Raster Graphics Hardware

Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

EXAMPLE RASTER GRAPHICS ARCHITECTURE

CPU Periph eral devi ce s

System bus

Di splay processor

System memory

Di splay processor memory

Frame buffer

Vi deo control ler

Monitor

Fig. 4.22 Raster system architecture with a display processor. (Used by permission from Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice.)

Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

BASIC DEFINITIONS
RASTER: A rectangular array of points or dots.

PIXEL (Pel): One dot or picture element of the raster

SCAN LINE: A row of pixels

Video raster devices display an image by sequentially drawing out the pixels of the scan lines that form the raster.

Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

Pixels
Pixel - The most basic addressable image element in a screen
CRT - Color triad (RGB phosphor dots) LCD - Single color element

Screen Resolution - measure of number of pixels on a screen (m by n)

m - Horizontal screen resolution n - Vertical screen resolution
Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

Color
There are no commercially available small pixel technologies that can individually change color. Color is encoded by placing differentcolored pixels adjacent to each other. Field sequential color uses red, blue and green liquid crystal shutters to change color in front of a monochrome screen.
Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

Raster Displays
Cathode Ray Tubes (CRTs), most tube monitors you see. Very common, but big and bulky. Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs) - there are two types:
1) transmissive (Shine light through the image-forming element, e.g. laptops, those snazzy new flat panel monitors) 2) reflective (Bounce light off the image-forming element e.g. wrist watches).
Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

CRT Monitor

Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

CRT Monitor
CRT
Shadow Mask Electron Guns
Red Input

Green Input

Blue Input

Deflection Yoke

Red, Blue, and Green Phosphor Dots

8

Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

Electron Gun

Contains a filament that, when heated, emits a stream of electrons. Electrons are focused with an electromagnet into a sharp beam and directed to a specific point of the face of the picture tube. The front surface of the picture tube is coated with small phosphor dots. When the beam hits a phosphor dot it glows with a brightness proportional to the strength of the beam and how often it is excited by the beam.
Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

CRT Phosphor Screen

The screen is coated with phosphor, 3 colors for a color monitor, 1 for monochrome. For a color monitor, three guns light up red, green, or blue phosphors. Intensity is controlled by the amount of time at a specific phosphor location.
10

Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

Color CRT
Red, Green and Blue electron guns. Screen coated with phosphor triads. Each triad is composed of a red, blue and green phosphor dot. Typically 2.3 to 2.5 triads per pixel.
B G R G B R G B G R B G

FLUORESCENCE - Light emitted while the phosphor is being struck by electrons. PHOSPHORESCENCE - Light given off once the electron beam is removed. PERSISTENCE - Is the time from the removal of excitation to the moment when phosphorescence has decayed to 10% of the initial light output.

Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

11

Scanning An Image
Frame: The image to be scanned out on the CRT. Some minimum number of frames must be displayed each second to eliminate flicker in the image.

CRITICAL FUSION FREQUENCY Typically 60 times per second for raster displays. Varies with intensity, individuals, phosphor persistence, room lighting.

Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

12

Scanning

VERTICAL SYNC PULSE Signals the start of the next field. VERTICAL RETRACE Time needed to get from the bottom of the current field to the top of the next field. HORIZONTAL SYNC PULSE Signals the start of the new scan line. HORIZONTAL RETRACE Time needed to get from the end of the current scan line to the start of the next scan line.
Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

13

Interlaced Scanning
1/30 SEC 1/60 SEC FIELD 1 FRAME 1/60 SEC FIELD 2 1/60 SEC FIELD 1 FRAME 1/30 SEC 1/60 SEC FIELD 2

Scan frame 30 times per second

To reduce flicker, divide frame into two fieldsone consisting of the even scan lines and the other of the odd scan lines.

Even and odd fields are scanned out alternately to produce an interlaced image.
Image from http://www.anchorbaytech.com/_media/images/s upport/interlaced-scan.jpg 14

Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

Video Formats
NTSC - 525x480, 30f/s, interlaced PAL - 625x480, 25f/s, interlaced VGA - 640x480, 60f/s, noninterlaced SVGA 800x600, 60f/s noninterlaced RGB - 3 independent video signals and synchronization signal, vary in resolution and refresh rate Time-multiplexed color - R,G,B one after another on a single signal, vary in resolution and refresh rate
Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

15

Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs)

Small Diffuser LCD Linear fluorescent Linear Module Color Polarizer tubes Polarizer Filter

Wavefront distortion filter

Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

16

Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs)

Also divided into pixels, but without an electron gun firing at a screen, LCDs have cells that either allow light to flow through, or block it.

Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

17

Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs)

Liquid crystal displays use small flat chips which change their transparency properties when a voltage is applied. LCD elements are arranged in an n x m array call the LCD matrix Level of voltage controls gray levels. LCDs elements do not emit light, use backlights behind the LCD matrix
Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

18

Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs)

Color is obtained by placing filters in front of each LCD element Usually black space between pixels to separate the filters. Because of the physical nature of the LCD matrix, it is difficult to make the individual LCD pixels very small. Image quality dependent on viewing angle.

Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

19

LCDs (cont.)
LCD resolution is often quoted as number of color elements not number of RGB triads.
R B R G G R B B G R R B G G R B B G R R B G G R

Example: 320 horizontal by 240 vertical elements = 76,800 elements

Equivalent to 76,800/3 = 25,500 RGB pixels

"Pixel Resolution" is 185 by 139 (320/1.73, 240/1.73)
Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

20

LCDs (cont.)
Passive LCD screens
Cycle through each element of the LCD matrix applying the voltage required for that element. Once aligned with the electric field the molecules in the LCD will hold their alignment for a short time
Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

Active LCD screens

Each element contains a small transistor that maintains the voltage until the next refresh cycle. Higher contrast and much faster response than passive LCD

21

Advantages of LCDs
Flat Lightweight Low power consumption

Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

22

CRTs (cont.)
Strong electrical fields and high voltage Very good resolution Heavy, not flat

Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

23

Frame Buffers

A frame buffer may be thought of as computer memory organized as a twodimensional array with each (x,y) addressable location corresponding to one pixel. Bit Planes or Bit Depth is the number of bits corresponding to each pixel. A typical frame buffer resolution might be 640 x 480 x 8 1280 x 1024 x 8 1280 x 1024 x 24
Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

24

1-Bit Memory. Monochrome Display (Bit-map Display)

1 bit 2 levels

Electron Gun

Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

25

3-Bit Color Display

3 red green blue

COLOR: black red green blue yellow cyan magenta white R G B 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1

Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

26

True Color Display

24 bitplanes, 8 bits per color gun.
N

224 = 16,777,216

Red

Green Blue

Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

27

Color Map Look-Up Tables

Extends the number of colors that can be displayed by a given number of bit-planes.

max 255 1 0 1

RED GREEN BLUE Pixel displayed at x', y'

0 0 1 0

67
1001 1010 0001 67 100110100001

0 0

Pixel in bit map at x', y' x Bit map x

max

R
0

Look-up table

Display

Fig. 4.LUT Video look-up table organization. A pixel with value 67 (binary 01000011) is displayed on the screen with the red electron gun at 9/15 of maximum, green at 10/15, and blue at 1/15. This look-up table is shown with 12 bits per entry. Up to 24 bits per entry are common.
Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

28

Pseudo Color

: 28 x 24 Color Map LUT

Could be used to define 256 shades of green or 64 shades each of red, blue, green and white, etc.
255 254

RED

GREEN

BLUE

256 colors chosen from a palette of 16,777,216.

Each entry in the color map LUT can be user defined.

Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

3 2 1 0

29

Examples of Pseudo Color Application

Image from www.miram etrics.com/br ief_contour.h tm Image from hinode.nao.ac.jp /news_e/200611 27_press_e

Image from www.catenary.com/howto/p seudo.html

Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

30

Display Processor
Also called either a Graphics Controller or Display CoProcessor or Graphics Accelerator or Video Card

Specialized hardware to assist in scan converting output primitives into the frame buffer. Fundamental difference among display systems is how much the display processor does versus how much must be done by the graphics subroutine package executing on the general-purpose CPU.

Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

31

Video Controller
Cycles through the frame buffer, one scan line at a time. Contents of the memory are used to control the CRT's beam intensity or color.

X address M e m o r y Li near address Y address

Set o r incremen t Raster scan generato r Set o r decrement Horizontal and vertical deflection signa ls

Data

Pi xel val ue(s)

Intensi ty or col or

Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

32

Projection Displays
Use bright CRT or LCD screens to generate an image which is sent through an optical system to focus on a (usually) large screen. Full color obtained by having separate monochromatic projector for each of the R,G,& B color channels
Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

33

Basic Projector Designs

(Images from Phillips Research)

Reflective Projection System

Transmittive Projection System

Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

34

Advantages/Disadvantages of Projection Display

Very large screens can provide large field of view and can be seen by several people simultaneously. Image quality can be fuzzy and somewhat dimmer than conventional displays. Sensitive to ambient light. Delicate optical alignment. Less eye strain Very immersive Very expensive
Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

35

Displays in Virtual Reality

Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs)
The display and a position tracker are attached to the users head

Head-Tracked Displays (HTDs)

Display is stationary, tracker tracks the users head relative to the display. Example: CAVE, Workbench, Stereo monitor
Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

36

Image Quality Issues

Screen resolution Color Blank space between the pixels Intentional image degradation Brightness Contrast Refresh rate Sensitivity of display to viewing angle

Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

37

Input Devices
Locator Devices: to indicate a position and/or orientation
e.g. Tablet, Mouse, Trackball, Joystick, Touch Panel, Light Pen

Keyboard devices: to input a character string

e.g. Alphanumeric keyboard

Scanner
Image Scanners, e.g. Flatbed, etc What type of data is returned? Bitmap Laser Scanners, e.g. Deltasphere Emits a laser and does time of flight. Returns 3D point
Larry F. Hodges (modified by H.Quynh Dinh 11/02)

38