-Back in the old days a little name was made just for windows. This is called GDI (Graphics Device Interface) and is used by applications to send calls upon windows to do everything from moving a dot on the screen. After the call has gone through the GDI it is then sent to the host CPU or graphics accelerator on board.
Functions Of The 2D Graphic Acceleration
-Bit Blits, this is one of the most important functions of the video board. In this 2D operation the bit blit is simply like dragging an icon or scrolling text. We want it to still be there and not get blurry. This is your bit blit.
-Line Drawing, in this operation you want to be able to draw an line and have it recognized by the start and end points rather than in a single pixel. This is were Line drawing comes into play. If you are into CAD/CAM or those kinds of programs you really want good 2D support along with ample 3D.
-Color and Pattern, as like in line drawing we want to fill in the spaces from beginning to end. This method allows a part of the screen to be updated without the use on an individual pixel.
-Clipping, you may recognize this when you use a drop down menu in windows. Try hitting the "start" button for windows and this is an example of clipping. Clipping is just a fast way of showing an object that obscures another. We want it fast and look smooth.
-Off Screen Caching, this allows for regularly used graphics such as fonts to be pulled up fast without going to main system memory every time.
-If you use many 2D programs you really want a good Video Card. In all reality you want a good one no matter what. I guess the real exception in this is 3D. You will always produce more 2D than 3D. This web page is in 2D. Does it look ok? Haha.
-GDI is not alone, we also need to consider Video Acceleration such as 2D and 3D. Also take a look at Direct draw to get an idea of other things that go along with the Video Card system.
-Now we know a little about 2D operation how about Video acceleration? Take a look!
