, flat-panel displays have become significantly more
popular due to their reduced power consumption and thinner designs.
Refresh Cathode-Ray Tubes
 Refresh Cathode-Ray Tubes

As in Figure 1, The basic operation of a CRT is:

• 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.
• 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 do this is to store the picture information as a charge distribution
within the CRT. This charge distribution can then be used to keep the
phosphors activated.
• The most common method now employed for maintaining phosphor glow is to
redraw the picture repeatedly by quickly directing the electron beam back over
the same screen points.
• This type of display is called a refreshCRT, and the frequency at which a
picture is redrawn on the screen is referred to as the refresh rate.
Refresh Cathode-Ray Tubes
Refresh Cathode-Ray Tubes
 Refresh Cathode-Ray Tubes
• Figure 4 shows the intensity distribution of a spot on the screen.
• The intensity is greatest at the center of the spot, and it decreases with a Gaussian
distribution out to the edges of the spot.
• This distribution corresponds to the cross-sectional electron density distribution of the CRT
beam.
Refresh Cathode-Ray Tubes
 Raster-Scan Displays

• This memory area holds the set of color values for the screen points.

• These stored color values are then retrieved from the refresh buffer

and used to control the intensity of the electron beam as it moves

from spot to spot across the screen.

• In this way, the picture is “painted” on the screen one scan line at a

time, as demonstrated in Figure 6.

• Each screen spot that can be illuminated by the electron beam is

referred to as a pixel or pel (shortened forms of picture element).

Raster-Scan Displays
 Raster-Scan Displays
• The range of colors or shades of gray that can be displayed on a raster system
depends on both the types of phosphor used in the CRT and the number of bits per
pixel available in the frame buffer.
• For a simple black-and-white system, each screen point is either on or off, so only
one bit per pixel is needed to control the intensity of screen positions.
• A bit value of 1, for example, indicates that the electron beam is to be turned on at
that position, and a value of 0 turns the beam off.
• Additional bits allow the intensity of the electron beam to be varied over a range of
values between “on” and “off.”
• Up to 24 bits per pixel are included in high-quality systems, which can require
several megabytes of storage for the frame buffer, depending on the resolution of
the system.
• For example, a system with 24 bits per pixel and a screen resolution of 1024 by
1024 requires 3 MB of storage for the refresh buffer.
Raster-Scan Displays
 Random-Scan Displays

• When operated as a random-scan display unit, a CRT has the

electron beam directed only to those parts of the screen where a
picture is to be displayed.
• Pictures are generated as line drawings, with the electron beam
tracing out the component lines one after the other.
• For this reason, random-scan monitors are also referred to as vector
displays (or stroke-writing displays or calligraphic displays).
• The component lines of a picture can be drawn and refreshed by a
random-scan system in any specified order (Fig. 8).
• A pen plotter operates in a similar way and is an example of a
random-scan, hard-copy device.
Random-Scan Displays
 Color CRT Monitors

• A beam of slow electrons excites only the outer red layer,

but a beam of very fast electrons penetrates the red layer
and excites the inner green layer.
• 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.
• This approach is based on the way that we seem to perceive
colors as combinations of red, green, and blue components,
called the RGB color model.
Color CRT Monitors
 Flat-Panel Displays
• Plasma panels, also called gas-discharge displays, are constructed by filling
the region between two glass plates with a mixture of gases that usually
includes neon.
• A series of vertical conducting ribbons is placed on one glass panel, and a set of
horizontal conducting ribbons is built into the other glass panel (Fig. 10).
• Firing voltages applied to an intersecting pair of horizontal and vertical
conductors cause the gas at the intersection of the two conductors to break
down into a glowing plasma of electrons and ions.
• Picture definition is stored in a refresh buffer, and the firing voltages are applied
to refresh the pixel positions (at the intersections of the conductors) 60 times
per second.
• A third type of emissive device is the light-emitting diode (LED).
• Liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) are commonly used in small systems, such as
laptop computers and calculators (Fig. 12).
Flat-Panel Displays
Flat-Panel Displays
Flat-Panel Displays
 Three-Dimensional Viewing Devices

• Graphics monitors for the display of three-dimensional scenes have

been devised using a technique that reflects a CRT image from a
vibrating, flexible mirror (Fig. 14).
• As the varifocal mirror vibrates, it changes focal length.
• These vibrations are synchronized with the display of an object on a
CRT so that each point on the object is reflected from the mirror into a
spatial position corresponding to the distance of that point from a
specified viewing location.
• This allows us to walk around an object or scene and view it from
different sides.
Three-Dimensional Viewing Devices
 Stereoscopic and Virtual-Reality Systems

