Chapter 5 - Computer graphics and visualization

Abstract

This chapter presents the historical development of computer graphics image creation and describes some techniques which are currently being developed. Historically, because of the constraints of processing power, the unavailability of storage and the high cost of memory many short-cuts were taken. Simple environments were used, limited-light-reflection models were incorporated and the separate steps of the image-creation process were combined. Perhaps the most sophisticated of these results were images created using Phong shading. At present, much of the processing has been embedded in hardware. The chapter explains some pilot projects that are undergoing at the Program of Computer Graphics and the Center for Theory and Simulation in Science and Engineering at Cornell University. The Center for Theory and Simulation in Engineering and Science has been designated as a national computing center with a specific mission to experiment with large-scale parallel processing. At the center, devices are being developed to provide a peak capacity of approximately three hundred times the processing power that is available on a large minicomputer.