05201330 / 05202182 – Computer Graphics

Dr. Ghanshyam Rathod, Assistant Professor

Parul Institute of Computer Application - BCA
 CHAPTER-3
Viewing and Clipping
Concepts
Window: Area selected in world-coordinate for display is called
window. It defines what is to be viewed.

Viewport: Area on a display device in which window image is display

(mapped) is called viewport. It defines where to display.
In many cases window and viewport are rectangle, also other shape
may be used as window and viewport such as polygon or circle.

Viewing Transformation: The process of converting coordinates from

a "world window" (defined in world coordinates) to the
corresponding coordinates on the display device.
Concepts
Viewing in Computer Graphics
Viewing refers to the process of transforming a 3D scene into a 2D
image that can be displayed on a screen. It involves defining how the
objects in the scene are mapped to a viewable area. The process
includes:
1. Setting up a Camera (Viewing Coordinate System):
The viewing position is defined using a virtual camera or an eye
position in the 3D space.

2. Viewing Transformation:
Transforms the objects from the world coordinate system to the
viewing coordinate system.
Viewing in Computer Graphics
3. Projection: Converts the 3D scene
into a 2D representation.
Projections can be of two types:
▪ Parallel Projection: Maintains the
relative dimensions of objects
(used in engineering drawings).

▪ Perspective Projection: Mimics

how the human eye sees, with
objects appearing smaller as they
get farther away.
Viewing Transformation Pipeline
▪ We know that the picture is stored in the computer memory using any
convenient Cartesian co-ordinate system, referred to as World Co-Ordinate
System (WCS).
▪ However, when picture is displayed on the display device it is measured in
Physical Device Co-Ordinate System (PDCS) corresponding to the display
device.
▪ Therefore, displaying an image of a picture involves mapping the co-
ordinates of the Points and lines that form the picture into the appropriate
physical device co-ordinate where the image is to be displayed.
▪ This mapping of co-ordinates is achieved with the use of co-ordinate
transformation known as viewing transformation.
▪ The viewing transformation which maps picture co-ordinates in the WCS to
display co-ordinates in PDCS is performed by the following transformations.
Viewing Transformation Pipeline
▪ Converting world co-ordinates to viewing co-ordinates.
▪ Normalizing viewing co-ordinates.
▪ Converting normalized viewing co-ordinates to device co-ordinates.

▪ MS or MC (Modeling Coordinate): Coordinates of 3D object in real world.

▪ NVC: It a coordinate system where all points are mapped to a standard range,
typically between -1 and 1 on both the x and y axes, regardless of the actual
screen resolution or viewport size, allowing for device-independent rendering
and simplifying calculations during the graphics pipeline
Viewing Transformation Pipeline
▪ The mapping of a part of a world-coordinate scene to device coordinates is
referred to as a viewing transformation.
▪ Figure shows the mapping of a picture section that falls within a
rectangular window onto a designated & angular viewport.
Viewing Transformation Pipeline
▪ As shown in above figure, first of all we construct world
coordinate scene modeling coordinate transformation.
▪ After this we convert viewing coordinates from world coordinates
using window to viewport transformation.
▪ Then we map viewing normalized viewing coordinate in which we
obtain values in between -1 to 1.
▪ At last, we convert normalized viewing coordinate to device
coordinate using device driver software which provide device
specification.
▪ Finally, device coordinate is used to display image on display
screen.
Viewing Transformation Pipeline
▪ By changing the viewport position on screen, we can see
image at different place on the screen.
▪ By changing the size of the window and viewport we can
obtain zoom in and zoom out effect as per requirement.
▪ Fixed size viewport and small size window gives zoom in
effect, and fixed size viewport and larger window gives
zoom out effect.
▪ View ports are generally defining with the “unit square”
so that graphics package are more device independent
which we call as normalized viewing coordinate.
Window and Viewport Transformation
▪ Mapping of window coordinate to viewport is called window to viewport
transformation.
▪ It is done using transformation that maintains relative position of
window coordinate into viewport.
▪ That means center coordinates of window must remains at center
position in viewport.
▪ For, finding relative position by the equation below:
Window and Viewport Transformation
▪ By solving we can find position of viewport by below equation:

▪ Where, scaling factor are:

