Graphics Systems

Deepika Sahu
Asst. Professor
CSE
 Introduction
• Computer graphics are pictures and films created using
computers.

• Usually, the term refers to computer-generated image data created

with the help of specialized graphical hardware and software.

• The phrase was coined in 1960, by computer graphics researchers

Verne Hudson and William Fetter.
 Computer Graphics
• Involves display, manipulation and storage of picture and
experimental data for proper visualization using a computer.
• Typically, a graphics system consists of :
– A host computer
– Fast processor
– Large memory
– Frame buffer
• Besides it has also:
– Display device
– Set of input device
– Output device
– Set of interface device
 Overview
• Display Hardware

– How are images displayed?

 Overview (Display Devices)
• CRT Basics
• Raster Scan Displays
• Random Scan Displays
• Color CRT Monitors
• Direct View Storage Tube
• Flat panel Displays
• Three Dimensional Viewing Devices
• Stereoscopic and Virtual Reality System
Raster Scan Displays
 Raster Scan Displays
• Raster: A rectangular array of points or dots
• Pixel: One dot or picture element of the raster
• Scan Line: A row of pixels
 Raster Scan Displays
• In a raster scan system, the electron beam is swept across the
screen, one row at a time from top to bottom. Each row is referred
as scan line.
• As the electron beam moves across each row, the beam intensity
is turned on and off to create a pattern of illuminated spots.
 Raster Scan Displays
• Picture definition is stored in a memory area called the
refresh buffer or frame buffer, where frame refers to the
total screen area.
• Refresh buffer or frame buffer: This memory area holds the
set of intensity values for all the screen points.
• These stored color values are then retrieved from the refresh
buffer that are used to control the intensity of the electron
beam as it moves from spot to spot across the screen.
• In this way, the picture is painted on the screen one scan line
at a time.
 Cont..
• Each screen spot that can be illuminated by the electron
beam is referred to as a pixel or pel(picture element).
• Since the refresh buffer is used to store the set of screen
color values, it is called as color buffer.
• Also, other kinds of pixel information besides colors are
stored in buffer locations so all the different buffer areas are
sometimes are referred as frame buffer.
• Intensity range for pixel positions depend on the capability
of the raster system.
• In a black-and-white system: each screen point is either on or
off, so only one bit per pixel is needed to control the
intensity of screen positions.
 Raster Scan Displays
• On a black-and-white system with one bit per pixel, the
frame buffer is called bitmap.
• For system with multiple bits per pixel, the frame buffer is
called pixmap.
• Horizontal retrace: The return to the left of the screen,
after refreshing each scan line.
 Raster Scan Displays
• Vertical retrace: At the end of each frame the
electron beam returns to the top left corner of the
screen to begin the next frame.
TERMS
• Resolution: The number of pixel positions that can be
displayed on the screen is called resolution.
• Aspect Ratio: The number of pixel columns divided by the
number of scan lines that can be displayed by the system is
called aspect ratio.
• The number of horizontal points to vertical points(or vice-
versa) necessary to produce equal-length lines in both
directions on the screen is described as aspect ratio.
• Eg: Aspect ratio= 4/3 means a horizontal line plotted with four
points has the same length as a vertical line plotted with 3
points.
• Aspect ratio of rectangle : ?
 Terms

• Depth: The number of bits per pixel in a frame buffer is

referred as depth of the buffer area or the number of bit planes.
 Raster image
• The quality of a raster image is determined by the
total number of pixels (resolution), and the amount
of information in each pixel (color depth).
• Raster graphics cannot be scaled to a higher
resolution without loss of apparent quality.
Random Scan Displays
 Random Scan Displays
• Random scan display is the use of geometrical
primitives such as points, lines, curves, and
polygons, which are all based upon mathematical
equation.
• Raster Scan is the representation of images as a
collection of pixels (dots)
 Random Scan Displays
• In a random scan display, a CRT has the electron beam
directed only to the parts of the screen where a picture is to
be drawn.
• Random scan monitors draw a picture one line at a time
(Vector display, Stroke –writing or calligraphic displays).
• These are designed for line drawing applications and it cannot
be displayed on the natural screen of the monitor.
 Random Scan Displays
• The component lines of a picture can be drawn and
refreshed.
 Random Scan Displays
• Refresh rate depends on the number of lines to be displayed.

• Picture definition is now stored as a line-drawing commands

an area of memory referred to as refresh display file (display
list).
• To display a picture, the system cycle through the set of
commands in the display file, drawing each component line
in turn.
 Random Scan Displays
• Random scan displays are designed to draw all the
component lines of a picture 30 to 60 times each second.
 Random Scan Displays

• Random scan displays are designed for line-

drawing applications and can not display realistic
shaded scenes.
Random Scan Displays
 Random Scan Displays
• Random scan displays have higher resolution than
raster systems.
• Vector displays product smooth line drawing.

