Graphics Software Standards in Computer Graphics

Graphics software standards help to create and set a standard for the development of computer graphics, as there are mainly two categories or general classes of computer graphics: General programming packages and Special-purpose applications packages.

Each of these classes has its software standard, so understanding these standards is important to get an overview of how standards are defined in computer graphics. by understanding the classes for computer graphics it becomes easier to understand the standards for them, lets look at two of the graphics packages in computer graphics.

Computer graphics are divided into two package classes and each of these two packages contains one graphics software standard which is used in the computer graphics to create working software for the graphics in computers:

A general graphics programming package helps in providing a set of functions for the graphics that are used in high-level programming languages such as C or FORTRAN etc. real-life example of a general graphics programming package can be the GL which stands for the graphics library system, it’s used in the silicon graphics.

Some of the basic functions for a general package can include the following criteria:

• generating picture components (such as polygons, circles, lines, and other figures)
• setting color values.
• setting intensity values.
• selecting views and managing transformations etc.

Application graphics packages are those packages that are designed for non-programmers to use, it’sthat are aredesigned so that the users can easily generate and display the graphics without having to worry about the operations and calculations of the graphics.

Interface in these types of graphics allows the users to easily communicate with the programs by having their own set of terms.

Some examples of the application packages are the painting programs used by various artists such as AutoCAD etc. along with some other business and medical art softwares.

The primary goal for the graphics software’s standard is portability so whenever a package is designed with some standards for the computer graphics, then the software can be moved from hardware system one to hardware system two in an easy way and also be implemented more easily.

Without the standards for the programs, it becomes a complex and even impossible task to transfer the programs which are designed for a particular hardware to be moved to another system hardware. to solve this issue two standards were developed in computer graphics:

• GKS
• PHIGS

Understanding each of these graphics standards is important to know how the graphics standards work for computer graphics.

Graphical Kernel System is recognized as one of the first graphics software standards by the ISO (International Standards Organization) which is the most important organization that manages the top-level two-dimensional two-dimensional three-dimensional standards related to computer study. the GKS standard was also recognized by the ANSI or American National Standards Institute later.

Graphical Kernel System was originally designed as a graphics package for the two-dimensional three-dimensional view but another extension of the GKS was later developed that supports the three dimensional view as well.

Graphical kernel system has a 2-dimensional view which is related to the six of the output functions used, they are as follows:

PHIGS is the second standard developed in, computer graphics for the development of computer systems and software, it is known as an advancement to the previous standard because it supports more increased capabilities for the modeling of objects, better picture manipulation and other color specification guides.

Just like the GKS, PHIGS also comes with its extension which is named PHIGS+ which was developed to provide the 3-dimensional surface shading capabilities which was not available in the PHIGS.

Both PHIGS and GKS are important computer graphics software standards, but the PHIGS offers more capabilities as compared to the GKS because the GKS standard was built before and the PHIGS standard was built as enhancement to the GKS standard.

What is graphics standards in computer graphics?

Graphics software standards help to create and set a standard for the development of computer graphics, without the standards for the programs, it becomes a complex and even impossible task to transfer the programs that are designed for a particular hardware.

Why are graphic standards important?

Graphic standards are very important in computer graphics because whenever a package is designed with some standards for the computer graphics, then the software can be moved from hardware system one to hardware system two in an easy way and also be implemented more easily.

What is Graphical Kernal System?

Graphical Kernel System is recognized as one of the first graphics software standards by the ISO. which is the most important organization that manages the top-level two-dimensional two-dimensional three-dimensional standards.