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Overview

Graphics Systems  Display Hardware

 How are images displayed?

Overview (Display Devices) Overview (Display Devices)

 Raster Scan Displays
 Random Scan Displays  The display systems are
 Color CRT Monirors often referred to as Video
 Direct View Storage Tube
 Flat panel Displays Monitor or Video Display
 Three Dimensional Viewing Devices Unit (VDU).
 Stereoscopic and Virtual Reality
System

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Display Hardware Video Monitor

 Video Display Devices
 The primary output device in Cathode Ray Tube
a graphics system is a
monitor. (CRT)

Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)

1. Electron Guns
2. Electron Beams
3. Focusing Coils
4. Deflection Coils
5. Anode Connection
6. Shadow Mask
7. Phosphor layer
8. Close-up of the
phosphor coated
inner side of the
screen

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Refresh CRT
 Light emitted by the Phosphor fades very rapidly.
 Refresh CRT: One way to keep the phosphor glowing is to
redraw the picture repeatedly by quickly directing the
electron beam back over the same points.
Electron Gun

Electron Gun High Positive Voltage

 Heat is supplied to the cathode by the filament.  A positively charged metal coating on the
 The free electrons are then accelerated toward the inside of the CRT envelope near the phosphor
phosphor coating by a high positive voltage. screen.

A positively charged metal

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High Positive Voltage Electron Gun

Intensity of the electron beam is controlled by setting
 An accelerating anode . 
voltage level on the control grid.
 A smaller negative voltage on the control grid simply
decrease the number of electrons passing through

Focusing System
 The focusing system is needed to force the electron
beam to converge into a small spot as it strikes the
phosphor.

Focusing System  Electrostatic focusing is commonly used in computer

graphics monitor.

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Focusing System Focusing System

 With electrostatic focusing, the electron beam passes  Similar lens focusing effects can be accomplished with a
through a positively charged metal cylinder that forms magnetic field set up by a coil mounted around the outside of
the CRT envelope.
an electrostatic lens.
 The distance that the electron beam must travel to different
points on the screen varies because the radius of curvature for
most CRTs is greater than the distance from the focusing system
to the screen center.
 The electron beam will be focused properly only at the center of
the screen.
 As the beam moves to the outer edges of the screen, displayed
images become blurred.
 Dynamically focusing lens work based on beam position.

Deflection Systems
 Deflection of the electron beam can be controlled either
with electric fields or with magnetic fields.
 The magnetic deflection coils mounted on the outside
of the CRT envelope.
Deflection Systems

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Deflection Systems Deflection Systems

 Two pairs of coils are used, with the coils in each pair  Horizontal deflection is accomplished with one pair of coils,
mounted on opposite sides of the neck of the CRT and vertical deflection by the other pairs.
envelope.  The proper deflection amounts are attained by adjusting the
 One pair is mounted on the top and bottom of the neck, current through the coil.
and the other pair is mounted on opposite sides of the  Electrostatic deflection: Two pairs of parallel plates are
neck. mounted inside the CRT envelope.
 One pair of plates is mounted horizontally to control the vertical
deflection, and the other pair is mounted vertically to control
horizontal deflection.

Spots of Light
 Spots of lights are produces on the screen by the
transfer of the CRT beam energy to the phosphor.

Spots of Light  Part of the beam energy is converted into heat energy.

 The excited phosphor electrons begin dropping back to

their stable ground state, giving up their extra energy as
small quantums of light energy.

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CRT properties Persistence

1. Persistence  How long small spots continue to emit light

2. Resolution after the beam is moved. How long it takes to
3. Addressability the emitted light from the screen to decay to
one-tenth of its original intensity.
4. Aspect ratio
 Lower persistence requires high refresh rate & it is
good for animation
 High persistence is useful for displaying highly
complex static picture.
 Graphics monitors are usually constructed with 10
to 60 microseconds.
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Resolution Resolution (Spots of Light)

 Resolution of a CRT is dependent on:

