2 Overview of graphics

systems

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Typically, the primary output device in a graphics
system is a video monitor.
The operation of most video monitors is based on
the standard cathode-ray tube (CRT) design, but
several other technologies exist and solid-state
monitor may eventually predominate.

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 2.1 Video Display Devices
2.1.1 Refresh Cathode - Ray Tubes
Basic operation of a CRT ：

A beam of electrons (cathode rays), emitted by an
electron gun, passes through focusing and
deflection systems that direct the beam toward
specified positions on the phosphor-coated
screen.
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24/10/21 4
 2.1 Video Display Devices
Basic design of a magnetic-deflection CRT ：
Magnet i c Phosphor
El ect ron Coat ed
Del f ect i on
Base Gun Screen
Coi l s
Focusi ng
syst em

El ect ron El ect ron

BeamPat h Beam

connect or 加
Cont rol Focusi ng Accel erat i ng
Pi ns 速
Gri d Anode Anode
极

Heat i ng
Cat hode
24/10/21 Fi l ament 5
 2.1 Video Display Devices
(1)Cathode ： Heat is supplied to the cathode, this
causes eletrons to be “boiled off’ the hot cathode
surface. El ect ron
Magnet i c Phosphor
Del f ect i on Coat ed
Base Gun Screen
Coi l s
Focusi ng
syst em

El ect ron El ect ron

BeamPat h Beam

connect or 加
Cont rol Focusi ng Accel erat i ng
Pi ns 速
Gri d Anode Anode
极

24/10/21 Heat i ng 6
Cat hode
Fi l ament
 2.1 Video Display Devices
(2)Control Grid ： Intensity of the electron beam is
controlled by setting voltage levels on the control
grid, which is a metal cylinder that fits over the
cathode. El ect ron
Magnet i c Phosphor
Coat ed Del f ect i on
Base Gun Screen
Coi l s
Focusi ng
syst em

El ect ron El ect ron

BeamPat h Beam

connect or 加
Cont rol Focusi ng Accel erat i ng
Pi ns 速
Gri d Anode Anode
极

24/10/21 Heat i ng 7
Cat hode
Fi l ament
 2.1 Video Display Devices
(3)Accelerating System ： The free, negatively
electrons can been accelerated toward the phosphor
coating by a high positive voltage.
Magnet i c Phosphor
El ect ron Coat ed
Del f ect i on
Base Gun Screen
Coi l s
Focusi ng
syst em

El ect ron El ect ron

BeamPat h Beam

connect or 加
Cont rol Focusi ng Accel erat i ng
Pi ns 速
Gri d Anode Anode
极
24/10/21 8
Heat i ng
Cat hode
Fi l ament
 2.1 Video Display Devices
(4)Focusing System ： The focusing system in a
CRT is needed to force the electron beam to
converge into a small spot as it strikes the phosphor.
Magnet i c Phosphor
El ect ron Coat ed
Del f ect i on
Base Gun Screen
Coi l s
Focusi ng
syst em

El ect ron El ect ron

BeamPat h Beam

connect or 加
Cont rol Focusi ng Accel erat i ng
Pi ns 速
Gri d Anode Anode
极
24/10/21 Heat i ng 9
Cat hode
Fi l ament
 2.1 Video Display Devices
(5)Deflection Coils ： Directing the electron beam
toward specified positions on the phosphor-coated
screen. Magnet i c Phosphor
El ect ron Coat ed
Del f ect i on
Base Gun Screen
Coi l s
Focusi ng
syst em

El ect ron El ect ron

BeamPat h Beam

connect or 加
Cont rol Focusi ng Accel erat i ng
Pi ns 速
Gri d Anode Anode
极

24/10/21 Heat i ng 10
Cat hode
Fi l ament
 2.1 Video Display Devices
As with focusing, deflection beam can be controlled
either with electric fields or with magnetic fields.
Magnetic deflection & electrostatic deflection:

Cathode-ray tubes are now commonly constructed
with magnetic deflection coils mounted on the
outside of the CRT envelope.

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
When electrostatic deflection is used, two pairs
of parallel plates are mounted inside the CRT
envelope. One pair of plates (Horizontal
Deflection Plates) is mounted horizontally to
control the vertical defection, and other pair
(Vertical Deflection Plates) is mounted vertically
to control horizontal defection.

