Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Display peripheral interface input device – Light pen for fluid matrix display panel
Patent
1994-01-24
1997-01-28
Brier, Jeffery
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Display peripheral interface input device
Light pen for fluid matrix display panel
395141, G09G 536
Patent
active
055981828
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to an image processing apparatus for generating visible output images, including visually distinct objects. This invention also relates to a method of generating visible output images, including visually distinct objects.
Image processing methods and apparatus are disclosed in copending U.S. application Ser. Nos. 07/844,634, 08/311,398 (which is a continuation of Ser. No. 07/800,227), and 08/142,417 assigned to the present Assignee and are included herein as part of the present disclosure.
DESCRIPTION OF BACKGROUND ART
Traditional tools available to graphic artists include pencils and pens (generally producing substantially uniform lines) and bushes or airbrushes, producing a controllably non-uniform line, variable by varying the pressure and/or speed applied to the tool.
In addition to being represented in electronic form, images may now be represented in electronic form, in which the image is displayed on a cathode ray tube device or similar apparatus.
The cathode ray itself may be manipulated in response to vectors which trace the outline of an object, producing images which may be referred to as skeletons or wire frames. Vector systems of this type have advantages in that they are memory efficient and may generate image data at a definition which is independent of the definition of the display device. Alternatively, images may be produced on a cathode ray tube by raster scanning techniques, in which the whole of the screen is scanned periodically and the intensity of the cathode ray is modified in response to image data. Raster scanning in this way is employed in television systems and raster scan monitors are readily available.
An advantage of the raster scanning approach is that pixel values may be stored in a frame store representing not only the outline of the image but also the overall colour and texture of the image. Thus, very realistic images may be produced and the amount of storage required to store an image is not dependent upon the level of detail within the image itself. Images stored in framestores in forms compatible with television standards are attractive to the video industry and allow artists to generate graphics for use in television programs. Systems of this type are disclosed in British patent 2059525 which relates to machines manufactured and sold by Quantel Limited under the trade mark "PAINTBOX". The art of manipulating pixel values within a framestore is commonly referred to "video graphics".
With a video graphics system, an operator selects the characteristics of the graphics tool he wishes to imitate and then manipulates a pressure sensitive stylus over a digitising pad to input a desired line. As the stylus is moved over the tablet, the apparatus senses the stylus position and the pressure applied thereto, reads image data from a corresponding mapped area of an image store (e.g a frame buffer) modifies the data in accordance with the sensed pressure, and writes it back into the store. The system is arranged and intended to simulate conventional graphics tools, such as pencil paintbrush or airbrush, and the artist exerts control over the parameters of the line "drawn" in the image store in the same way, so that the width and other attributes of the line are controlled as the stylus moves. Thus, the stored image data comprises a direct representation of the line itself, corresponding to a manually painted line.
A problem with video graphics systems is that much of the image manipulation can only be done in response to operator commands. The image data is stored in a form which can be understood by a human operator and not in a form which can be easily understood by a machine. Consequently, machine manipulation of the image data is difficult.
In computer graphics, as distinct from video graphics, image data is stored in machine readable form and final images are produced on a frame by frame basis in a process known as rendering. Complex computer graphics algorithms are known, capable of producing very impressive images. However
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Berend Andrew L. C.
Brocklehurst Michael J.
Williams Mark J.
Brier Jeffery
Cambridge Animation Systems Limited
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