Page 2 - Computer Graphics Handout

Contents

Chapter 1 GRAPHICS SYSTEMS AND MODELS ..................................................................................................................... 9
1.1 APPLICATIONS OF COMPUTER GRAPHICS ................................................................................................................. 9

1.1.1 Display of Information ........................................................................................................................................ 9
1.1.2 Design ............................................................................................................................................................... 10
1.1.3 Simulation and Animation ................................................................................................................................ 10

1.1.4 User Interfaces .................................................................................................................................................. 11
1.2 A GRAPHICS SYSTEM ................................................................................................................................................ 11

1.2.1 Pixels and the Frame Buffer .............................................................................................................................. 11
1.2.2 The CPU and the GPU ....................................................................................................................................... 12

1.2.3 Output Devices ................................................................................................................................................. 13
1.2.4 Input Devices .................................................................................................................................................... 14

1.2.5 Physical Input Devices....................................................................................................................................... 15
1.2.6 Logical Devices .................................................................................................................................................. 16
1.2.7 Input Modes ...................................................................................................................................................... 16

1.3 IMAGES: PHYSICAL AND SYNTHETIC ........................................................................................................................ 17
1.3.1 Objects and Viewers ......................................................................................................................................... 18

1.3.2 Light and Images ............................................................................................................................................... 19
1.3.3 Imaging Models ................................................................................................................................................ 20

1.4 IMAGING SYSTEMS .................................................................................................................................................. 21
1.4.1 The Pinhole Camera .......................................................................................................................................... 21

1.4.2 The Human Visual System ................................................................................................................................ 23
1.5 THE SYNTHETIC-CAMERA MODEL ............................................................................................................................ 23
1.6 THE PROGRAMMER’S INTERFACE ............................................................................................................................ 25

1.6.1 The Pen-Plotter Model ..................................................................................................................................... 26
1.6.2 Three-Dimensional APIs .................................................................................................................................... 27

1.6.3 A Sequence of Images ....................................................................................................................................... 30
1.6.4 The Modeling–Rendering Paradigm ................................................................................................................. 30
1.7 GRAPHICS ARCHITECTURES ..................................................................................................................................... 31

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