Intensity distribution
• Resolution is the number of pointes per inch or centimeter that  The type of phosphor
can be plotted horizontally & vertically.
 The intensity to be displayed
• The smaller the spot size, the higher the resolution.
• The higher the resolution, the better is the graphics system  The focusing and deflection systems.
• High quality resolution is 1280x1024
• The intensity distribution of spots on the screen have Gaussian
shape.
• Adjacent points will appear distinct as long as their separation
is greater than the diameter at which each spot has intensity of
about 60% of that at the center of the spot. Typical resolution: 1280 by 1024

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Addressability Aspect ratio

 This number gives the ratio between

• Addressability is a measure of the spacing between the vertical points and horizontal points
centers of vertical and horizontal lines. necessary to produce equal length lines in
both directions on the screen. Aspect ratio =
• The picture on a screen consists of intensified points. ¾ means: vertical line with 3 points is equal
• The smallest addressable point on the screen is called in length to horizontal line of 4 points.
pixel or picture element
• In graphics mode there are 800x600

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Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)

Beam passing
1. Electron Guns Anode Connection through mask

2. Electron Beams Electron Beam

Shadow mask

3. Focusing Coils Deflection Coils

Electron Gun
4. Deflection Coils
5. Anode Connection
6. Shadow Mask
7. Phosphor layer
8. Close-up of the
phosphor coated
inner side of the
electron

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Resolution Display Devices

The maximum number of points (pixels) that

can be displayed without overlap on a
screen is referred to as the resolution, and
determines the detail that can be seen in an
image.  Vector Displays (Random Scan)
A more precise definition is the number of  Raster Displays (Raster Scan)
points per centimeter that can be plotted
horizontally and vertically, although it is
often simply stated as the total number of
points in each direction (i.e. 1280  1024).
The physical size of a graphics monitor, on
the other hand, is given as the length (in
inches) of the screen diagonal.
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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

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Raster Scan Displays Raster Scan Displays

 In a raster scan system, the electron beam is swept across the  Picture definition is stored in a memory area called
screen, one row at a time from top to bottom. the refresh buffer or frame buffer.
 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 Raster Scan Displays

 Refresh buffer or frame buffer: This memory area  Intensity range for pixel positions depends on the capability
holds the set of intensity values for all the screen of the raster system.
points.
 A black-and-white system: each screen point is either on or
 Stored intensity values then retrieved from refresh
off, so only one bit per pixel is needed to control the intensity
buffer and “painted” on the screen one row (scan of screen positions.
line) at a time
 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.

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Raster Scan Displays Raster Scan Displays

 Sometimes, refresh rates are described in unit of cycles per  Horizontal retrace: The return to the left of the
second, or Hertz (HZ) screen, after refreshing each scan line.

 Refreshing on raster scan displays is carried out at the rate 60

to 80 frame per second.

Raster Scan Displays Interlacing

 Vertical retrace: At the end of each frame  On some raster systems (TV), each frame is displays in
(displayed in 1/80th to 1/60th of a second) the electron two passes using an interlaced refresh procedure.
beam returns to the top left corner of the screen to
begin the next frame.

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Interlacing Raster image

 On an older, 30 frame per-second,  The quality of a raster image is determined by the total
number pixels (resolution), and the amount of information in
noninterlaced display, some flicker is each pixel (color depth)
noticeable.  Raster graphics cannot be scaled to a higher resolution
without loss of apparent quality.
 With interlacing, each of the two passes
can be accomplished in 1/60th of a
second.
An effective technique for avoiding
flicker

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Example Formats

 Microsoft Windows metafile .WMF

 Corel Computer Graphics Metafile .CGM
 Autodesk Data Exchange .DXF
 Shockwave Flash .SWF
 Fireworks and Photoshop have tools for creating and
editing vector graphics

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
Random Scan 
pixels (dots)
In a random scan display, a CRT has the electron beam
directed only to the parts of the screen where a picture is to
Displays 
be drawn.
Random scan monitors draw a picture one line at a time
(Vector display, Stroke –writing or calligraphic displays).

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Random Scan Displays Random Scan Displays

 The component lines of a picture can be  The component lines of a picture can be drawn and refreshed.

drawn and refreshed.

Images are described in terms of line segments rather than pixels 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.

