When manipulating images on the computer we are faced with three different viewpoints: image analysis, image synthesis and image processing.
Image synthesis generates an image from some geometric model. Image processing accepts an image as input and generates an output image after doing some processing. Image analysis analyzes an image in order to extract geometrical, physical and topological information about the objects represented in the image.
The relationship between these three viewpoints is illustrated in the figure below.
The research and education program on computer graphics at the Visgraf Project considers the techniques of these three areas from an integrated point of view.