COMPUTER GRAPHICS

Overview of graphics systems

 Video Display Devices

1) Refresh Cathode Ray Tube(CRT)

2) Color CRT Monitors
3) Direct View Storage Tubes (DVST)
4) Flat Panel Display
5) Three Dimensional Viewing Device
6) Stereoscopic and Virtual Reality Systems
Refresh Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)
 Refresh Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)
 operation of most video monitors is based on the standard
cathode-ray tube (CRT) design.
 electron gun emits a beam of electrons (cathode rays)
 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 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.
 Magnetic Deflection Coils: to control the direction of the beam

 Operation of an ELECTRON GUN with an accelerating anode:

 Heated metal cathode—Heat supplied to the Cathode using a current in
filament
 Causes’ electrons to be “boiled off”
 Free negatively charged electrons are accelerated towards the phosphor
coated screen by a high positive voltage
 Control grid: A metal cylinder which controls Intensity of the electron beam by
setting voltage levels
 FOCUSING SYSTEM: Force the electron beam to strike the phosphor to
avoid the repelling and spreading of electrons

PERSISTANCE ,RESOLUTION AND ASPECT RATIO

 PERSISTENCE : How long they continue to emit light after the CRT beam is
removed. Persistence is defined as the time it takes the emitted light from
the screen to decay to one-tenth of its original intensity.
 Lower- persistence phosphors require higher refresh rates to maintain a
picture on the screen without flicker. A phosphor with low persistence is
useful for animation
 A high-persistence phosphor is useful for displaying highly complex, static
pictures.
 Some phosphors have a persistence greater than 1 second, graphics
monitors are usually constructed with a persistence in the range from 10 to
60 microseconds.
 RESOLUTION: The maximum number of points that can be
displayed without overlap on a CRT is referred to as the
resolution.
 A more precise definition of resolution is the number of points
per centimeter that can be plotted horizontally and vertically,
although it is often simply stated as the total number of points
in each direction.

 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 plot- ted
with four points.
There are two ways for displaying
object on a screen:

I. RASTER SCAN DISPLAY

II. RANDOM SCAN DISPLAY
 RASTER SCAN DISPLAY
 Most common type graphics software used in CRT
 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 REFRESH
BUFFER OR FRAME BUFFER which holds the intensity values
for all the screen points(pixels)
 Black and White system---screen point is either ON or OFF
 Bilevel system 1 indicate ON and 0 indicate OFF and additional
bits needed for color variations
 BITMAP---On a black and white system with one bit per pixel,
the frame buffer is commonly called bitmap
 PIXMAP---For systems with multiple bits per pixel referred to as
pixmap
 Raster scan display is carried out a rate of 60 to 80 frames per
second
 RANDOM SCAN DISPLAY

 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.
 Draw a picture one line at a time
 Refresh rate depends on the number of lines to be
displayed
 Picturedefinition is stored as a set of line drawing
commands in an area of memory called REFRESH
DISPLAY FILE (display list or display program)
 Random scan systems are designed for line
drawing applications
 COLOR CRT MONITORS
 Displays
color pictures using a combination of
phosphors that emit different colors of light
 Range of colors is generated by combining the
emitted light from different phosphors
 Two basic techniques for producing color displays
I) Beam penetration method
II) Shadow mask method
 BEAM PENETRATION METHOD
 Used with random scan monitors
 Two layers of phosphors (red and green) are coated in the
CRT screen
 Displayed color depends on how far the electron beam
penetrated in to the phosphors layer
 Slow electrons exists only on the outer layer
 Fast electrons penetrates through the red layer and exists in
the inner green layer
 Intermediate beam speeds , combination of red green light
emitted (orange and yellow)
 Disadvantage: only 4 colors are possible and quality of
picture not good as other methods
 SHADOW MASK METHOD

 Commonly used in raster scan systems(color TV)

 Produce a much wide range of colors
 Three phosphors color dots red, green, blue
 Three electron guns
 When three dots pass through a hole produce a
dot triangle appears as a small color spot
 Equal intensity---white or gray
 DIRECT VIEW STORAGE TUBES

 Stores the picture information as a charge distribution just behind

the phosphor coated screen
Two electron guns are used :
(i) primary gun: Used to store picture pattern
(ii) flood gun: Maintaining the picture display

 Advantage : No refreshing is needed

complex pictures can be displayed at very high resolution

 Disadvantage : Do not display color and

selected parts of a picture cannot be erased
 FLAT PANEL DISPLAY
 Class of video devices that have reduced volume, weight and
power requirements compared to CRT
 Thinner than CRT and can hang them on walls
 Small TV monitors, calculators, pocket video games ,
advertisement board etc.
 PLASMA PANNELS
 Gas discharge displays
 Constructed by filling the region between two glass plates , set of
vertical ribbons, set of horizontal ribbons
 Gas at the intersection of ribbons cause a breakdown of glowing
plasma in to electrons and ions while voltage applies
 Firing voltage applies to pixel position 60 times per second

 LIGHT EMITTING DIODE

 A matrix of diode is arranged to form the display
 Picture definition is stored in refresh buffer
 Scanline information is read from refresh buffer and convert to
voltage levels that are applied to diodes to produce light pattern
in display
 LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY
 Commonly used in small systems( calculator, watch..)
 Produce picture by passing polarized light from the
surroundings through a liquid crystal material
 Components have a crystalline arrangement of molecules
 THREE DIMENSIONAL VIEWING DEVICE

 Display of three dimensional scene

 Reflects a CRT image from a vibrating flexible mirror
 As it vibrate focal length changes so that each point on
the object reflected in to a specified position in the
window
 Allows us to walk around an object or scene to view it
from different sides
STERIOSCOPIC AND VIRTUAL REALITY SYSTEMS

 Representing three dimensional object in a stereoscopic

view
 Does not provide an original three dimensional image ,only
provide a feel
 Component in virtual reality systems
 INPUT DEVICES
 Various devices are available for data input on graphics workstations.
 Most systems have a keyboard and one or more additional devices specially
designed for interactive input
 Keyboard
 Mouse
 Trackball
 Joystick
 Spaceball
 Dataglove
 Digitizers
 Touch panel
 Voice system
 Light pen
 HARDCOPY DEVICES
 We can obtain hard-copy output for images in several formats
 To put images on film, we can simply photograph a scene
displayed on a video monitor.
 we can put our pictures on paper by directing graphics output
to a printer or plotter.
 Printers produce output by either impact or nonimpact
methods.
 Impact printers press formed character faces against an inked
ribbon onto the paper. eg line printer
 Nonimpact printers and plotters use laser techniques, ink-jet
sprays, xerographic process, electrostatic methods, and
electrothermal methods to get images onto Paper.
 Laser device: use laser beam to print in paper
 GRAPHICS SOFTWARE
 Two general classifications:
1) general programming packages
 used in high level programming language
 Eg: Graphics library
 Generating picture components, setting color and intensity values,
selecting views and applying transformations

2) special purpose application package

 Designed for non programmers
 User can generate displays with out worrying about software
working
 Allows users to communicate their own ways
 Eg : painting programs, medical and CAD systems
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