CS314 Computer Graphics and Visualization

Introduction

What is Computer Graphics ?

Computer graphics is concerned with producing images and animations (or sequences of images) using a computer. The task of producing photo-realistic images is an extremely complex one, but this is a field that is in great demand because of the nearly limitless variety of applications. This can include systems for producing 3-dimensional models of the scene to be drawn, the rendering software for drawing the images, and the associated userinterface software and hardware. Our focus in this course will not be on how to use these systems to produce these images, but rather in understanding how these systems are constructed, and the underlying mathematics, physics, algorithms, and data structures needed in the construction of these systems.

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Application of Computer Graphics

Graphical User Interface (GUI) Integral part of everyday computing Graphical elements everywhere - windows, cursors, menus, icons, etc

CS314

Application of Computer Graphics

Computer Aided Design (CAD)

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Application of Computer Graphics

Computer Animation / Special Effect in movies

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Application of Computer Graphics

Computer Games / Simulation

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Application of Computer Graphics

Medical Imaging

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Application of Computer Graphics

Scientific Visualization

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Application of Computer Graphics

Business / Presentation Graphics Education / Training Image Processing

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Basic Terms and Definition

Resolution The number of pixels on the display area or screen that is measured horizontally and vertically. For example : 1024 x 768 resolution means there are 1024 pixels count from left to right of the screen and 768 pixels count from top to the bottom of the screen. Color depth / Numbers of color The number of different colors that a pixel can display, typically given as the number of bits used to store the color information. For example : 16-bit color means 216 = 65536 different colors can be generated and displayed on the screen. Video memory The memory on the graphic adapter. Typical size of the video memory nowadays is 256MB or more.

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Video Display Standards

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Video Memory Calculation

The amount of video memory required to store the necessary information to draw the screen can be calculated based on the equation : Video Memory Size = Resolution x color depth Example : What is the amount of video memory (or frame buffer) required to display a screen with 1024 x 768 resolution and 32-bit colors ? Video memory size = 1024 x 768 x 32 bits = (1024 x 768 x 32) / 8 bytes = 3145728 bytes = 3145728 / 1024 KB = 3072 KB = 3072 / 1024 MB = 3MB
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Display Technology
Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) Plasma OLED 3D Display

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