Computer Graphics – Creating Visuals Through Code and Imagination

💡 What is Computer Graphics?

Computer Graphics is the art and science of creating images using computers. It involves:

 ✅ Drawing shapes, colors, and animations
✅ Simulating real-world visuals like light and motion
✅ Combining design and code to create visuals on screens

It powers everything from user interfaces to movies, games, and virtual reality.

🎨 1. Types of Computer Graphics

✅ 2D Graphics

• Flat images like UI, posters, diagrams

• Created with pixels or vector shapes

• Used in web design, mobile apps, diagrams

✅ 3D Graphics

• Objects with depth, shadows, and lighting

• Used in movies, games, architecture, engineering

• Tools: Blender, Maya, Unity
  

🧠 2. Key Concepts in Graphics

These basics help you build everything from icons to full environments.

🔁 3. Graphics Pipeline (How Images Are Rendered)

1. Modeling – Create shapes and objects

2. Transformation – Move, rotate, scale

3. Lighting – Add shadows, highlights

4. Projection – Convert 3D to 2D on screen

5. Rasterization – Convert shapes to pixels

6. Display – Show image on screen

This process happens millions of times per second in games or apps.

📐 4. Drawing Primitives

Primitives are the basic building blocks of images:

 ✅ Points
✅ Lines
✅ Polygons (Triangles, Rectangles)
✅ Circles and Curves

These are combined to build complex objects like characters or landscapes.

✍️ 5. 2D Graphics with Code

Languages like HTML5 Canvas, OpenGL, SVG, or Pygame (Python) let you create visual content using programming.

 ✅ You can draw shapes
✅ Animate objects frame by frame
✅ Detect collisions (e.g., in games)

🌐 6. Real-World Applications

🔧 7. Tools Used in Graphics

Students in Ethiopia are now using Blender and Unity in game dev courses and creative studios.

✨ 8. Animation and Motion Graphics

 ✅ Frame-by-frame animation – Like traditional cartoons
✅ Tweening – Auto-generates movement between frames
✅ Physics-based animation – Simulates gravity, collisions
✅ Keyframes – Set start and end states for motion

Used in gaming, explainer videos, UI transitions, and more.

🧮 9. Math in Computer Graphics

You’ll use: 

 ✅ Geometry – Points, lines, curves
✅ Trigonometry – Angles, rotations
✅ Matrices – Transform objects in 2D/3D
✅ Vectors – Direction and speed
✅ Linear Algebra – Key to rendering and physics

Don’t worry — you’ll learn as you go through projects.

💼 Career Paths in Computer Graphics

 ✅ Game Designer / Developer
✅ Graphics Programmer
✅ UI/UX Designer
✅ Animator / Motion Designer
✅ Simulation Developer
✅ 3D Artist / Modeler
✅ Visual Effects (VFX) Artist
✅ AR/VR Developer