Syllabus

Administrivia:

• Time: MWF at 2:30pm
• Place: EE1 045

• Instructors:

  Zoran Popovic (zoran@cs)

• TAs:	Will Portnoy (head ta) (will@cs) Jonathon Burns (jkburns@cs) Adam G Kirk (akirk@cs) AAfreen Siddiqui (aafreen@cs)

• Course personnel web page

Prerequisites:

• Data structures (CSE 326)
• A good working knowledge of C and C++ programming
• Linear algebra
• Some mathematical sophistication
• (No prior knowledge of graphics is assumed.)

Required text:

• Hearn and Baker. Computer Graphics C Version. Prentice Hall, 1996.

Optional texts:

• Edward Angel, Interactive Computer Graphics: A top-down approach with OpenGL. Addison Wesley, 1997.
• Woo, Neider, and Davis. OpenGL Programming Guide, Second Edition. Addison-Wesley, 1997.
• Andrew S. Glassner. An Introduction to Ray Tracing. Academic Press, 1989.

Supplemental texts:

• Foley, van Dam, Feiner, Hughes. Computer Graphics Principles and Practice, Second Edition in C. Addison Wesley, 1996.
• Glassner. Principles of Digital Image Synthesis. Morgan Kaufmann, 1995.

All of the optional texts will be available in the graphics instructional lab.

Grading:

The breakdown is subject to change as a whole and adjustments on a per-student basis in exceptional cases. This is the general breakdown we'll be using:

Projects:	65%
Homeworks:	15%
Final Exam:	20%

Projects:

CSE/457 is taught using the graphics instructional lab consisting of roughly 14 Windows NT workstations. The lab is located in Sieg 228.

There will be four projects. You'll work or in teams of two for the projects, with the restriction that you may not team up with the same partner for more than one project during the course. Each project will require you to extend some skeleton project with new features to create a working graphics application.

Project #1: Impressionist:

An interactive impressionistic paint system, similar in spirit to Paul Haeberli's The Impressionist.

Project #2: Model:

A viewer in which to construct a hierarchical articulated model using OpenGL.

Project #3: Trace:

A program to create photorealistic raytraced images, complete with computation of shadows, reflections, and transparent effects.

Project #4: Animate:

An extension of project #2 which includes animation curves on geometry. Create a 3D animation of your articulated model!

You will have approximately two weeks for each project.

Projects will be graded during in-person sessions with one of the TAs on the day that the project is due. During the grading session, a TA will run the project to make sure that it conforms to the guidelines. The TA will then quiz individual members of the team to determine how well they understand the structure of the code, the design trade-offs, and the implemented algorithms. One grade will be assigned for all members of the team for the project's implementation. Separate grades will be recorded for each team member's "knowledge of the project."

In addition, for each project both team members will be required to create an artifact, a final polished image demonstrating your application, hopefully of some artistic merit. Extra credit will be given for the nicest artifacts, as determined by class vote. Click here for more information on project grading.

Project Turn-in & Late Policy:

Assignments are due at the beginning of lecture on the due date. Late assignments are marked down at a rate of 33% per day (not per lecture), meaning that if you fail to turn in an assignment on time it is worth 66% for the first 24 hours after the deadline, 33% for the next 24 hours, and it is worth nothing after that. In addition, no extra credit for bells and whistles will be awarded for any late assignment.

Exceptions will be given only in extreme circumstances and only in advance.