Introduction To Computer Graphics

Introduction To Computer Graphics

This book is an adaptation of [A HREF="http://www.awl.com/cseng/titles/0-201-12110-7" target=_new>Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice, Second Edition CGPP , by Foley, van Dam, Feiner, and Hughes. Introduction to Computer Graphics was created by abridging and modifying that comprehensive teaching and reference work to suit the needs of different courses and different professional requirements. While this book is half the size of its parent, it is not merely a shorter version of it. Indeed, it features new material and, in some cases, a different approach to exposition, all added with the needs of its intended audience in mind. This book is designed to be used in a one-to two-semester course in computer graphics in any four-year college or university and, assuming only a small amount of mathematical preparation, for a one-semester course in community colleges or other two-year institutions. Introduction to Computer Graphics is also an ideal book for the professional who wants to learn the rudiments of this dynamic and exciting field, whether to become a practitioner or simply to gain an appreciation of the far-ranging applications of computer graphics. This book is not meant to supplant CGPPas being more current or in any way more comprehensive. These are chapters, however, where, because of the dizzying pace at which the field is moving, older material was dropped and the hardware performance and cost figures were updated. One such example can be found in Chapter 4, where the statement from CGPP--which, bear in mind, was just published in 1990--that "...a graphics workstation typically consists of a CPU capable of executing at least several million instructions per second MIPS ..." was updated to reflect the fact that 20-100 MIPS are now commonplace. Other major differences and strengths of Introduction to Computer Graphics are: The computer language used throughout the book, both in pseudocoded program fragments and complete working programs, is modern ANSI C. The use of C, rather than Pascal as in CGPP, is consistent with both current teaching and professional practice, especially in graphics. As a direct benefit of the use of C in the book, there is now a one-to- one correspondence between the data types and functions of the code used in this book with those of the SRGP and SPHIGS software packages that are available free of charge to adopters to accompany the book see page 559 . The SPHIGS package mentioned above has been substantially enhanced with many new features, such as multiple light sources, improved rendering, and improved pick correlation for better interactive manipulation. The book features several worked-out examples, some of which are quite extensive. These examples are strategically located in chapters where they best enhance the exposition of difficult concepts. One such example is a complete working program for interactively defining Bezier parametric cubic curves. The importance of computer graphics to the emerging field of multimedia is introduced by describing some examples, complete with figures, and providing their supporting references. A mathematical preliminaries section has been added to the chapter on Geometrical Transformations. This section provides sufficient information for the reader to understand and use all subsequent mathematically oriented material in the book.Potential SyllabiThere are several paths that a reader can take through this book. A few are suggested here, but it is entirely feasible to select one suiting the reader's circumstances. Even the order of study acan be permuted. For example, the material on hardware could come either earlier or later in a syllabus than is suggested by Chapter 4's ordinal positioning. A minimal one-semester course emphasizing 2D graphics. Where the goal is to provide a good, but not rigorous, overview of elements of mostly 2D graphics, this course of study will be appropriate for students in a two- or four-year college