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 2.1 Video Display Devices
(6)Phosphor-Coated Screen ： Spots of light are
produced on the screen by the transfer of the CRT
beam energy to the phosphor.
Magnet i c Phosphor
El ect ron Coat ed
Del f ect i on
Base Gun Screen
Coi l s
Focusi ng
syst em

El ect ron El ect ron

BeamPat h Beam

connect or 加
Cont rol Focusi ng Accel erat i ng
Pi ns 速
Gri d Anode Anode
极

24/10/21 Heat i ng 13
Cat hode
Fi l ament
 2.1 Video Display Devices
Basic Conception

Persistence
• How long they continue to emit light, that is,
have excited electrons returning to the ground
state, after the CRT beam is removed.

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 2.1 Video Display Devices

Resolution
• The maximum number of points that can
displayed without overlap on a CRT is referred
to as the resolution.
• A more precise definition of resolution is the
number of points per centimeter that can be
plotted horizontally and vertically. Generally,
resolution include 640*480, 1024*1024,
… ， 4096*4096
• Point is also called pixel. 15
 2.1 Video Display Devices

Aspect Ratio
• This number gives the ratio of vertical points to
horizontal points necessary to produce equal-
length lines in both directions on the screen.
• Almost it is 3/4, that means that a vertical line
plotted with three points has the same length as
a horizontal line plotted with four points.

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 2.1.2 Raster-Scan Displays
Raster-scan display is based on television
technology.

In a raster-scan system, the electron beam is
swept across the screen, one row at a time from
top to bottom.

As the electron beam moves across each row, the
beam intensity is turned on and off to create a
pattern of illuminated spot.

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24/10/21 18
 2.1.2 Raster-Scan Displays
Refresh buffer or Frame buffer

Picture definition is stored in a memory area
called the refresh buffer of frame buffer.

This memory area holds the set of intensity values
for all the screen points.
Scan line

One row on the screen.
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 2.1.2 Raster-Scan Displays
Picture element( Pixel or pel) :

Each screen point is referred to as a pixel or pel,
shortened forms of picture element.

The capability of a raster-scan system to store
intensity information for each screen point makes
it well suited for the realistic display of scenes
containing subtle shading and color patterns.

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 2.1.2 Raster-Scan Displays
Bitmap or pixmap

On a black-and-white system with one bit per
pixel, the frame buffer is commonly called a
bitmap.

For systems with multiple bits per pixel, the
frame buffer is often referred to as a pixmap.

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 2.1.2 Raster-Scan Displays
Horizontal retrace or vertical retrace

The return to the left of the screen, after
refreshing each scan line, is called the horizontal
retrace of the electron beam.

At the end of each frame, the electron beam
returns to the top left corner of the screen to begin
the next frame is called vertical retrace.

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 2.1.2 Raster-Scan Displays
Interlaced

On some raster-scan systems and in TV sets, each
frame is displayed in two passes using an
interlaced refresh procedure. That is:

In the first pass, the beam sweeps across every
other scan line from top to bottom.

Then after the vertical retrace, the beam sweeps
out the remaining scan lines.

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 2.1.2 Raster-Scan Displays

Benefit of interlacing
• Interlacing of the scan lines in this way allows
us to see the entire screen displayed in one-half
the time it would have taken to sweep across all
the lines at once from top to bottom.

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 2.1.3 Random-Scan Displays
Random-scan display (or vector displays , stroke-
writing or calligraphic displays)

When operated as a random-scan display unit, a
CRT has the beam directed only to the parts of
the screen where a picture is to be drawn.

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 2.1.3 Random-Scan Displays
Basic theory
Y
2 2
3
1 3

1 X

1
24/10/21 26
 2.1.3 Random-Scan Displays
Refresh display file ( display list, display program,
or refresh buffer)

Picture definition is now stored as a set of line-
drawing commands in an area of memory referred
to as the refresh display file.

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 2.1.4 Color CRT Monitors
Theory

A CRT monitor displays color pictures by using a
combination of phosphors that emit different-
colored light.
It includes two methods

beam-penetration

Shadow-mask
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 2.1.4 Color CRT Monitors
Beam-penetration

Display theory ： Two layers of phosphor, usually
red and green, are coated onto the inside of the
CRT screen, and the displayed color depends on
how far the electron beam penetrates into the
phosphor layers.
v0
绿色荧光粉

红色荧光粉

24/10/21 29
 2.1.4 Color CRT Monitors
That is

A beam of slow electrons excites only the outer
red layer.

A beam of very fast electrons penetrates through
the red layer and excites the inner green layer.

