Computer graphics standardization activities currently focus on three areas: the Application Programmer Interface (API), the Virtual Device Interface (VDI), and graphical metafiles. API standards typically consist of a collection of procedures that programmers can link with their application code to obtain graphical input and cause pictures to be displayed on graphical output devices. VDI standards are concerned with the interfaces between graphical systems and graphical devices, as well as providing device-independent views of peripheral devices, controller boards, and graphics chips. Graphical metafiles are disk or tape files which contain graphical commands and data. Standardization of graphical metafiles makes it possible to share pictures among different hardware and software environments.

This paper describes the ways in which the three components interact in a variety of graphical environments. Special emphasis is placed on the role and use of personal computers as workstations in a distributed, networked, multimedia environment. Overviews of the major current graphics standards projects provide a good introduction to the functional components that make up a graphical system and the kinds of graphical information that must be handled. The major projects in the API area are PHIGS (Programmer’s Hierarchical Interactive Graphics System), GKS (Graphical Kernel System), and GKS-3D. The VDI and metafile projects are CG-VDI (Computer Graphics Virtual Device Interface) and CGM (Computer Graphics Metafile). Each of these is explained in the context of the commerical hardware and software environments that they influence and are influenced by.

The paper is a good introduction to the current state of graphical standards activities, and to the future directions these activities are likely to take.