Syllabus

Table of contents

1. Overview
2. Academic Integrity
3. Logistics
4. Staffs and Office Hours
   1. Getting Help
   2. Prerequisites
5. Grading
   1. Final Artifact
   2. Turn-in and Late Policy
   3. Regrade Requests
   4. Disability and Religious Accommodations
   5. Extension Requests
6. Resources

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Overview

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to fundamental and advanced topics in computer graphics. Students will explore the mathematical and computational principles behind visual computing, gaining both theoretical knowledge and hands-on experience through projects and assignments.

Key topics include:

• Affine Transformations: Understanding geometric transformations such as translation, rotation, scaling, and shearing, and their applications in computer graphics.
• Hierarchical Modeling: Constructing complex objects from simpler components using scene graphs and hierarchical transformations.
• Projections: Exploring different projection techniques, including orthographic and perspective, to render 3D scenes onto 2D displays.
• Shading: Learning about illumination models and shading techniques to simulate realistic lighting effects.
• Ray Tracing: Implementing algorithms for physically accurate image synthesis using principles of optics and reflection/refraction.
• Texture Mapping: Applying images to geometric surfaces to add visual detail and realism.
• Curves and Surfaces: Studying parametric representations such as Bézier curves and B-splines for modeling smooth shapes.
• Particle Systems: Simulating natural phenomena like smoke, fire, and rain using stochastic techniques.
• Animation: Understanding the principles and mathematics behind motion in graphics, including keyframing and physics-based animation.

Academic Integrity

We will follow the Allen School’s Academic Policies and the University of Washington’s Academic Misconduct Policy. Students are encouraged to collaborate and discuss ideas with peers, TAs, and instructors—but must complete and submit their own work.

Students may consult online resources for guidance, but it is strictly prohibited to:

• Copy code or solutions from previous offerings of the course
• Share or submit code or solutions from other peers
• Use generative AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT or other LLMs) to fully complete assignments without doing the work themselves

It is typically very obvious to the course staff when answers or code are copied directly from ChatGPT or other language models. We also use software to detect code similarity across submissions. Academic dishonesty will be taken very seriously: violations may result in a zero on the assignment, a meeting with course staff, and an academic misconduct case under UW policy. Cheating not only deprives you of learning but also wastes the time and effort of instructors, TAs, and everyone else involved.

If you are having trouble understanding the material or are concerned about meeting a deadline, please reach out ahead of time—don’t wait until the last minute. We want to help you succeed, but we can only do so if you communicate early.

Logistics

Lectures will be held on Mondays and Wednesdays in MGH 241 from 2:30-3:50pm. We have found that success in the course is correlated with in-person lecture attendance. Students who want to do well in the course are encouraged to attend in-person lectures as a small percentage of your grade will include participation this quarter. Lectures will be recorded to review material or if you are unable to attend on the class. You can find these recorded lectures on the class Panopto which can be accessed through Canvas.

Staffs and Office Hours

See the Canvas site for Zoom office hour meeting codes.

Email TAs for other meeting times.

CSE 457 Staff Alias: cse457-staff@cs.washington.edu

Getting Help

• Use the class discussion board. Chances are other people will have the same questions you do.
• For help on projects, talk to the TAs or the instructor during their office hours.

Prerequisites

Students should have completed data structures at the level of CSE 332, possess knowledge of linear algebra (Math 208 recommended), and demonstrate some mathematical sophistication. No prior knowledge of computer graphics is assumed.

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 will be done individually. There are no exams.

Final Artifact

There is a final artifact due at the end of the quarter. More information will come soon.

Turn-in and Late Policy

Projects and homeworks are due at 11:00pm on the specified due date. This is a hard deadline. Late assignments are marked down at a rate of 25% per day (not per lecture), meaning that if you fail to turn in an assignment on time it is worth 75% for the first 24 hours after the deadline, 50% for the next 24 hours, 25% for the next 24 hours, and then it is worth nothing after that.

Since the class projects are worth 60% of your grade (and homeworks are similarly worth 20% of your grade), this means that it is detrimental to your grade to not submit a project on time or at all.

Regrade Requests

If grading errors occur, students should bring them to the attention of the course staff by submitting a regrade request through Gradescope Please note the following:

• Time limit: Regrade requests will only be considered within a week after grades are posted. Requests submitted late—especially those for early-quarter assignments—will not be reviewed.
• Purpose: Regrades are for correcting genuine mistakes (e.g., a correct solution marked wrong), not for disputing the number of points deducted.
• Consistency: Deductions are applied equally to all students. We will not change deductions for one student in a way that would be inconsistent with others who made similar errors.

Extension Requests

If you anticipate needing extra time on an assignment due to a circumstance, please contact the course staff as early as possible—ideally well before the due date. Requests submitted after the due date has passed are much harder to accommodate and will make it more difficult for you to stay on track with the course. The earlier you reach out, the more likely we can work with you to find a fair and reasonable solution. Last-minute requests to submit work late in the quarter will most likely not be granted, as they are unfair to other students who submitted their work on time.

Disability and Religious Accommodations

We are committed to creating an inclusive learning environment for all students. If you require disability accommodations, please contact the UW Disability Resources for Students (DRS) and course staff as soon as possible. DRS and course staff will work with you to develop an accommodation plan.

For religious accommodations, the University of Washington’s policy allows students to request academic adjustments for religious observances. Please submit your request within the first two weeks of the quarter using the Religious Accommodations Request form.

Please reach out to the course staff if you have any questions or need assistance coordinating accommodations.

Resources

• Graphics in 5 Minutes Playlist
• Textbook (Optional)

Use your UW account to access the optional textbook for free.