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 2.1.4 Color CRT Monitors
Shadow-mask ： commonly used

Display theory
• A shadow-mask CRT has 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.), so it can
display color pictures by using a combination
of phosphors that emit different-colored light.

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 2.1.4 Color CRT Monitors
• Since our eyes tend to merge the three colors
into one composite. The color we see depends
on the amount of excitation of the red, green,
and blue phosphors.
• We obtain color variations by varying the
intensity levels of the three phosphor dots.

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 2.1.4 Color CRT Monitors

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 2.1.4 Color CRT Monitors
For example

A white area is the result of activating all three
dots with equal intensity.

Yellow is produced with the green and red dots
only.

Magenta is produced with the blue and red dots.

Cyan shows up when blue and green are activated
equally.

More sophisticated systems can set intermediate
intensity levels for the phosphor dots, allowing
several million different colors to be generated.
 2.1.4 Color CRT Monitors
delta-delta shadow-mask

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 Shadow Mask Method
Advantages
produce realistic images
also produced different colors
and shadows scenes.
Disadvantages
low resolution
expensive
electron beam directed to whole screen
24/10/21 36
 2.1.4 Color CRT Monitors

Shadow mask CRT has three electron guns, one
for each color dot, and a shadow-mask grid just
behind the phosphor-coated screen.

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. 37
 2.1.4 Color CRT Monitors
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.

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electron guns & shadow mask

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 2.1.4 Color CRT Monitors
in-line arrangement shadow-mask:

In this type of CRT, the three electron guns, and
the corresponding red-green-blue color dots on
the screen, are aligned along one scan line instead
of in a triangular pattern.

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 2.1.4 Color CRT Monitors

This in-line arrangement of electron guns is easier
to keep in alignment and is commonly used in
high-resolution color CRTs.

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 2.1.6 Flat-Panel Displays
Flat-panel display

refers to a class of video devices that have
reduced volume, weight, and power requirements
compared to a CRT.

It’s so thin that can hang them on walls or wear
them on our wrists.

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 2.1.6 Flat-Panel Displays
Current uses for flat-panel displays include small
TV monitors, calculators, pocket video games,
laptop computers, armrest viewing of movies on
airlines, as advertisement boards in elevators, and
as graphics displays in applications requiring
rugged, portable monitors.

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 2.1.6 Flat-Panel Displays
Flat-panel displays can be separated into two
categories

emissive displays

non-emissive displays

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 2.1.6 Flat-Panel Displays
Emissive displays

The emissive displays (or emitters) are devices
that convert electrical energy into light. It include
• plasma panels
• thin-film electroluminescent displays
• light-emitting diodes

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 2.1.6 Flat-Panel Displays
Plasma panels

Plasma panels, also called gas-discharge
displays, are constructed by filling the region
between two glass plates with a mixture of gases
that usually includes neon.
Basic theory

观察
方向

gl ass pl at e gl ass pl at e gl ass pl at e

24/10/21 hori zont al vert i cal 46
conduct ors conduct ors
 2.1.6 Flat-Panel Displays
Features

flat 、 clarity 、 not need refresh.

Few color

24/10/21 47
 2.1.6 Flat-Panel Displays
Non-emissive displays

Non-emissive displays or none-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.

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 2.2 Raster-Scan System
Interactive raster graphics systems typically employ
several processing units.

24/10/21 simple raster system 49

 2.2 Raster-Scan System
In addition to the central processing unit, or CPU, a
special-purpose processor, called the video
controller or display controller, is used to control
the operation of the display device.

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 2.2 Raster-Scan System
The Frame Buffer can be anywhere in the system
memory.

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 2.2 Raster-Scan System
The video controller accesses the frame buffer to
refresh the screen.

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 2.2 Raster-Scan System
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.

a commonly used organization for raster systems

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 2.2 Raster-Scan System
2.2.2 Raster-Scan Display Processor

Architecture of a raster-graphics system with a display processor

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 2.2 Raster-Scan System
Display processor, or graphics controller or display
coprocessor:

The purpose of the display processor is to free the
CPU from the graphics chores.

In addition to the system memory, a separate
display-processor memory area can also be
provided.

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 2.2 Raster-Scan System

A major task of the display processor is
digitizing a picture definition given in an
application program into a set of pixel-intensity
values for storage in the frame buffer.

This digitization process is called Scan
Conversion.

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 2.2 Raster-Scan System
Scan conversion

Graphics commands specifying straight lines and
other geometric objects are scan converted into a
set of discrete intensity points.

