Computer Graphics

The route

Lessons are in the order that makes each one easier than the last. Each unit ends with a short quiz.

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   Unit 1

   Introduction to Computer Graphics

   How a machine that only understands numbers learned to make pictures.
   1. Definition, Scope and History of Computer GraphicsFree A blindfolded painter who only understands numbers can still paint anything, if the instructions are good enough. 5 min
   3. Applications of Computer Graphics From CAD drawings to Nollywood effects to the map on your phone, graphics is everywhere once you start looking. 3 min
   4. Raster and Vector Graphics Every picture in a computer is either a grid of dots or a list of shapes — and that one choice shapes everything after. 3 min
   5. Components of a Graphics System and the Graphics Pipeline Follow your idea all the way from a model in memory, through the GPU, to light glowing on the screen. 4 min
   6. Unit 1 quiz3 questions on this unit 4 min
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   Unit 2 Full plan

   Graphics Display Devices

   From a glowing glass tube to a billboard you can read in the Kano sun.
   1. The Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) Heat a wire, bend the electrons with magnets, and a coat of phosphor glows: the electron cannon inside every old TV. 6 min
   2. Raster-Scan and Random-Scan Displays Should the beam sweep the whole screen or trace only the lines you draw — that one choice split displays into two families. 5 min
   3. Flat-Panel Displays: LCD, LED, Plasma and OLED The heavy glass box is gone — so how does a thin panel make its pictures, and which panels make their own light? 7 min
   4. Display Resolution, Aspect Ratio and Frame-Buffer Size A few simple numbers tell you exactly how much memory it takes to fill a full-HD screen with colour. 4 min
   5. Unit 2 quiz8 questions on this unit 10 min
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   Unit 3 Full plan

   Digital Image Fundamentals and Colour Models

   Your phone never stored a face — only millions of numbers your eye agrees to believe.
   1. Definition of a Digital Image: Sampling and Quantization A selfie holds no faces at all, only a grid of numbers made by sampling the scene and rounding its brightness. 4 min
   2. Basic Image Concepts: Pixel, Resolution, Colour Depth and Frame Rate Pixel, resolution, colour depth and frame rate — four small words that every picture on every screen depends on. 3 min
   3. Types of Digital Images: Binary, Grayscale, Colour and Indexed Black and white, shades of grey, full colour or a clever palette — what a pixel stores decides what kind of image you have. 3 min
   4. Colour Perception and the Trichromatic Theory Colour isn't really "in" objects — it's how our eyes and brain respond to light. 3 min
   5. Colour Models: RGB, CMY(K) and HSV Why does your screen mix red, green and blue while the printer reaches for cyan, magenta and yellow? 7 min
   6. Image Processing in MATLAB: Basic Commands An image is just a matrix, so a few lines of MATLAB can load, show, change and save one. 3 min
   7. Unit 3 quiz7 questions on this unit 9 min
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   Unit 4 Full plan

   Mathematical Foundations of Computer Graphics

   Two humble tools — arrows and grids of numbers — run every game, film and CAD drawing.
   1. Number Systems and the Commutative, Associative and Distributive Laws Jollof then chicken is the same plate as chicken then jollof, but socks then shoes is not, and matrices behave like socks. 7 min
   2. Matrices: Types and Operations A grid of numbers can stretch, turn and slide any shape — meet the matrix and its many family members. 5 min
   3. Determinant, Cofactors, Adjoint and Inverse of a Matrix One number tells you how much a transformation stretches space — and whether you can ever undo it. 7 min
   4. Vectors: Dot Product, Cross Product and the Angle Between Vectors Arrows that carry both size and direction quietly tell a game where to point the camera and how to light a face. 5 min
   5. Applications of Vectors and Matrices in Computer Graphics From lighting a face to moving the camera, see why vectors and matrices sit under every frame you've ever played. 3 min
   6. Unit 4 quiz8 questions on this unit 10 min
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   Unit 5 Full plan

   Geometric Transformations

   Model one chair, and a few matrices will fill a whole auditorium with them.
   1. Basic 2D Transformations: Translation, Scaling and Rotation Move it, resize it, turn it: three small formulas send every point of a shape to its new home at once. 9 min
   2. Homogeneous Coordinates and the Matrix Representation of 2D Transformations Translation refuses to be a multiplication — until one extra coordinate makes every move the same kind of maths. 3 min
   3. Composite, Reflection, Shear and 3D Transformations Rotate then move, or move then rotate — the order you choose can land your shape somewhere completely different. 11 min
   4. Importance and Applications of Geometric Transformations From eight hundred identical chairs to a beating heart on screen, transformations quietly do the heavy lifting. 4 min
   5. Unit 5 quiz7 questions on this unit 9 min
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   Unit 6 Full plan

   Computer Animation and Current Trends in Graphics

   From the flipbook in your old exercise book to AI that dreams up whole worlds.
   1. Introduction to Computer Animation: Persistence of Vision and Frame Rate A stick man flipped fast through an exercise book starts to walk; at 24 frames a second, the same trick drives every film. 4 min
   2. Computer Animation Techniques: Keyframing, Tweening, Morphing and Motion Capture Draw only the key poses and let the computer fill in the rest — the trick behind most of the animation you love. 9 min
   3. Current Trends and Future Directions in Computer Graphics Real-time ray tracing, neural scenes and AI video — the line between rendered and real is fading fast. 4 min
   4. Unit 6 quiz4 questions on this unit 5 min

Practise and remember