What is need for clipping?

Any procedure that identifies those portions of a picture that are either inside or outside of a specified
region is referred to as clipping algorithm or simply clipping. The region against which an object is to be
clipped is called clip window.
Clipping can be applied in world coordinate, so that only the content of the window interior are mapped
to device coordinate, this eliminating the processing necessary to transform those primitives to device
space.
Viewport Clipping can reduce calculations by allowing concatenation of viewing and geometric
transformation matrices.
Applications of Clipping

1. Extracting part of a defined scene for viewing

2. Identifying visible surfaces in 3-D views
3. Anti-aliasing line segments or object boundaries.
4. Creating object using solid-modeling procedures
5. Displaying a multi-window environment
6. Drawing and painting operations

What are homogenous coordinates?

Expressing positions in homogenous coordinates allows us to represent all geometric transformation

equations in matrix multiplications. We can combine the multiplicative and translational terms for 2-D
geometric transformation into a single matrix representation by expanding 2x2 matrix into 3x3 matrix.
To express any 2-D transformation as matrix multiplicative we represent each Cartesian coordinate
position (x,y) with homogenous coordinate triplet (xh, yh ,h) where
x= xh/h and y=yh/h

Thus general homogenous coordinate can be written as (h.x, h.y, h). For our convenience we take h=1,
then 2-D position is represented with homogenous coordinates (x, y, 1) .
Using homogeneous coordinates we eliminate the need of calculating any intermediate coordinate
values and eliminate matrix addition associated with translation terms.

CSG( Constructive Solid Geometry)?

It is a technique of solid modeling used to combine the volumes occupied by overlapping 3-D objects
using set operations. The new object is created by applying union, intersection, or difference operation
to two specified object.
Object is stored as a tree with operators at the internal nodes and simple primitives at the leaves. Some
nodes represent Boolean operators, whereas others perform translation, rotation, and scaling. We use
depth-first tree walk to obtain the object traversing the tree from leaves up to root.

[Diagram foley pg 581]

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Difference between Random Scan and Raster Scan?

Raster-scan system Random scan system

1) Raster displays have less resolution. 1) Random displays have high resolutions since the
picture definition is stored as a set of line drawing
commands and not as a set of intensity values.

2) The lines produced are ziz-zag as the plotted 2) Smooth lines are produced as the electron
values are discrete. beam directly follows the line path.

3) High degree realism is achieved in picture with 3) Realism is difficult to achieve.

the aid of advanced shading and hidden surface
technique.

4) Decreasing memory costs have made raster 4) Random-scan systems are generally costlier.
systems popular.

5) In this case, the electron beam is swept across 5) Here CRT has the electron beam directly only to
the screen, one row at a time from top to bottom. the parts of the screen where a picture is to be
drawn.

6) Picture definition is stored in a memory area 6) Picture definition is stored as a set of line
called the refresh buffer/frame buffer. drawing commands in an area of memory referred
to as refresh display file.

7) Refreshing on raster scan displays is carried out 7) Random scan systems are designed to draw all
at the rate of 60 to 80 frames/second. the component lines of a picture 30 to 60 times
each second.

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 spots. Frame Buffer or Refresh buffer stores the intensity values for all screen
points.(Frame buffer is the memory area to store the picture definition) 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 pixmap.
Refreshing on raster-scan displays is carried out at the rate of 60-80 Hz.

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 monitors draw a picture one line at a time and for this reason are also
referred to as vector displays. Picture definition is stored as a set of line-drawing commands in an area
of memory referred to as the refresh display file(display unit. Or display program or refresh buffer).
Refresh rate on a random scan system depends on the number of lines to be displayed.

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Differentiate between object space and image space.

A major consideration in generation of realistic graphics displays is identifying those parts of scene that
are visible from a chosen viewing position. There are many approaches for efficient identification of
visible objects and eliminating hidden surfaces and one such method is Visible surface-detection
algorithms. The visual surface-detection algorithms can be broadly classified according to whether they
deal with object definitions directly or with their projected images.
An object space method compares objects and parts of objects to each other within the scene definition
to determine which surfaces, as a whole we should label as visible.
In an image space algorithm, visibility is decided point by point at each pixel position on the projection
plane. Most visible surface detection algorithms use image-space methods.

Octree

Hierarchal tree structures, called octrees, are used to represent solid objects in some graphics systems.
Medical imaging and other applications that require displays of objects cross sections commonly use
octree representations. The tree structure is organized so that each node corresponds to a region of 3-D
space. This representation for solids takes advantage of spatial coherence to reduce storage
requirements for 3-D objects. It also provides a convenient representation for storing information about
object interiors.

An octree encoding scheme divides regions of 3-D space (usually cubes) into octants and stores eight
data elements in each node of the tree. Individual elements of a 3-D space are called volume elements,
or voxel. When all voxel in an octant are of the same type, this type value is stored in the corresponding
data element of the node. Empty regions of space are represented by voxel type “void”. Any
heterogeneous octant is subdivided into octants, and the corresponding data elements in the node
points to the next node in the octree. Procedure for producing octrees: voxel in each octant are tested,
and octant subdivisions continue until the region of space contains only homogenous octants. Each
node in the octree can now have from zero to eight immediate descendants.

[diagram baker pg 381]

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The Advantage of Using B-spline Curves
B-spline curves require more information (i.e., the degree of the curve and a knot vector) and a more
complex theory than Bézier curves. But, it has more advantages to offset this shortcoming. First, a B-
spline curve can be a Bézier curve. Second, B-spline curves satisfy all important properties that Bézier
curves have. Third, B-spline curves provide more control flexibility than Bézier curves can do. For
example, the degree of a B-spline curve is separated from the number of control points. More precisely,
we can use lower degree curves and still maintain a large number of control points. We can change the
position of a control point without globally changing the shape of the whole curve (local modification
property). Since B-spline curves satisfy the strong convex hull property, they have a finer shape control.
Moreover, there are other techniques for designing and editing the shape of a curve such as changing
knots.

However, keep in mind that B-spline curves are still polynomial curves and polynomial curves
cannot represent many useful simple curves such as circles and ellipses. Thus, a generalization of
B-spline, NURBS, is required. We will discuss NURBS later.

Properties of Bezier Curves

[baker pg 349-350]

Clipping algo comparison

[ baker pg 252]

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