Through the looking glass: the synthesis of computer graphics and computer vision

In one abstract view, computer graphics deals with building computer models or representations and then displaying them by some method or theory to produce a high-quality image. Computer vision is a dual to computer graphics. It starts with an image or animation and deduces the model representation for the computer. Computer graphics goes down from model to image, and computer vision goes up from image to model. This is, of course, a simplification, but it serves as a good basis to understand recent developments intersecting the two fields. Computer graphics and computer vision are truly complementary disciplines quickly approaching convergence. The broad study of computer-based imagery extends beyond these two fields to include the areas of human-computer interaction, visualization and image processing. Ongoing research and development will continue to forge this bond, and we'll begin to see real-world products emerge from these efforts. Then we will see the fruits of this convergence.