EE 4993 Graphics Hardware

This is a split-level undergraduate/graduate level class on Graphics Hardware. The graphics workstations used in this class were donated by Intergraph Computing Systems.

Useful Links

Companies

• Intergraph Computing Systems Home Page
• Intel Graphics Home Page
• Graphics News at Intergraph
• Intergraph Computing Systems Graphics Accelerators
• Chips & Technologies Home Page: They make 2D graphics chips and have downloadable data pages on them, now owned by Intel.
• Mitsubishi Semiconductor Home Page Makes 3D-Pro chip set (rendering engine combined with 3D-RAM and CDRAM).
• 3DFX Homepage - 'Voodoo' 3D Graphics Accelerators, see 'Developer' info

OpenGL

• OpenGL Home Page
• OpenGL Spec 1.1

Direct X (DirectDraw, Direct3D)

• Microsoft DirectX site

Misc Links

• Accelerated Graphics Port Users Group
• Tutorial on Advanced Graphics Port

Data Sheets

• 2D PCI Graphics Accelerator Data Sheet (PDF, 3.3 MB)
• Overview of 3DPro-based board (PDF, 184 KB)
• 3DRAM Data Sheet (PDF, 605 KB)
• SGDRAM Data Sheet (PDF, 1.1MB)
• VDRAM Data Sheet (PDF, 2.3MB)
• Sync Link DRAM (PDF, 506KB)
• Brooktree RAMDAC Data Sheet (PDF, 369KB)
• Brooktree RAMDAC Data Sheet (PDF, 369KB)
• Cached DRAM (PDF, 709KB)
• SVGA Graphics Chip (obsolete) (PDF, 2.3MB)
• Intel 740 Graphics Accelerator Data Sheet (PDF, 430KB)
• Intel 740 Graphics Accelerator Programmers Manual (PDF, 1.2MB)

Misc. Documents

• Advanced Graphics Port (AGP) Spec (PDF, 2.7Mb)
• AGP Usage Guide (PDF, 117Kb)
• 1993 Smart Frame Buffer, DEC Labs (PS, 303Kb)

Lecture

Also, this class has been as much a learning experience for myself as for the students. As such, there are probably some misconceptions and errors in these notes; let me know about any you discover! Because these lectures came after the students were already exposed to many concepts via Prof. Moorhead, the listing order does not reflect the order in which topics have been covered in the class.

• Graphics Design Driver Structure under NT
• Memory Issues in Graphics Accelerators
• 3D Graphics Accelerators Introduction
• Pixel (Fragment) Level Operations
• Fragment Operations for Textures
• Voodoo2 Homework
• Fragment Operation/Gate Estimates
• Triangle Setup/Rasterization
• Triangle Rasterization in Mesa 2.6
• LOD calculation for MipMaps; Perspective Correction of S,T coordinates
• Comparison of Rasterization results from spreadsheet model and Mesa code
• Notes on Graphics Pipeline Simulation in Excel
• Rambus DRAM

Homework Documents

• Excel Template Worksheet for Fragment Operation Count Homework
• Excel Template Worksheet (5.0 format) for Fragment Operation Count Homework
• Excel Template Worksheet for Triangle Rasterization Homework
• Excel Template Worksheet (5.0 Format) for Triangle Rasterization Homework
• Pipeline Spreadsheet