Ebook: CGM and CGI: Metafile and Interface Standards for Computer Graphics

This book describes two ISO standardization projects - the Computer Graphics Interface (CGI) and the Computer Graphics Metafile (CGM). It has been written principally for users and practitioners of computer graphics. In particular, system designers, independent software vendors, graphics system implementors, and application program developers need to understand the basic standards being put into place at the so-called Virtual Device Interface. Technical managers, graduate students in computer science specializing in graphics, and buyers in government and industry will also find this book valuable. The CGI project is standardizing a functional and syntactic specification for the exchange of device-independent data and associated control information between systems with graphical capabilities. The CGI defines idealized abstract classes of graphical devices capable of accepting input and generating, storing and manipulating pictures. The CGM provides a file format suitable for the storage and retrieval of device-independent picture descriptions. Pictures described by a sequence of CGI function invocations can be written to disk and stored compactly as CGMs, and CGMs can be interpreted and displayed efficiently using a CGI implementation. Formal standards documents are difficult to read. They are dry, complex and lack tutorial material. This book is intended to supplement the standards documents themselves. Organized into four parts comprising seventeen chapters, it includes many illustrations and examples not found in the standards. The book also explains the relationship of the CGI and CGM to other standards, both formal and de facto, describes some early commercial implementations of the standards, and gives the reader insight into the future evolution of these standards.

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This book describes two ISO standardization projects - the Computer Graphics Interface (CGI) and the Computer Graphics Metafile (CGM). It has been written principally for users and practitioners of computer graphics. In particular, system designers, independent software vendors, graphics system implementors, and application program developers need to understand the basic standards being put into place at the so-called Virtual Device Interface. Technical managers, graduate students in computer science specializing in graphics, and buyers in government and industry will also find this book valuable. The CGI project is standardizing a functional and syntactic specification for the exchange of device-independent data and associated control information between systems with graphical capabilities. The CGI defines idealized abstract classes of graphical devices capable of accepting input and generating, storing and manipulating pictures. The CGM provides a file format suitable for the storage and retrieval of device-independent picture descriptions. Pictures described by a sequence of CGI function invocations can be written to disk and stored compactly as CGMs, and CGMs can be interpreted and displayed efficiently using a CGI implementation. Formal standards documents are difficult to read. They are dry, complex and lack tutorial material. This book is intended to supplement the standards documents themselves. Organized into four parts comprising seventeen chapters, it includes many illustrations and examples not found in the standards. The book also explains the relationship of the CGI and CGM to other standards, both formal and de facto, describes some early commercial implementations of the standards, and gives the reader insight into the future evolution of these standards.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages I-XXIII
Front Matter....Pages 1-1
Introduction to Computer Graphics Standards....Pages 3-10
The Computer Graphics Interface....Pages 11-22
Elementary CGI Output and Attribute Functions....Pages 23-38
Control and Error Handling....Pages 39-54
The Raster Functions in the CGI....Pages 55-63
Synchronous Input....Pages 65-72
Front Matter....Pages 73-73
Segmentation in CGI....Pages 75-86
Further CGI Output and Attribute Functions....Pages 87-102
Asynchronous Input....Pages 103-108
CGI Conformance and Constituency Profiles....Pages 109-116
Implementations of the CGI....Pages 117-127
Front Matter....Pages 129-129
CGM Concepts and Purposes....Pages 131-139
CGM Elements....Pages 141-171
CGM Encodings....Pages 173-191
Relationship of the CGM to Other Standards....Pages 193-198
Implementations of the CGM....Pages 199-207
Future Extensions to the CGM....Pages 209-224
Back Matter....Pages 225-279

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This book describes two ISO standardization projects - the Computer Graphics Interface (CGI) and the Computer Graphics Metafile (CGM). It has been written principally for users and practitioners of computer graphics. In particular, system designers, independent software vendors, graphics system implementors, and application program developers need to understand the basic standards being put into place at the so-called Virtual Device Interface. Technical managers, graduate students in computer science specializing in graphics, and buyers in government and industry will also find this book valuable. The CGI project is standardizing a functional and syntactic specification for the exchange of device-independent data and associated control information between systems with graphical capabilities. The CGI defines idealized abstract classes of graphical devices capable of accepting input and generating, storing and manipulating pictures. The CGM provides a file format suitable for the storage and retrieval of device-independent picture descriptions. Pictures described by a sequence of CGI function invocations can be written to disk and stored compactly as CGMs, and CGMs can be interpreted and displayed efficiently using a CGI implementation. Formal standards documents are difficult to read. They are dry, complex and lack tutorial material. This book is intended to supplement the standards documents themselves. Organized into four parts comprising seventeen chapters, it includes many illustrations and examples not found in the standards. The book also explains the relationship of the CGI and CGM to other standards, both formal and de facto, describes some early commercial implementations of the standards, and gives the reader insight into the future evolution of these standards.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages I-XXIII
Front Matter....Pages 1-1
Introduction to Computer Graphics Standards....Pages 3-10
The Computer Graphics Interface....Pages 11-22
Elementary CGI Output and Attribute Functions....Pages 23-38
Control and Error Handling....Pages 39-54
The Raster Functions in the CGI....Pages 55-63
Synchronous Input....Pages 65-72
Front Matter....Pages 73-73
Segmentation in CGI....Pages 75-86
Further CGI Output and Attribute Functions....Pages 87-102
Asynchronous Input....Pages 103-108
CGI Conformance and Constituency Profiles....Pages 109-116
Implementations of the CGI....Pages 117-127
Front Matter....Pages 129-129
CGM Concepts and Purposes....Pages 131-139
CGM Elements....Pages 141-171
CGM Encodings....Pages 173-191
Relationship of the CGM to Other Standards....Pages 193-198
Implementations of the CGM....Pages 199-207
Future Extensions to the CGM....Pages 209-224
Back Matter....Pages 225-279
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