The Programmer's Hierarchical Interactive Graphics System (PHIGS) is a computer-graphics standard defining an interface between an application program and a computer-graphics system. PHIGS has been actively under development since 1980. Much of this development has been performed by Technical Committee X3H3 under the American National Standard Institute (ANSI) procedures. PHIGS is also an international standard sponsored by the United States and developed by the international computer-graphics committee, ISO TC97/SC21/WG2. In addition, PHIGS has been selected as the graphics extension to the X-window standard and as part of the Intel i860 P.A.X. standard. The PHIGS standard has received wide acceptance throughout the computer graphics industry. PHIGS libraries are available on most of the high performance three-dimensional graphics platforms. These include IBM, DEC, HP, Sun, Alliant, Stardent, and Silicon Graphics. Despite this acceptance, there are few texts that provide the software engineer with an overview of the standard. The only currently available PHIGS references are in the form of the ANSI functional description, technical papers, and device-specific PHIGS to the novice PHIGS programmer.

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.

Teaches programmers how to use the routines that are included in an international standard software system called PHIGS, with added functionality defined by an extension to the standard called PHIGS PLUS. In order to best demonstrate how to write code, the authors use many programming examples in both C and FORTRAN using Hewlett- Packard's implementation of the PHIGS standard. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

This book presents a broad overview of computer graphics (CG), its history, and the hardware tools it employs. Covering a substantial number of concepts and algorithms, the text describes the techniques, approaches, and algorithms at the core of this field. Emphasis is placed on practical design and implementation, highlighting how graphics software works, and explaining how current CG can generate and display realistic-looking objects. The mathematics is non-rigorous, with the necessary mathematical background introduced in the Appendixes. Features: includes numerous figures, examples and solved exercises; discusses the key 2D and 3D transformations, and the main types of projections; presents an extensive selection of methods, algorithms, and techniques; examines advanced techniques in CG, including the nature and properties of light and color, graphics standards and file formats, and fractals; explores the principles of image compression; describes the important input/output graphics devices.

On computer graphics