Chapter One

Introduction to interactive computer graphics

 What is computer graphics?
•  Computer graphics is concerned with the creation and manipulation of graphics
images by computer
• Computer graphics is concerned with producing images and animations.
• Our focus in this course will not be on how to use these systems to produce these
images.
• However rather in understanding how these systems are constructed.
 Components of Computer Graphics
• Modeling: Defining objects in terms of primitives, coordinates and characteristics
• Storing: storing scenes and images in memory and on disk
• Manipulating: changing the shape, position and characteristics of object
• Rendering: applying physically based procedures to generate (photorealistic) images from
scenes (using lighting and shading)
• Viewing: displaying images from various viewpoints on various devices
 Raster and Vector Representation of graphical element
• Raster Graphics: Image produced as an array (the raster) of picture elements (pixels) in the
frame buffer

P i x e l - picture element
Parameters of raster images
1. Resolution — pixel density
•d p i - dots per inch
2. Color depth — amount of bits for
representation of each pixel color
information Vector graphics
 Cont’d
• Vector graphics: Vector files are made up of lines, curves and shapes, with editable attributes
such as color, fill, and outline.
• A vector graphics program creates a series of mathematical equations that dictate a line's
direction, thickness, and color.  
RASTER
• Defined by pixels
• Non-scaleable
• Resolution dependent
• Continuous tone, photographic qualities
• Always use for photos
VECTOR
• Defined by mathematical equations(lines & curves)
• Scaleable to any size
• Independent of resolution
• Cartoon-like, line drawing qualities
• Always use for logos, text
 The Graphics Rendering Pipeline
• Rendering is the conversion of a scene into an image:
 Cont’d
• Each stage refines the scene, converting primitives in modelling space to primitives in device
space, where they are converted to pixels (rasterized).
• A number of coordinate systems are used:
• MCS: Modelling Coordinate System.
• WCS: World Coordinate System.
• VCS: Viewer Coordinate System.
• NDCS: Normalized Device Coordinate System.
• DCS or SCS: Device Coordinate System or equivalently the Screen Coordinate System.
• Keeping these straight is the key to understanding a rendering system.
• Transformation between two coordinate systems represented with matrix.
• Derived information may be added (lighting and shading) and
• primitives may be removed (hidden surface removal) or modified (clipping).
 Rendering Primitives
• Models are composed of, or can be converted to, a large number of geometric primitives.
• Typical rendering primitives directly supported in hardware include:
• Points (single pixels)
• Line Segments
• Polygons (perhaps only convex polygons or triangles).
• Modelling primitives include these, but also
• Piecewise polynomial (spline) curves
• Piecewise polynomial (spline) surfaces
• Implicit surfaces (quadrics, blobbies, etc)
 Algorithms
• A number of basic algorithms are needed:
• Transformation: Convert representations of models/primitives from one coordinate system
to another.
• Clipping/Hidden Surface Removal: Remove primitives and parts of primitives that are not
visible on the display.
• Rasterization: Convert a projected screen-space primitive to a set of pixels. Later, we will
look at some more advanced algorithms:
• Picking: Select a 3D object by clicking an input device over a pixel location.
• Shading and Illumination: Simulate the interaction of light with a scene.
• Animation: Simulate movement by rendering a sequence of frames.
 Application of Computer Graphics
• Computer-Aided Design for engineering and architectural systems etc.
• Presentation Graphics
• Computer Art
• Entertainment
• Education and Training
• Visualization
• Image Processing
• Graphical User Interface