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 2.2 Raster-Scan System

the jagged, or stairstep, is called aliasing.

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 2.2 Raster-Scan System
In an effort to reduce memory requirements in raster
systems, methods have been devised for organizing
the frame buffer as a linked list and encoding the
intensity information.

One way is run-length encoding

Another is cell encoding

24/10/21 59
 2.2 Raster-Scan System
run-length encoding:

This is to store each scan line as a set of integer
pairs.

One number of each pair indicates an intensity
value, and the second number specifies the
number of adjacent pixels on the scan line that are
to have that intensity.

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 2.2 Raster-Scan System
cell encoding

This is to encode the raster as a set of rectangular
areas.

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 2.5.6 Digitizers
Digitizers

A common device for drawing, painting, or
interactively selecting coordinate positions on an
object is a digitizer.

These devices can be used to input coordinate
values in either a two-dimensional or a three-
dimensional space.

62
2.5.6 Digitizers
 2.5.6 Digitizers

Usage
• Typically, a digitizer is used to scan over a
drawing or object and to input a set of discrete
coordinate positions, which can be joined with
straight-line segments to approximate the curve
or surface shapes.

64
 2.5.6 Digitizers

graphics tablet
• One type of digitizer is the graphics tablet
(also referred to as a data tablet), which is used
to input two-dimensional coordinates by
activating a hand cursor or stylus at selected
positions on a flat surface.
• theory hint
– Many graphics tablets are constructed with a
rectangular grid of wires embedded in the
tablet surface. 65
 2.5.6 Digitizers
sonic tablets

Acoustic (or sonic) tablets use sound waves to
detect a stylus position.

theory hint
• Either strip microphones or point microphones
can be used to detect the sound emitted by an
electrical spark from a stylus tip.
• The position of the stylus is calculated by
timing the arrival of the generated sound at the
different microphone positions. 66
 2.5.6 Digitizers

Advantage
• An advantage of two-dimensional acoustic
tablets is that the microphones can be placed on
any surface to form the “tablet” work area.

67
 2.5.6 Digitizers
Three-dimensional digitizers

Three-dimensional digitizers use sonic or
electromagnetic transmissions to record positions.

68
 2.5.6 Digitizers

theory hint
• A coupling between the transmitter and
receiver is used to compute the location of a
stylus as it moves over the surface of an object.

69
 2.5.7 Image Scanners
Image Scanners

Drawings, graphs, color and black-and-white
photos, or text can be stored for computer
processing with an image scanner by passing an
optical scanning mechanism over the information
to be stored.

The gradations of gray scale or color are then
recorded and stored in an array.

70
 2.6 Hard-Copy Device
We can obtain hard-copy output for our images in
several formats.

For presentations or archiving, we can send image
files to devices or service bureaus that will
produce 35-mm slides or overhead transparencies.

To put images on film, we can simply photograph
a scene displayed on a video monitor.

We can put our pictures on paper by directing
graphics output to a printer or plotter.

71
 2.6 Hard-Copy Device
dpi

The quality of the pictures obtained from a device
depends on dot size and the number of dots per
inch, or lines per inch, that can be displayed.

To produce smooth characters in printed text
strings, higher-quality printers shift dot positions
so that adjacent dots overlap.

72
 2.6 Hard-Copy Device
Printer

Printers produce output by either impact or non-
impact methods.

Impact printers press formed character faces
against an inked ribbon onto the paper.

Non-impact printers and plotters use laser
techniques, ink-jet sprays, xerographic
processes, electrostatic methods, and
electrothermal methods to get images onto paper.
73
 2.8 Graphics Software
There are two general classifications for graphics
software

special-purpose

general programming packages

74
 2.7.3 Software Standards
Primary goal of standardized graphics software:
portability

When packages are designed with standard
graphics functions, software can be moved easily
from one hardware system to another and used in
different implementations and applications.

Programs designed for one hardware system often
cannot be transferred to a another system without
extensive rewriting of the programs.
24/10/21 75
 2.7.3 Software Standards
Examples

GKS ， Graphical Kernel System

GKS-3D

PHIGS, Programmer’s Hierarchical Interactive
Graphics Standard

GL Graphics Language

OpenGL Architecture Review Board

24/10/21 76
 2.7.3 Software Standards
Language binding

Standard graphics functions are defined as a set of
specifications that is independent of any
programming language.

A language binding is then defined for a
particular high-level programming language. This
binding gives the syntax for accessing the various
standard graphics functions from this language.

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