Data Visualization

(Lecture 1)
What is Computer Graphics?
 Computer graphics generally means creation, storage and manipulation
of models and images
 Computer graphics is simply the art and science of producing and
manipulating images and animations (or sequences of images) using a
computer.
 Such models come from different and expanding set of fields including
physical, biological, mathematical, artistic, and conceptual structures

Graphics
3D Model 2D Image
Vision
What is Computer Graphics?
 Imaging = representing 2D images
 Modeling = representing 3D objects
 Rendering = constructing 2D images from 3D models
 Animation = simulating changes over time

Modeling Rendering Animation

Image Processing (for reading)
 Image Representation
 Sampling
 Reconstruction
 Quantization & Aliasing
 Image Processing
 Filtering
 Warping
 Morphing
 Composition
 Raster Graphics
 Display devices
 Color models
Modeling (for reading)
 Representations of geometry
 Curves
 Surfaces
 Solids
 Procedural modeling
 Fractals
 Grammars
Rendering (for reading)
 3D Rendering Pipeline
 Modeling transformations
 Viewing transformations
 Hidden surface removal
 Illumination, shading, and textures
 Clipping
 Hierarchical scene graphs
 OpenGL

 Global illumination
 Ray tracing
Animation (for reading)
 Keyframing
 Motion capture
 Dynamics
 Behaviors
What is Interactive Computer Graphics?
 Sometimes called real-time computer graphics, and in certain contexts,
real-time rendering
 User controls content, structure, and appearance of objects and their
displayed images via rapid visual feedback
 Basic components of an interactive graphics system
 input (e.g., mouse, stylus, multi-touch, in-air fingers…)
 processing (and storage of the underlying representation/model)
 display/output (e.g., screen, paper-based printer,
video recorder…)
Applications
 Entertainment
 Graphical User Interfaces
 Computer-aided design
 Scientific visualization
 Training
 Education
 Computer art
 Entertainment (passive)

Final Fantasy (Square, USA)

 Entertainment (passive)

A Bug’s Life (Pixar)

 Entertainment (Active)

Circus Atari (Atari)

 Entertainment (Active)

Doom (ID Software)

 Entertainment (Active)

Doom III (ID Software)

Graphical User Interfaces
 Graphical User Interfaces

Window system and large-screen interaction metaphors (François Guimbretière)

GUIs from The Matrix Reloaded

Matrix Reloaded
 Computer Aided Design

Los Angeles Airport (Bill Jepson, UCLA)

 Computer Aided Design

Gear Shaft Design (Intergraph Corporation)

 Computer Aided Design

Boeing 777 Airplane (Boeing Corporation)

 Scientific Visualization

Airflow around a Harrier Jet (NASA Ames)

 Scientific Visualization

Compressible Turbulence (Lawrence Livermore National Labs) Visible Human (National Library of Medicine)
 Training

Flight Simulator 2002 (Microsoft)

 Training

Designing Effective Step-By-Step Assembly Instructions (Maneesh Agrawala et. al)

 Education

Outside In (Geometry Center, University of Minnesota)

 Computer Art

Blair Arch (Marissa Range, Princeton University)

 Computer Art

Computer Generated Pen-and-Ink Illustration (Winkenbach and Salesin, University of Washington)

Computer Art

Example-Based Composite Sketching of Human Portraits (Chen et al., MSRA, UCLA, MSR, UW, Microsoft)
Environmental Evolution (for reading)
 Character Displays (1960s – now)
 Display: text plus alphamosaic pseudo-graphics (ASCII art)
 Object and command specification: command-line typing
 Control over appearance: coding for text formatting
(.p = paragraph, .i 5 = indent 5)
 Application control: single task
 Environmental Evolution (for reading)
 Vector (Calligraphic, Line Drawing)
 Displays (1963 – 1980s)
 Display: line drawings and stroke text; 2D and 3D transformation hardware
 Object and command specification: command-line typing, function keys, menus
 Control over appearance: pseudo-WYSIWYG
 Application control: single or multitasked, distributed computing pioneered at
Brown via mainframe host <-> minicomputer satellite
 Term “vector” graphics survives as “scalable vector graphics” SVG library from
Adobe and W3C – shapes as transformable objects rather than just bitmaps
Environmental Evolution (for reading)
 2D bitmap raster displays for PCs and workstations
(1972 at Xerox PARC - now)
 Display: windows, icons, legible text, “flat earth” graphics
Above, a classic WIMP
 Note: late 60’s saw first use of raster graphics, especially for interface. The technology,
flight simulators
at its core, remains largely
 Minimal typing via WIMP GUI (Windows, Icons, Menus, the same today. Below, a
Pointer): point-and-click selection of menu items and modern WIMP interface.
objects, direct manipulation (e.g., drag and drop), “messy
desktop” metaphor
 Control over appearance: WYSIWYG (which is really
WYSIAYG, What You See Is All You Get – not pixel-accurate
or controllable)
 Application control: multi-tasking, networked client-server
computation and window management (even “X terminals”)
Environmental Evolution (for reading)
 3D graphics workstations (1984 at SGI – now)
 Display: real-time, pseudo-realistic images of 3D
scenes
 Object and command specification: 2D, 3D and N-D
input devices (controlling 3+ degrees of freedom)
and force feedback haptic devices for point-and-
click, widgets, and direct manipulation
Graphics workstations such as
 Control over appearance: WYSIWYG (still these have been replaced with
WYSIAYG) commodity hardware (CPU + GPU),
e.g., our MaxBuilts + NVIDIA cards
 Application control: multi-tasking, networked
(client/server) computation and window
management
Environmental Evolution (for reading)
 High-end PCs with hot graphics cards (NVIDIA GeForce™, AMD
Radeon™) have supplanted graphics workstations
 Such PCs are clustered together over
high speed buses or LANs to provide
“scalable graphics” to drive tiled
PowerWalls, CAVEs, etc.
 Also build GPU-clusters as number crunchers,
e.g., protein folding, weather prediction
 Now accessible to consumers via
technologies like NVIDIA’s
SLI (Scalable Link Interface) bridge