Window and Viewport Transformation
▪ This conversion is performed with the following sequence of
transformations:
1. Perform a scaling transformation using a fixed-point position of
(xwmin , ywmin,) that scales the window area to the size of the
viewport.
2. Translate the scaled window area to the position of the viewport.
▪ Relative proportions of objects are maintained if the scaling factors are
the same (sx = sy). Otherwise, world objects will be stretched or
contracted in either the x or y direction when displayed on the output
device.
Window and Viewport Transformation
▪ Character strings can be handled in two ways when they are mapped to
a viewport.
▪ The simplest mapping maintains a constant character size, even though
the viewport area may be enlarged or reduced relative to the window.
▪ This method would be employed when text is formed with standard
character fonts that cannot be changed.
▪ In systems that allow for changes in character size, string definitions can
be windowed the same as other primitives.
▪ For characters formed with line segments, the mapping to the viewport
can be carried out as a sequence of line transformations.
Clipping Operations
▪ Clipping refers to the process of removing portions of graphics primitives (like
lines, polygons, or text) that lie outside the viewing area or clipping window. It
ensures that only the visible parts of objects are displayed on the screen.
▪ Generally, any procedure that identifies those portions of a picture that are
either inside or outside of a specified region of space is referred to as a clipping
algorithm, or simply clipping. The region against which an object is to be
clipped is called a clip window.
▪ The clipping operation can be performed on different objects. Thus, it can be
divided as:
1. Point Clipping
2. Line Clipping (straight-line segments)
3. Area Clipping (polygons)
4. Curve Clipping
5. Text Clipping
Point Clipping
▪ Assuming that the clip window is a rectangle in standard position, we save a
point P = ( x , y ) for display if the following inequalities are satisfied:

xwmin <= x <= xwmax

ywmin <= y <= ywmax
▪ Where the edges of the clip window (xwmin , xwmax , ywmin , ywmax) can be either
the world-coordinate window boundaries or viewport boundaries. If any one of
these four inequalities is not satisfied, the point is clipped (not saved for
display).
▪ Although point clipping is applied less often than line or polygon clipping, some
applications may require a point-clipping procedure. For example, point clipping
can be applied to scenes involving explosions or sea foam that are modeled
with particles (points) distributed in some region of the scene.
Point Clipping
Here the (xwmin, ywmin) =
(1, 2) and (xwmax, ywmax) =
(5, 4), the point coordinate
is (2, 3)

For the first case,

It satisfies the conditions:
1<2<5
2<3<4
For the second case, the point is at (3, 1) so it does not satisfy, the condition for y,
and it is clipped.
1<3<5
2 < 1 < 4 (invalid condition)
Line Clipping

▪ Figure shows possible relationships between line positions and a standard

rectangular clipping region. A line clipping procedure involves several parts.
▪ First, we can test a given line segment to determine whether it lies
completely inside the clipping window.
Line Clipping
▪ If it does not, we try to determine whether it lies completely outside the window.
▪ Finally, if we cannot identify a line as completely inside or completely outside, we
must perform intersection calculations with one or more clipping boundaries.
▪ We process lines through the “inside-outside” tests by checking the line
endpoints.
▪ A line with both endpoints inside all clipping boundaries, such as the line from P1
to P2 is saved.
▪ A line with both endpoints outside any one of the clip boundaries (line P3-P4 in
Fig) is outside the window.
▪ All other lines cross one or more clipping boundaries, and may require
calculation of multiple intersection points.
▪ To minimize calculations, we try to devise clipping algorithms that can efficiently
identify outside lines and reduce intersection calculations.
Line Clipping
▪ For a line segment with endpoints (x1 , y1) and (x2 , y2) and one or both
endpoints outside the clipping rectangle,

▪ The clipping operation can be decided from the values

x = x1 + u ( x2 – x1 )
y = y1 + u ( y2 – y1 )

0 <= u <= 1

▪ If the value of u is outside the range 0 to 1 then, line is outside.