Ideal Drawing Vector Drawing

 Random Scan Displays
• A raster system produces jagged lines that are plotted
as discrete points sets.

Raster

Outline primitives Filled primitives

 Random Scan Example
• Advantages:
• This minimal amount of information translates to a
much smaller file size. (file size compared to large
raster images)
• On zooming in, and it remains smooth
• The parameters of objects are stored and can be later
modified (transformation).
 Overview (Display Devices)
• The display systems are often referred to as Video Monitor
or Video Display Unit (VDU).
 Display Hardware
• Video Display Devices
• The primary output device in a graphics system is a monitor.
 Video Monitor
Cathode Ray Tube
(CRT)
Refer class notes.
Color CRT Monitors
 Color CRT Monitors
• A CRT monitor displays color pictures by using a
combination of phosphors that emit different color
lights.
• By combining the emitted light from the different
phosphors, a range of colors can be generated.
• Basic techniques for producing color displays:
1. Beam Penetration
2. Shadow Mask
 Beam Penetration Method
• Two layers of phosphor (red and green) are coated onto the
inside of the CRT screen.
• A beam of slow electrons excites only the outer red layer, but a
beam of very fast electrons penetrates the red layer and excites
the inner green layer.
• The displayed color depends on how far the electron beam
penetrates into the phosphor layers.
• At intermediate beam speeds, combinations of red and green
light are emitted to show two additional colors: orange and
yellow.
• The speed of the electrons and the screen color at any point, is
controlled by the beam acceleration voltage.
 Beam Penetration Method
• Beam penetration has been an inexpensive way to produce
color,
• Only limited number of colors are possible. (Only four colors
are possible - red, green, orange, and yellow).
• Picture quality is not as good as with other methods.
• Used with random scan monitors
 Shadow Mask Method
• This method is commonly used in raster-scan systems.
– Produces a much wider range of colours than beam penetration
method.
• This approach is based on the way that we seem to perceive colors
as combinations of red, green, and blue components, called the
RGB color model.
• A shadow-mask CRT uses three phosphor color dots at each pixel
position.
• One phosphor dot emits a red light, another emits a green light,
and the third emits a blue light.
• This type of CRT has three electron guns, one for each color dot,
and a shadow-mask grid just behind the phosphor-coated screen
 Shadow mask method

• The light emitted from the three phosphors results in a small spot
of color at each pixel position, since our eyes tend to merge the
light emitted from the three dots into one composite color.
• This approach has two methods:
– Delta method
– Inline method
Delta Method
• The three electron beams are deflected and focused as a group
onto the shadow mask, which contains a series of holes
aligned with the phosphor-dot patterns.
• When the three beams pass through a hole in the shadow
mask, they activate a dot triangle, which appears as a small
color spot on the screen.
• The phosphor dots in the triangles are arranged so that each
electron beam can activate only its corresponding color dot
when it passes through the shadow mask.
 Shadow Mask Method
The delta-delta method:
 Inline Method

• The three electron guns, and the corresponding RGB color

dots on the screen, are aligned along one scan line instead of in
a triangular pattern.
• This in-line arrangement of electron guns is easier to keep in
alignment and is commonly used in high-resolution color
CRTs.
 Shadow Mask Method
The in-line method:
 Shadow Mask Method
• We obtain color variations by varying the intensity levels of the
three electron beam.
• By turning off two of the three guns, we get only the color
coming from the single activated phosphor (red, green, or blue).
• When all three dots are activated with equal beam intensities, we
see a white color.
• Yellow is produced with equal intensities from the green and red
dots only, magenta is produced with equal blue and red
intensities, and cyan shows up when blue and green are
activated equally.
 Color CRT

• Color CRTs in graphics systems are designed as RGB monitors.

• These monitors use shadow-mask methods and take the intensity
level for each electron gun (red, green, and blue) directly from
the computer system without any intermediate processing.
• High-quality raster-graphics systems have 24 bits per pixel in the
frame buffer, allowing 256 voltage settings for each electron gun
and nearly 17 million color choices for each pixel.
• An RGB color system with 24 bits of storage per pixel is
generally referred to as a full-color system or a true-color
system.
 Flat Panel Displays

• Refers to a class of video devices that have reduced volume,

weight, and power requirements compared to a CRT.
• Feature of flat-panel displays - they are thinner than CRTs
• Example: Small TV monitors, calculator screens, pocket
video-game screens, laptop computer screens, armrest movie-
viewing stations on airlines, advertisement boards in elevators.
• Flat-panel displays are of two categories:
– Emissive displays
– Non-emissive displays
 Emissive displays

