CS155: Computer Graphics

In CS155, we study the fundamental concepts and processes that drive 3D computer graphics. We begin with a study of digital images and digital image processing. Next we study rendering techniques; rendering is the process by which a 3D model is converted to a 2D image. We cover ray tracing and the graphics pipeline process. Finally we look at some methods for modeling 3D objects including polygon meshes, spline curves and surfaces, and subdivision surfaces.

Grades

Points are earned through course projects, a few assignments and class participation:

Image Processing project	15 points
Ray Tracing project	25 points
OpenGL modeling project	20 points
Final project	25 points
GPU Assignments	10 points
Class participation	5 points

Provided you meet the basic course requirement described in the following section, your grade will be based on your total earned points:

A	96-100
A-	91-95
B+	87-90
B	84-86
B-	81-83
C+	77-80
C	74-76
C-	71-73
D+	67-70
D	64-66

Basic Course Requirement

In order to pass the class you must earn a passing grade, as described above. In addition, however, you must meet the following basic requirement. Before the final exam time of the course, you must submit a solution to each of the course projects that earns at least 50% of the possible. In other words, you cannot blow off an entire project and pass the class! Note that this basic requirement is necessary but not sufficient to pass the class.

Late Policy

You begin the semester with 2 one-day extensions that may be used to extend project deadlines. You earn an additional one-day extension each time you submit a project assignment 24 (or more) hours before its due time. You may use these extension days to extend the due time of the course projects subject to maximums provided in project descriptions. Note, however, extension days will eat into the time you have for the next project!! So use them carefully. Projects submitted after the due time plus extensions will lose 10% of the total points per day. Note: Late penalties are not considered when determining the 50% cutoff to satisfy the basic requirement. So, for example, suppose you haven't finished the ray tracer and it is now 10 days past the deadline plus late days. (OK, so not you, you would never do that, but maybe the slacker sitting next to you.) Even if the slacker sitting next to you submits a perfect solution worth 25 points, it is work 0 points after late penalties. So you might think, oh sorry, the guy sitting next to you might think, there is no point in even submitting the project. But there is! Because of this policy. No submission means the slacker fails the course. Got it?

Honor Code

We provide skeleton code for most of the assignments. Any additional code you submit must be designed and written by you unless you obtain prior approval from me. Any violation of this policy will result in (at least) course failure. If in doubt, ask.

Course Schedule:

Date	Topic	Assigment	Links
Tues 9/2/07	Introduction (ppt)
Thurs 9/4/08	Image Processing I (ppt) Simple pixel transformations Interpolation/Extrapolation Compositing Convolution	Project 1: Image Processing Due: 1:15 PM, Tues. 9/16
Tues 9/9/08	Image Processing II (ppt) Convolution cont. Dithering Warping
Thurs 9/11/08	Image Processing III (ppt) Warping cont. Morphing
Tues 9/16/08	3D (ppt) 3D worlds Transforms and homogeneous coordinates Hierarchical coordinates	Project 1 Due	Morphing Lab
Thurs 9/18/08	3D worlds cont. Catch up		rtWindows.exe snowman.ray
Tues 9/23/08	Ray Tracing I (ppt) Ray Casting Intersection Tests	Project 2: Ray Tracing First 35 points due: 1:15 PM, Tues., 9/30/08 Next 30 points due: 1:15 PM, Tues., 10/7/08 Last 35 points due: 1:15PM, Tues., 10/15/08
Thurs 9/25/08	Ray Tracing II (ppt) Ray tracing scene graphs
Tues 9/30/08	Ray Tracing III Lighting (ppt) Texture mapping (ppt)	Ray Tracer Part I due	RTI tests
Thurs 10/2/08	Ray Tracing IV Recursion(ppt) Bump mapping & 3d textures(ppt)
Tues 10/7/08	Ray Tracing V (ppt) Bells & whistles	Ray Tracer Part II due	RTII tests
Thurs 10/09/08	Pipeline systems overview (ppt)		openGL intro tutorial Transformation demo Projection demo
Tues 10/14/08	Pipeline overview cont.	Ray Tracer Part III due	RT tests
Thurs 10/16/08	Lighting	Robot First 30 points due: 1:15 PM, Tues., 10/28/08 Next 30 points due: 1:15 PM, Tues., 11/4/08 Last 40 points due: 1:15PM, Tues., 11/11/08	openGL lighting tutorial
Tues 10/21/08	Fall break
Thurs 10/23/08	Camera & robot control (ppt)		rt Grading
Tues 10/28/08	Textures and billboarding	Robot I due	Texture Lab Billboarding Lab Heads Up Lab
Thurs 10/30/08	Shadows		Shadow Lab
Tues 11/4/08	Curves 1 (ppt)	Robot II due
Thurs 11/6/08	Curves 2 (ppt)
Tues 11/11/07	Guest Speaker	Robot III due
Thurs. 11/13/08	Final project discussion	Project 4: Do-It-Yourself Proposal due Tues. Nov. 18 First presentation due Nov. 25- Dec.4 Final presentation/demo due Thurs. Dec. 11
Tues 11/18/08	Final project discussions	Approved proposals due
Thurs 11/20/08
Tues 11/25/08	Student Presentations
Thurs 11/27/08	Thanksgiving break
Tues 12/2/08
Thurs 12/4/08
Tues 12/09/07	Final project presentations
Thurs 12/11/07	Final project presentations