• Another technique for representing a three-dimensional

object is to display stereoscopic views of the object.
• This method does not produce true three dimensional
images, but it does provide a three-dimensional effect by
presenting a different view to each eye of an observer so
that scenes do appear to have depth.
 Raster-Scan Systems .2

• Interactive raster-graphics systems typically employ several

processing units.
• In addition to the central processing unit (CPU), a special-purpose
processor, called the video controller or display controller, is used
to control the operation of the display device.

• Here, the frame buffer can be anywhere in the system memory, and
the video controller accesses the frame buffer to refresh the screen.

• In addition to the video controller, more sophisticated raster systems

employ other processors as coprocessors and accelerators to
implement various graphics operations.
Raster-Scan Systems .2
Video Controller
Video Controller
Video Controller
Raster-Scan Display Processor
Raster-Scan Display Processor
 Graphics Workstations and Viewing Systems
• Graphics workstations range from small general-purpose computer
systems to multi-monitor facilities, often with ultra-large viewing screens.

• For a personal computer, screen resolutions vary from about 640 by 480
to 1280 by 1024, and diagonal screen lengths measure from 12 inches to
over 21 inches.

• Most general-purpose systems now have considerable color capabilities,

and many are full-color systems.

• For a desktop workstation specifically designed for graphics applications,

the screen resolution can vary from 1280 by 1024 to about 1600 by
1200, with a typical screen diagonal of 18 inches or more.

• Commercial workstations can also be obtained with a variety of devices

for specific applications.
 Input Devices

• Graphics workstations can make use of various devices for data input.

• Most systems have a keyboard and one or more additional devices

specifically designed for interactive input.

• These include a mouse, trackball, spaceball, and joystick.

• Some other input devices used in particular applications are digitizers,

dials, button boxes, data gloves, touch panels, image scanners, and
voice systems.
 Keyboards, Button Boxes, and Dials

• An alphanumeric keyboard on a graphics system is used

primarily as a device for entering text strings, issuing
certain commands, and selecting menu options.
 Keyboards, Button Boxes, and Dials

• For specialized tasks, input to a graphics application may

come from a set of buttons, dials, or switches that select
data values or customized graphics operations.
 Mouse Devices
• A mouse is a small handheld unit that is usually
moved around on a flat surface to position the
screen cursor.
 Trackballs and Spaceballs
• A trackball is a ball device that can be rotated with
the fingers or palm of the hand to produce screen
cursor movement.
 Trackballs and Spaceballs

• Spaceballs provides six degrees of freedom, and used for

three-dimensional positioning and selection operations in
virtual-reality systems, modeling, animation, CAD, and
other applications.
 Joysticks

• Another positioning device is the joystick, which consists

of a small, vertical lever (called the stick) mounted on a
base.
 Data Gloves

• A data glove is a device that fits over the user’s hand and
can be used to grasp a “virtual object.”
 Digitizers
• A common device for drawing, painting, or interactively
selecting positions is a digitizer.
• Graphic Tablet.
• 3D digitizer.
 Image Scanners
• Drawings, graphs, photographs, or text can be stored for
computer processing with an image scanner by passing
an optical scanning mechanism over the information to be
stored.
 Touch Panels

• As the name implies, touch panels allow displayed objects

or screen positions to be selected with the touch of a finger.
 Light Pens
• Light pens are pencil-shaped devices are used to select
screen positions by detecting the light coming from points
on the CRT screen.
 Voice Systems

• Speech recognizers are used with some graphics

workstations as input devices for voice commands.
• The voice system input can be used to initiate graphics
operations or to enter data. These systems operate by
matching an input against a predefined dictionary of words
and phrases.
 Hard-Copy Devices

• We can obtain hard-copy output for our images in several formats.

• For presentations or archiving, we can send image files to devices or

service bureaus that will produce overhead transparencies, 35mm
slides, or film.

• Also, we can put our pictures on paper by directing graphics output to

a printer or plotter.
Hard-Copy Devices
 Hard-Copy Devices

• A pen plotter has one or more pens mounted on a

carriage, or crossbar, that spans a sheet of paper.

Desktop pen plotter

Roll-free pen plotter

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