• The emissive displays (or emitters) are devices that convert

electrical energy into light.
• Plasma panels, thin-film electroluminescent displays, and
light-emitting diodes are examples of emissive displays.
• Flat CRTs have also been devised, in which electron beams are
accelerated parallel to the screen and then deflected 90 onto
the screen.
 Non-emissive displays

• Non-emissive displays (or non-emitters) use optical effects to

convert sunlight or light from some other source into graphics
patterns.
• The most important example of a non-emissive flat-panel
display is a liquid-crystal device.
 Plasma Panels(Gas-discharge displays)
• These are constructed by filling the region between two glass
plates with a mixture of gases that usually includes neon.
• A series of vertical conducting ribbons is placed on one glass
panel, and a set of horizontal conducting ribbons is built into
the other glass panel.
• Firing voltages applied to an intersecting pair of horizontal and
vertical conductors cause the gas at the intersection of the two
conductors to break down into a glowing plasma of electrons
and ions.
• Picture definition is stored in a refresh buffer, and the firing
voltages are applied to refresh the pixel positions 60 times per
second
 Contd.
• Separation between pixels is provided by the electric field of
the conductors.
• One disadvantage of plasma panels has been that they were
strictly monochromatic devices, but systems are now available
with multicolor capabilities.
Color Models
 Direct Coding

• Images are the collection of several pixels with colors.

• Direct coding is an algorithm that provides some amount of
storage space for each pixel so that pixel is coded with color.
 Cont..

• For color images, the common standard used for filling the
pixel uses 3-bit colors or 24-bit per pixel.
• A primary color has 256 intensity levels, which is equal to the
binary values starting from 00000000 to 11111111.
• Hence, a pixel can take a color from 256 × 256 × 256
possibilities (16.7 million) that is 256 for each of red, green,
and blue colors.
• The 24-bit format is commonly referred to as true color
representation.
• The Black, white, gray scale image representations is the
most common aspect of direct coding.
 Cont..

• Black and white images require one bit per pixel, here the bit
value 0 represents black and bit value 1 represents white.
• The gray scaled images are coded with the help of 8 bits per
pixel, to allow a total of 256 intensity levels.
• Even though direct coding method supports a lot of
applications, there is shortage of storage space with the 24-
bit standard.
• Usually in an application, the total number of colors in any
image is very less. Hence, for a 24-bit representation to have
16.7 million colors in an image will be overloaded.
 The RGB Color Model
• R, G, and B represent the colors produced by red,
green and blue phosphors, respectively.

Gray axis
 RGB Color Model
RGB color space
 CMY Color Model
CMY (short for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow,
and key) is a subtractive color model.
 CMY Color Model
 ‍C  1  R 
     
 M   1   G 
 Y  1  B 
     
 Color Depth, Bit Depth
• The number of discrete intensities that the video card
is capable of generating for each color determines
the maximum number of colors that can be
displayed.

• The number of memory bits required to store color

information (intensity values for all three primary
color components) about a pixel is called color
depth or bit depth.
 Color Depth, Bit Depth
• A minimum of one memory bit (color depth=1) is
required to store intensity value either 0 or 1 for
every screen pixel.

• If there are n pixels in an image a total of n bits

memory used for storing intensity values (in a pure
black & white image)
 Bit Plane
• The block of memory which stores (or is mapped
with) intensity values for each pixel (B& W image)
is called a bit plane or bitmap.
 3Bit color display
• Color or gray levels can be achieved in the display
using additional bit planes.
 N Bit Planes
• The result for n bits per pixel (color depth=n) is a
collection of n bit planes (2n colors or gray shades at
every pixel)
 True Color
• For true Color three bytes of information are used, one for
each of the red, blue and green signals that make a pixel.
• A byte can hold 256 different values and so 256 intensities
setting are possible for each electron gun which mean each
primary color can have 256 intensities (256*256* 256 color
possible)
 High Color (RGB565)
• High color graphics is a method of storing image
information in a computer's memory such that
each pixel is represented by two bytes.
• Usually the color is represented by all 16 bits, but
some devices also support 15-bit high color.
• For High Color two bytes of information are used,
to store the intensity values for all three color.
• This is done by dividing 16 bits into 5 bits for blue,
5 bits for red and 6 bits for green.
• This means 32(=25) intensities for blue, 32 (=25) for
red, and 64 (=26) for green.
• Loss of visible image quality.
 High Color

16 bit Color Palette

When all 16 bits are used, one of the components (usually
green with RGB565) gets an extra bit, allowing 64 levels of
intensity for that component, and a total of 65536 available
colors.
 256 color mode
• The PC uses only 8 bits, 2 bits for blue and 3 each
for green and red.

• Most of the colors of a given picture are not

available.

• A palette or look-up table is used here.

 Color Palette
• A palette is a separate memory block (in addition to
the 8 bit plane) created 256 different colors.
• Each color is defined using the standard 3 byte color
definition that is used in true color.
 Color Palette
• The intensity values for each of the three primary
color component can be anything between 0 and
255 in each of the table entries.