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Random Scan Displays Random Scan Displays

 Random scan displays are designed to draw all the  Random scan displays are designed for line-
component lines of a picture 30 to 60 times each drawing applications and can not display realistic
second. 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

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Random Scan Displays Random Scan Example

 A raster system produces jagged lines that are plotted Data are describing a circle:
as discrete points sets.
 the radius r

 The location of the center point of the

circle
Raster
 Stroke line style and color

 Fill style and color

Outline primitives Filled primitives

Random Scan Example Pros

 Advantages:
 This minimal amount of information translates  Vector files are useful for storing images
to a much smaller file size. (file size compared  composed of line-based elements such as lines and
polygons, or those that can be decomposed into
to large raster images) simple geometrical objects, such as text.
 On zooming in, and it remains smooth  More sophisticated formats can also store 3D objects
such as wire-frame models.
 The parameters of objects are stored and can
 Vector data can be easily scaled and manipulated to
be later modified (transformation). accommodate the resolution of a spectrum of output
devices.

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Pros Cons
 Vector files cannot easily be used to store extremely complex
images, such as some photographs, where color information is
 Many vector files containing only ASCII-format data can be paramount and may vary on a pixel-by-pixel basis.
modified with simple text editing tools.
 The appearance of vector images can vary considerably
 Individual elements may be added, removed, or changed depending upon the application interpreting the image. Factors
without affecting other objects in the image. include the rendering application's compatibility with the
creator application and the sophistication of its toolkit of
 It is usually easy to render vector data and save it to a bitmap geometric primitives and drawing operations
format file, or, alternately, to convert the data to another vector
format, with good results.

Cons Raster Scan Vs Random Scan

 Vector data also displays best on vectored output devices such

as plotters and random scan displays. High-resolution raster
displays are needed to display vector graphics as effectively.

 Reconstruction of vector data may take considerably longer

than that contained in a bitmap file of equivalent complexity,
because each image element must be drawn individually and in Ideal line drawing Raster scan Random scan
sequence.

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• Advantages and Disadvantages of raster scan system.  Example-1:

• Advantages  An eight-plane raster display has a resolution of 1280 horizontal * 1024 vertical and
refresh rate of 60 Hz noninterlaced. Find:
– Low cost (memory has become cheap)
 1. The RAM size of the bit map (refresh buffer).
– Refresh rate independent of image complexity  2. The time required to display the scan line and a pixel.
– Can handle colour and filled areas  3. The active display area of the screen if the resolution is 78 pixels per inch.
• Disadvantages  4. The optimal design if the bit map size is to be reduced by half.
– Uses more memory
– Mathematical models of objects must be scan converted by  Solution:
the host processor  1.The RAM size of the bit map = 8 * 1280 * 1024 = 1.3 Mbytes.
– aliasing  2.The time required to display a scan line = (1/60)/1024= 16 microseconds.
– jagged lines that are plotted as discrete points The time required to display a pixel = 16/1280 = 12 nanoseconds.
• Advantages and disadvantages of random scan system.  3.The active display area = 1280/78 horizontal * 1024/78 vertical = 16.4 * 13.1
inch.
• Advantages are high resolution since picture definition is stored  4. Assuming there is only one bit map available, the two solution s are to reduce the
as line drawing commands, easy animation, and requires little number of planes by half and keep the resolution as it is or vice versa. The two
memory (just display program), choices are: a four-plane  1280 x 1024 display or
• Disadvantages are limited colour capability and flicker occurs  an eight-plane  640x512. The first choice is preferred, especially if 16
as complexity of image increases simultaneous colors are adequate for most applications that utilize the display.

Color CRT Monitors

 A CRT monitor displays color pictures by using a
combination of phosphors that emit different color lights.

Color CRT Monitors  Methods

1. Beam Penetration
2. Shadow Mask

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Beam Penetration Method

 Two layers of phosphor (red and green) are coated onto the
inside of the CRT screen.

Beam Penetration  The display color depends on haw far the electron beam
penetrates into the phosphor layers.

Method  A beam of slow electrons excites only the outer of the red
layer, a beam of fast electrons penetrates through the red layer
and excites the inner green layer, and at intermediate beam
speeds, combinations of the two colors are emitted to show
other colors (yellow & orange)

Beam Penetration Method Beam Penetration Method

The beam penetration method:
 Used with random scan monitors

 Only four colors are possible (red, green, orange,

and yellow).

 Quality of pictures is not as good as with other

methods.

