Graphics Concepts

This section provides overview material about some important graphics topics, including introductions to ScreenPlay and the graphics architecture when ScreenPlay is not enabled.

• The ScreenPlay Graphics Architecture
  This topic provides an introduction to ScreenPlay and its architecture. ScreenPlay is a new graphics architecture, introduced in Symbian^3 (S^3). ScreenPlay enables device creators to take advantage of improved software performance, hardware acceleration and third party graphics engines. ScreenPlay is sometimes known as the New Graphics Architecture (NGA).
• Graphics Composition
  
• The Non-ScreenPlay Graphics Architecture
  ScreenPlay provides improved support for graphics hardware acceleration and some other new features. However, it is possible to use the Symbian platform without enabling ScreenPlay. This is called the non-ScreenPlay variant (sometimes referred to as the non-NGA variant). This topic provides an introduction to the graphics architecture when ScreenPlay is not enabled.
• Graphics Hardware Acceleration
  This topic describes some of the issues surrounding the use of graphics hardware to improve graphics performance. It also provides a summary of the components that device creators need to adapt to take advantage of graphics hardware.
• Khronos API Support
  The Symbian platform provides support for a number of APIs created by the Khronos Group (www.khronos.org). This is a member-funded industry consortium focused on the creation of open standard, royalty-free APIs to enable the authoring and accelerated playback of dynamic media on a wide variety of platforms and devices. This topic provides a brief summary of the Khronos APIs that are supported in the Symbian platform.
• Dynamic Resolution Switching
  ScreenPlay provides support for externally connected displays, such as TV-out. Previous versions of Symbian and the non-ScreenPlay variant consider the size of all displays to be fixed, assuming them to be built into the phone. However, for High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) and composite video connectors, there is a range of resolutions that can change dynamically. ScreenPlay provides an optional feature that supports switching between resolutions at runtime.