Total number of colors

available is called color
palette.
Raster Scan Systems
 Raster Scan Systems
• In addition to the central processing unit (CPU), a
special processor, called the video controller or
display controller, is used to control the operation
of the display device.
 Video Controller
• A fixed area of the system memory is reserved for
the frame buffer, and the video controller is given
direct access to the frame buffer memory.
 Video Controller
• Frame buffer location, and the corresponding screen
positions, are referenced in Cartesian coordinates.

x
 Video Controller
• Scan lines are then labeled from ymax at the top of
the screen to 0 at the bottom. Along each scan line,
screen pixel positions are labeled from 0 to xmax.

y y max Line Scan

y max Line Scan

x max x
x max
 Video Controller
• Two registers are used to store the coordinates of the
screen pixels.

Raster Scan Generator

The Basic refresh

x Register y Register operation of the video
controller.
Memory Address

Frame Buffer Intensity

 Video Controller
Some of operations can be performed by the Video
Controller:

• Refreshing operation

• Transformation (Areas of the screen can be enlarged,

reduces, or moved during the refresh cycles)
Raster Scan Display Processor
 Raster Scan Display Processor
• A raster system containing a separate display
processor (graphics controller, display coprocessor)
• The purpose of the DP is to free the CPU from the
graphics chores.
 Display Processor
• A major task of the display processor is Scan
Conversion.

• Scan Conversion: is digitizing a picture definition

given in an application program into a set of pixel
intensity values for storage in the frame buffer.( scan
conversion straight line segment, Character )
 Display Processor
• Generation various line styles (dashed, dotted, or
solid)

• Displaying color areas

• Performing certain transformation and manipulation

on display objects.
Random Scan Systems
 Random Scan System
• Graphic commands are translated by the graphics
package into a display file stored in the system
memory.
• This file is then accessed by the display processor
unit (DPU)(graphic controller) to refresh the screen.
Raster Scan Random Scan
System System
Flat Panel Displays
 Flat Panel Displays
• A class of video devices that have reduce volume and
weight compared to a CRT.

• A significant feature of flat panel displays is that they

are thinner than CRTs.
 Flat Panel Displays
Current uses for flat panel displays:
• Small TV monitors
• Calculators
• Pocket video games
• Laptop computers
• Advertisement boars in elevators
 Flat Panel Displays
Flat panel displays:
• Emissive or Emitters Displays

• Non-emissive or Non-emitters Displays

 Emissive (or Emitters) Displays
• Emissive displays convert electrical energy into
light.

• Examples: Plasma panel, thin-film

electroluminescent displays, Light-Emitting Diodes
(LED) and flat CRT.
 Non-Emissive (or Non-Emitters) Displays

• Use optical effects to convert sunlight or light from

some other source into graphics pattern.

• Example: Liquid-Crystal Device (LCD)

Flat CRT
 Flat CRT
• Electron beams are accelerated parallel to the screen,
then deflected 90º to the screen.
Plasma Panel
 Plasma Panel
• A layer of gas (usually neon) is sandwiched between
two glass plates.
 Plasma Panel
• By applying high voltage to a pair of horizontal and
vertical conductors, a small section of the gas (tiny
neon bulb) at the intersection of the conductors break
down into glowing plasma of electrons and ions.
 Thin Film
Electroluminescent
 Thin Film Electroluminescent
• The region between the glass plates is filled with a
phosphor, such as zinc sulfide doped with
manganese.
Light Emitting Diode
(LED)
 Light Emitting Diode (LED)
• A matrix of diodes is arranged to form the pixel
positions in the display, and picture definition is
stored in a refresh buffer.

• Information is read from the refreshed buffer and

converted to voltage levels that are applied to the
diodes to produce the light patterns in the display.
Liquid Crystal Displays
(LCD)
 Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD)
• Used in small systems, such as calculators, laptop
computers.

• Produce a picture by passing polarized light (from

the surrounding or from an internal light source)
through a liquid-crystal material that can be aligned
to either block or transmit the light.
 Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD)
• Liquid crystal: These compounds have a crystalline
arrangement of molecules, yet they flow like a
liquid.
 Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD)
• Two glass plates, each containing a light polarizer at
right angles to the other plate, sandwich the liquid
crystal materials.
• Rows of horizontal transparent conductor & columns
of vertical conductors (put into glass plates)
 Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD)
• Polarized light passing through the material is
twisted so that it will pass through the opposite
polarizer.

• The light is then reflected back to the viewer.

Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD)
 Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD)
• To turn off the pixel, we apply a voltage to the two
intersecting conductor to align the molecules so that
the light is not twisted.
Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD)

On State

Off State
 Exercises
• Direct View Storage Tubes

• Stereoscopic and Virtual Reality Systems