“A Knowledge Base for the Computer Graphics Discipline” by Bertoline and Laxer

Computer graphics is a powerful medium used to communicate information and knowledge. It is a discipline whose time has come. Until recently it was a mysterious specialty involving expensive display hardware, considerable computing resources, and specialized software. In the last few years, computer graphics has found its way into the mainstream of society, from entertainment, to engineering design, to the web, and virtually every industry. Much of this has been the result of spectacular improvements in the price and performance of computer graphics hardware and software. Interactive computer graphics is finding its way into nearly every discipline, industry, home, hospital, theatre, football stadium, automobile, appliance, and engineering office. Computer graphics is or will have an impact on nearly everything we do. The discipline of computer graphics is like a wide-open frontier where no matter which direction you move you will find more opportunities and undiscovered applications.

Computer graphics is the pictorial synthesis of real or imagined objects from their computer-based models. A related field is image processing which is the reconstruction of models of 2D and 3D objects from their pictures (Foley, et al, 1996). Traditionally, computer graphics is contained within the well-recognized disciplines of computer science, electrical and computer engineering, and art and design. The discipline of computer graphics has traditionally focused on developing new software algorithms (computer science) and hardware innovations (electrical and computer engineering) with an attempt to force art and design principles into the mix. Those types of developments will continue but the discipline is beginning to mature to a point where it is more than just about hardware and software developments and innovations. More attention must be given to the effective and novel use of the hardware and software developments in the context of graphics communication. This is a much more holistic approach to computer graphics as a discipline. This holistic approach is more focused on the end user and how these tools can be used in much more profound and revolutionary ways.