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Shadow Mask Method

The color CRT has:
 Three color phosphor dots (red, green and blue) at
each point on the screen
Shadow Mask  Three electron guns,
guns each controlling the display of
red, green and blue light.
Method

Shadow Mask Method Shadow Mask Method

Delta Method: The delta-delta method:

In-line Method:

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Color CRT Monitors Shadow Mask Method

The in-line method:
 Operation of delta-delta, shadow mask CRT

Shadow Mask Method

 We obtain color variations by varying the intensity
levels of the three electron beam.

Shadow mask methods are: Raster Scan Systems

 Used in raster scan system (including color TV)
 Designed as RGB monitors.
 High quality raster graphics system have 24 bits per
pixel in the frame buffer (a full color system or a
true color system)

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Raster Scan Systems Video Controller

 In addition to the central processing unit  A fixed area of the system memory is reserved
(CPU), a special processor, called the video for the frame buffer, and the video controller
controller or display controller, is used is given direct access to the frame buffer
to control the operation of the display device. memory.

Video Controller Video Controller

 Frame buffer location, and the  Scan lines are then labeled from ymax at
corresponding screen positions, are the top of the screen to 0 at the bottom.
referenced in Cartesian coordinates. Along each scan line, screen pixel
positions are labeled from 0 to xmax.
y y y max Line Scan
y max Line Scan

x x
x max
x max

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Video Controller Video Controller

 Two registers are used to store the coordinates Some of operations can be performed by
of the screen pixels. the Video Controller:
Raster Scan Generator
 Refreshing operation
The Basic refresh
x Register y Register
operation of the
video controller.  Transformation (Areas of the screen
Memory Address can be enlarged, reduces, or moved
during the refresh cycles)
Frame Buffer Intensity

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
Raster Scan Display graphics chores.

Processor

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DP
 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 Random Scan Systems
conversion straight line segment, Character )
 Generation various line styles (dashed, dotted, or
solid)
 Displaying color areas
 Performing certain transformation and manipulation
on display objects.

Random Scan System

 Graphic commands are translated by the graphics
package into a display file stored in the system Raster Scan Random Scan
memory.
 This file is then accessed by the display processor
System System
unit (DPU)(graphic controller) to refresh the screen.

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Flat Panel Displays

 A class of video devices that have
reduce volume and weight compared
to a CRT.
Flat Panel Displays
 A significant feature of flat panel
displays is that they are thinner than
CRTs.

Flat Panel Displays Flat Panel Displays

Current uses for flat panel displays: Flat panel displays:
 Small TV monitors  Emissive or Emitters Displays

 Calculators
 Pocket video games  Non-emissive or Non-emitters
 Laptop computers Displays
 Advertisement boars in elevators

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Emissive (or Emitters) Displays Non-Emissive (or Non-Emitters)

Displays
 Emissive displays convert
electrical energy into light.  Use optical effects to convert
sunlight or light from some other
 Examples: Plasma panel, thin- source into graphics pattern.
film electroluminescent displays,
Light-Emitting Diodes (LED)  Example: Liquid-Crystal Device
and flat CRT. (LCD)

Flat CRT
 Electron beams are accelerated parallel
to the screen, then deflected 90º to the
screen.
Flat CRT

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Plasma Panel
 A layer of gas (usually neon) is
sandwiched between two glass
Plasma Panel 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

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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. Liquid Crystal Displays
 Information is read from the refreshed (LCD)
buffer and converted to voltage levels
that are applied to the diodes to produce
the light patterns in the display.

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Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD) Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD)

 Used in small systems, such as
calculators, laptop computers.  Liquid crystal: These
compounds have a crystalline
 Produce a picture by passing
polarized light (from the surrounding
arrangement of molecules, yet
or from an internal light source) they flow like a liquid.
through a liquid-crystal material that
can be aligned to either block or
transmit the light.

Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD) Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD)

 Two glass plates, each containing a light  Polarized light passing through
polarizer at right angles to the other plate,
sandwich the liquid crystal materials. the material is twisted so that it
 Rows of horizontal transparent conductor & will pass through the opposite
columns of vertical conductors (put into glass
plates) polarizer.
 The light is then reflected back
t the viewer.

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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

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