Computer Graphics and the MOLEN paradigm: a survey

Focusing in the advantages and drawbacks on the FPGA implementations vs. ASIC and pure software, this paper surveys the development of computer graphics. We start with the description of the theoretical problems related to computer graphics. Consequently, we present the most relevant industrial and academic solutions categorizing them from the point of view of their contribution in the speed up of Graphics Pipeline. Finally we introduce the MOLEN reconfigurable computer paradigm project and how the reconfigurable organizations based on this architecture could help in the establishment of an integral solution for computer graphics processing. Keywords— Computer graphics, graphics pipeline; accelerators; MOLEN; reconfigurable computing; 3D pipeline; VirtexII PRO