▪ If the value of u is within the range of 0 to 1 then, it crosses the clipping
area.
Cohen-Sutherland Line Clipping
▪ This is the oldest and the most popular line clipping procedure.
▪ In this procedure both the endpoints of line contain a four-digit binary code,
known as Region Code: This code identifies the location of point with respect to
the clip window. Cohen Sutherland line
clipping algorithm
divides a two-
dimensional space into
9 regions and then
efficiently determines
In this, the lines and portions
▪ bit 1 represents: Left of lines that are inside
▪ bit 2 represents: Right the given rectangular
▪ bit 3 represents: Below area
▪ bit 4 represents: Top
Cohen-Sutherland Line Clipping
▪ Nine regions are created, eight "outside" regions and one "inside"
region.
▪ For a given line extreme point (x, y), we can quickly find its region's
four-bit code.
▪ Four-bit code can be computed by comparing x and y with four
values (x_min, x_max, y_min and y_max).
1. If x is less than x_min then bit number 1 is set.
2. If x is greater than x_max then bit number 2 is set.
3. If y is less than y_min then bit number 3 is set.
4. If y is greater than y_max then bit number 4 is set
Cohen-Sutherland Line Clipping
▪ If the value of bit is 1, it indicates the true condition e.g. 0101 means
the point is Bottom and Left side of the Rectangle.
▪ By using such representation, we can make following conclusions:
1. If the region code of both endpoints is 0000, then the line is
completely inside.
2. If both the endpoints contain 1 in same bit position, then the
line is completely outside. This can also be checked by logical
AND operation. If the result is not 0000 then, line is completely
outside.
3. If the line is not completely inside or outside, then we have to
find out the intersection point of line with window.
Cohen-Sutherland Line Clipping
▪ Intersection points with a clipping boundary can be calculated using the
slope-intercept form of the line equation. For a line with endpoint
coordinates (x1, y1) and (x2, y2), the ‘y’ coordinate of the intersection
point with a vertical boundary can be obtained with the calculation
y = y1 + m(x – x1)
▪ where the x value is set either to xwmin, or to xwmax, and the slope of the
line is calculated as m = (y2 – y1)/(x2 – x1).
▪ Similarly, if we are looking for the intersection with a horizontal
boundary, the x coordinate can be calculated as
x = x1 + ( y - y1 ) / m
with y set either ywmin or to ywmax
Polygon Clipping
Polygon clipping operation is carried out by modifying line clipping algorithms. We
can consider the polygon as a set of lines and thus clip the selected region. The
only problem in this is that the closed area of the polygon cannot be decided.
A polygon boundary processed
with a line clipper may be
displayed as a series of
unconnected line segments as
shown in figure, depending on
the orientation of the polygon to
the clipping window.

Display of a polygon processed by a line-clipping algorithm.

Polygon Clipping
▪ What we really want to display is a
bounded area after clipping, as in
figure.
▪ For polygon clipping, we require an
algorithm that will generate one or
more closed areas that are then
scan converted for the appropriate
area fill.
▪ The output of a polygon clipper
should be a sequence of vertices
that defines the clipped polygon
boundaries. Display of a correctly clipped polygon
Polygon Clipping (Sutherland Hodgman Algorithm)
We can correctly clip a polygon by processing the polygon boundary as a
whole against each window edge.
This could be accomplished by processing all polygon vertices against each
clip rectangle boundary in turn.
Beginning with the initial set of polygon vertices, we could first clip the
polygon against the left rectangle boundary to produce a new sequence of
vertices.
The new set of vertices could then be successively passed to a right
boundary clipper, a bottom boundary clipper, and a top boundary
clipper, as shown in figure
Polygon Clipping (Sutherland Hodgman Algorithm)

