Object-oriented concepts are particularly applicable to computer graphics in its broadest sense, including interaction, image synthesis, animation, and computer-aided design. The use of object-oriented techniques in computer graphics is a widely acknowledged way of dealing with the complexities encountered in graphics systems. But the field of object-oriented graphics (OOG) is still young and full of problems. This book reports on latest advances in this field and discusses how the discipline of OOG is being explored and developed. The topics covered include object-oriented constraint programming, object-oriented modeling of graphics applications to handle complexity, object-oriented techniques for developing user interfaces, and 3D modeling and rendering.

The discussion provides a representative sample of how object-oriented design and programming techniques have been used to solve a variety of practical computer graphics problems. Based on underlying principles such as encapsulation, class inheritance, polymorphism and dynamic binding.

Object-Oriented Graphics Programming in C++ provides programmers with the information needed to produce realistic pictures on a PC monitor screen. The book is comprised of 20 chapters that discuss the aspects of graphics programming in C++. The book starts with a short introduction discussing the purpose of the book. It also includes the basic concepts of programming in C++ and the basic hardware requirement. Subsequent chapters cover related topics in C++ programming such as the various display modes; displaying TGA files, and the vector class. The text also tackles subjects on the processing of objects; how the ray tracing process works; how to put the program together and compile and run it; and animation. Computer programmers will find the book very useful.

At present, object-oriented programming is emerging from the research labora tories and invading into the field of industrial applications. More and more products have been implemented with the aid of object-oriented programming techniques and tools, usually as extensions of traditional languages in hybrid development systems. Some of the better known examples are OSF-Motif, News, Objective-C on the NeXT computer, the C extension C++, and CLOS an object oriented extension of LISP. All of these developments incorporate interactive graphics. Effective object-oriented systems in combination with a graphics kernel does it mean that the field of computer graphics has now become merely an aspect of the object-oriented world? We do not think so. In spite of interesting individual developments, there are still no sound object-oriented graphics sys tems available. If it is desired to develop a complex graphics application embed ded in a window-oriented system then it is still necessary to work with elemen tary tools. What is to be displayed and interactively modified inside a window must be specified with a set of graphics primitives at a low level, or has to be written with a standardized graphics kernel system such as GKS or PHIGS, i. e. , by kernels specified and implemented in a non-object-oriented style. With the terms GKS and PHIGS we enter the world of international graphics standards. GKS and PHIGS constitute systems, not mere collections of graphics primitives.

How computer graphics transformed the computer from a calculating machine into an interactive medium, as seen through the histories of five technical objects. Most of us think of computer graphics as a relatively recent invention, enabling the spectacular visual effects and lifelike simulations we see in current films, television shows, and digital games. In fact, computer graphics have been around as long as the modern computer itself, and played a fundamental role in the development of our contemporary culture of computing. In Image Objects, Jacob Gaboury offers a prehistory of computer graphics through an examination of five technical objects--an algorithm, an interface, an object standard, a programming paradigm, and a hardware platform--arguing that computer graphics transformed the computer from a calculating machine into an interactive medium. Gaboury explores early efforts to produce an algorithmic solution for the calculation of object visibility; considers the history of the computer screen and the random-access memory that first made interactive images possible; examines the standardization of graphical objects through the Utah teapot, the most famous graphical model in the history of the field; reviews the graphical origins of the object-oriented programming paradigm; and, finally, considers the development of the graphics processing unit as the catalyst that enabled an explosion in graphical computing at the end of the twentieth century. The development of computer graphics, Gaboury argues, signals a change not only in the way we make images but also in the way we mediate our world through the computer--and how we have come to reimagine that world as computational.

This Java-built "Visualization Toolkit (VTK)" will enable readers to represent any set of data--medical, scientific, or financial--in 3D. Users will learn to build 3D Java applets with the VTK software on the CD-ROM. The book covers Web applications like VRML, Java, and Java3D.

The goal of this book is to explore the principle ideas of object-oriented programming using the Java programming language. It begins teaching the object-oriented power of Java by relying on textual commands instead of emphasizing the AWT or Swing libraries, providing the reader with a simple, generic introduction to the OO concepts using Java (without the language details getting in the way of the concept presentation). The author provides a thorough introduction to the three fundamental concepts of object-oriented programming: Encapsulation, Inheritance, and Polymorphism. The presentation of OO theory is augmented by interleaved examples that illustrate these concepts. Most of these program examples are 2-D graphics programs that provide an intuitive context for the issues that must be addressed when learning OOP. Additionally, since graphics programming is one of the strengths of the Java development environment, the examples produce interesting and unexpected images that engage and motivate the reader. It contains a concise introduction to using Design Patterns particularly the Template Method, Iterator, and Composite design patterns which relate to the graphics examples in the book and uses UML class diagrams to show the static structure of systems and sequence diagrams to show object interactions. This book is appropriate for readers who are new to object-oriented (but have experience with a non-object-oriented language) and for programmers who want to learn the graphical elements and capabilities of Java.