CSE 458: Computer Graphics

Lecture 2
Thursday September 1, 2009

Professor Yanxi Liu

TA: Kyle Brocklehurst

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 Today’s Theme

A Review of some Relevant Math

with
a geometric perspective

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Math in Computer Graphics

is

… of central importance

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Much of graphics is just translating math

directly into code …

-- Shirley

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 Outline
• Think geometry
– functions, vectors, points, coordinates
• Types of surface/curve
Representation
– Implicit
– parametric
• Linear interpolation
• *** Barycentric coordinates ***
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Think geometrically!

Visualize math!

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 Why?

Clean, intuitive geometry Æ

clean, intuitive graphics code
easier debugging

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 Write on board
• What is a bijective function?
If a function f: A Æ B is both 1-to-1 and onto then f is called a
bijective function or bijection
1-to-1: every point in A is mapped to a unique point in B
Onto: f-1(b) = a for every point in B and some a in A
• What is the difference between a vector and a point?
– A point is defined w.r.t. a specific coordinate system and
has a fixed location; a vector has a length and direction,
and does not necessarily start from the origin of a
coordinate system.
• Vector operations
– Addition and subtraction
– Dot product and Cross product
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 Coordinate systems
• Managing coordinate systems is one of the
CORE tasks of almost ANY graphics
program
– Cartesian coordinate system a.k.a
rectangular coordinate system with
orthogonal (perpendicular) basis vectors
– polar coordinates (2D),
– spherical coordinates (3D),
– cylindrical coordinates(3D)
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How to construct an orthogonal bases
from a single vector a?
Such that a is one of the basis vectors
• No unique solution
• Think geometry: which vector is far away from
me?)
• If w = (1/2, -1/2, 0) …

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How to construct an orthonormal basis
from a single vector a?
Such that a is one of the basis vectors
• No unique solution
• Think geometry: which vector is far away from
me?)

• If w = (1/2, -1/2, 0) …

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 Outline
• Think geometry
– functions, vectors, points, coordinates
• Types of surface/curve Representation
– Implicit
– Parametric
• Linear interpolation
• *** Barycentric coordinates ***
– area and matrix determinant

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Implicit Representation

f(x,y) = 0

f(x,y,z) = 0

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 Representations of
Geometry Entities

• Implicit Representation
– f(x,y) = 0 denoting those points p = [x,y] where
f(x,y)=0
– A point p(x,y) of f(x,y)=0 is NOT explicitly
represented by f(x,y) but “buried” implicitly in
the equation f(x,y) = 0

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 Implicit Representation for
2D Lines
• Slope-intercept form of the line: y = mx +b

• Implicit form: f(x,y) = y – mx –b = 0

• A more general form f(x,y) = Ax+By+C=0

• One interesting property of the implicit line

equation is that It can be used to find the
signed distance from a point to the line:
• For example, line x-y=0
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 Implicit Representation for
Planes
• Ax + By + Cz + D = 0

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 Implicit Representation for
2D Quadratic Curves
• Ellipses, parabolas,

• Special cases: hyperbolas, circles, lines

• General form:

Ax2 + Bxy + Cy2 + Dx +Ey + F = 0

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Think geometrically!

Visualize math!

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 How to express a circle that is
NOT centered at the origin?
(think geometrically -- Vector form)
origin
p
c
r

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 How to express a circle that is
NOT centered at the origin?
(think geometrically -- Vector form)
origin
|| p – chits
|| = r
p c: center point, p: curve
c points, r: distance
between p and c
r Clean and simple!

grazes 24
 How to express a plane using
Vector form?

P38-39
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 Beyond Curve/Surface
• 2D curves: f(x,y) = 0

• What if f > 0, f=0, f < 0 ?

Æ f(x,y) exists in 3D space !

e.g. Height map f = (x-xc)2 + (y-yc)2 – r2

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 2D Quadratic Equations (implicit)
Algebraically Geometrically

Ax2 + Bx + C = 0
where x is unknown (real number)
A, B and C are known constants hits

D = B2 – 4AC Æ discriminant of the

quadratic equation
grazes

D > 0: 2 roots Æ hits

D = 0: 1 root Æ grazes
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D < 0: no real roots Æ misses misses
 Visualize math

What happens in 3D?

Matlab 3D demonstration

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hits grazes
misses

-f(x,y)

f(x,y) and -f(x,y) share

the same 2D circle at z=0
BUT opposite normal or
gradient vectors (uphill
direction - p33)!
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 Parametric
Representation

x = f(t)
y = g(t)
z = h(t)

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 Representations of
Geometry Entities
• Parametric (explicit) Representation
– a point: x = g(t), y = h(t)
• E.g. x = r sin (θ), y = r cos (θ) where t = θ
– A parametric curve: p = f(t),
– Points on the curve/surface are explicitly
represented thus can be generated directly
(very useful for computer graphics)
BUT, how to define t?
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 Representations of Geometry
Entities (cont.)
• Parametric Representation
– 2D curves (lines, circles)
• p = f(t), where f: R -> R2
• lines: p(t) = p0 + t(p1 – p0) (vector form!)
– 3D curves (one parameter):
x=f(t), y=f(t), z=f(t)
– 3D surfaces (two parameters):
x = f(u,v)
y = g(u,v)
z = h(u,v) 32
 Pros and Cons
Representations of Geometry Entities
• Implicit Representation
– pros: almost universally applicable
– cons: need to first find the solution of the
equations, and it’s Implicit!
• Parametric Representation
– Pros:
• Easy to implement on computer (!)
• Controlled by one or two parameters
– Cons:
• Not always easily defined
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 Outline
• Think geometry
– functions, vectors, points, coordinates
• Types of surface/curve Representation
– Implicit
– parametric
• *** Barycentric coordinates ***

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Barycentric Coordinates
(basic idea)

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Barycentric Coordinates
(basic idea)

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 Barycentric Coordinates
Triangles (2D and 3D) are fundamental modeling
primitives in graphics

Given a triangle composed of three points a,b,c, any

point p can be expressed as

p = a + β(b-a) + γ (c-a)

setting up a Non-Orthogonal coordinate system

with origin a and basis vectors (b-a) and (c-a)
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 Barycentric Coordinates: signed
scaled distance from the lines
through the triangle sides.

p (one zero)

p (all < 1)
p (two zeros)

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 Barycentric Coordinates
Summary
• non-orthogonal coordinates (!)
• extend almost transparently to 3D!
• the triplet coordinates sum up to 1
• geometric interpretation:
signed, scaled distances from the two
sides of the triangle: (b-a), (c-a)

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