At each step, a new sequence of output vertices is generated and passed to

the next window boundary clipper.
Polygon Clipping (Sutherland Hodgman Algorithm)
Polygon Clipping (Sutherland Hodgman Algorithm)
Polygon Clipping (Sutherland Hodgman Algorithm)
Polygon Clipping (Sutherland Hodgman Algorithm)
Polygon Clipping (Sutherland Hodgman Algorithm)
Example: For a polygon and clipping window as shown in figure is the
original image. We are now applying, Left, Right, Bottom, and Top clipping
Polygon Clipping (Sutherland Hodgman Algorithm)
Polygon Clipping (Sutherland Hodgman Algorithm)
Polygon Clipping (Sutherland Hodgman Algorithm)
Polygon Clipping (Sutherland Hodgman Algorithm)
3D Clipping
▪ Just like the case in two dimensions, clipping removes objects that will
not be visible from the scene.
▪ The point of this is to remove computational effort.
▪ 3-D clipping is achieved in two basic steps
✓ Discard objects that can’t be viewed
▪ i.e. objects that are behind the camera, outside the field of
view, or too far away
✓ Clip objects that intersect with any clipping plane
▪ Discarding objects that cannot possibly be seen involves comparing an
objects bounding box/sphere against the dimensions of the view
volume
✓ Can be done before or after projection
3D Clipping
3D Clipping
3D Clipping
View Volume
▪ In 3D computer graphics, the view volume defines the region of space that is
visible from the camera's perspective and will be projected onto the display
screen.
▪ It acts as a spatial filter, determining which objects or parts of objects are
rendered in the final image.
▪ Types of View Volumes:
▪ The shape of the view volume depends on the type of projection used:
1. Perspective Projection:
▪ View Volume Shape: A frustum, which resembles a truncated
pyramid.
▪ Characteristics: Objects farther from the camera appear smaller,
mimicking human vision.
▪ Usage: Commonly used in applications requiring realistic depth
perception, such as simulations and video games.
View Volume
▪ Types of View Volumes:
▪ The shape of the view volume depends on the type of projection
used:
2. Orthographic (Parallel) Projection:
▪ View Volume Shape: A rectangular parallelepiped (box-
like structure).
▪ Characteristics: Objects maintain their size regardless of
depth, preserving true dimensions.
▪ Usage: Ideal for technical drawings, engineering designs,
and architectural plans where accurate measurements
are crucial.
Components of the View Volume
▪ Near Clipping Plane: The closest boundary to the camera; objects
closer than this plane are not rendered.
▪ Far Clipping Plane: The farthest boundary from the camera;
objects beyond this plane are excluded from rendering.
▪ Field of View (FOV): The
extent of the observable
world seen at any given
moment, determining the
width and height of the
view volume.
Normalized View Volume
▪ The normalized view volume (also known as the canonical view
volume) is a standardized coordinate space into which the original
view volume is transformed.
▪ This transformation simplifies subsequent rendering processes,
such as clipping and projection. In this normalized space:
▪ Coordinates are mapped to a consistent range, typically [−1, 1] for
all axes in many graphics systems.
▪ The complex, camera-specific view volume is converted into a
uniform cube (or parallelepiped), making mathematical operations
more straightforward.
View Port Clipping
▪ In 3D rendering, the viewport represents the rectangular area of
the render target where the 3D scene is projected.
▪ Clipping is the process of excluding parts of objects or scenes that
fall outside this viewport, ensuring that only the visible elements
are processed and displayed.
Clipping Planes
▪ Clipping in 3D involves two primary planes:
▪ Near Clipping Plane: This plane is closest to the camera. Objects
closer than this plane are not rendered.
View Port Clipping
▪ Far Clipping Plane: This plane is farther from the
camera. Objects beyond this plane are also not
rendered.
▪ Adjusting these planes helps in managing which parts of
the scene are visible and can prevent rendering artifacts.
▪ For instance, setting the near clipping plane too close
can cause nearby objects to be clipped unexpectedly,
while setting the far clipping plane too far can lead to
depth buffer precision issues.
View Port Clipping
Practical Applications
▪ 3D Modeling Software: In applications like Blender, users can adjust the
viewport clipping parameters to work efficiently with scenes of varying
scales. This adjustment ensures that objects are not inadvertently
clipped during modeling. blender.stackexchange.com
▪ Game Development: Developers utilize clipping planes to optimize
rendering performance. By culling objects outside the player's view or
beyond a certain distance, they can reduce the computational load.
▪ Medical Imaging: Clipping planes allow practitioners to focus on specific
sections of 3D scans, providing clearer insights into particular areas of
interest.
Clipping in Homogeneous Coordinates
▪ Clipping in homogeneous coordinates is a method used in
computer graphics to remove any part of a 3D object that is
outside of the viewing frustum (the visible area of the 3D scene).
This is done by transforming the 3D object into homogeneous
coordinates and then applying a series of clipping planes to
remove any parts of the object that are outside of the viewing
frustum.
▪ The steps of clipping in homogeneous coordinates are as follows:
1. Convert the original 3D coordinates of the object into
homogeneous coordinates by adding a fourth dimension to
the coordinates. This fourth dimension represents the weight
of the vertex, and it is set to 1 for all visible vertices.
Clipping in Homogeneous Coordinates
▪ The steps of clipping in homogeneous coordinates are as follows:
2. Multiply the homogeneous coordinates of the object by the
transformation matrix.
This matrix is used to project the object onto the clipping
planes.
2. Test the transformed coordinates against the clipping planes
using the equation: Ax' + By' + Cz' + Dw' = 0.
If the result is greater than zero, it means that the vertex is
inside the clipping plane, and it should be kept.
If the result is less than zero, it means that the vertex is
outside the clipping plane, and it should be discarded.
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