Automated testing of computer graphics systems

Graphics Systems have become increasingly complex over the last years. Computer Graphics standards provide the means to implement portable graphics applications. However, the goals aimed by the use of graphics standards cannot be achieved, unless these standards are not themselves lent to certification. Methods and tools for testing graphics systems have been developed, such as the GKS conformance testing package. Current test tools rely heavily on operator judgement of pictorial output produced by implementations being tested. Current graphics systems are becoming richer in functionality, thus rendering the test task increasingly more difficult, especially when specifying test pictures. Automated test methods should be devised, to provide results more precise than human judgement in a more efficient way. On the other hand, graphics systems should provide functions to assist in automatic testing, in order to prevent the need for special devices such as cameras and image processing equi pment. This paper focuses on the issues raised by automatic testing of graphics systems. Standard components are studied with regard to their ability to being tested. Recent technologies and their application to automatic testing are discussed. The paper attempts to highlight the extent to which current systems can be tested automatically. (AGD