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Course Objectives

Prerequisites

Approach

Typical Text

Course Outline

Course Objectives
Introduce the methods and skills for rendering computer graphics images, from modeling of polygons and closed surfaces to simulating the interactions of matter and energy that give rise to images.

Prerequisites
COMP 235 or COMP 136

Approach
Lecture with about one programming assignment due every 2 weeks. Midterm exam. Probably no final since the last programming project is quite challenging.

Typical Text
Cornel Pokorny, Computer Graphics: An Object-oriented Approach to the Art and Science

Course Outline
Numbers in parentheses indicate approximate number of weeks

• Transformations, Projections, and Software (2)
  • review the mathematical tools of computer graphics and establish working assumptions for the course, including how objects will be represented, how images will be displayed, and what user interfaces will be used.

• Clipping (1)
  • intersection computations; clipping lines, polylines, and polygons

• Scan Conversion (1)
  • scan conversion; superposition; depth sorting; using a Z-buffer

• Lighting and Shading (2)
  • normal computation; ambient, diffuse, specular shading; lighting models: infinite, finite, spot; shading computations; effects of changing parameters

• Curved surfaces (1)
  • interpolation; control points; Bezier and Catmull-Rom curves; NURBS

• Parameteric solids (2)
  • solid object; computing normals; shading computations

• Ray Casting (1)
  • intersections with parametric solids; transparency

• Texture mapping/ bump mapping (1)
  • parameterizations, combining with shading and geometry

• Parallelism (1)
  • styles of parallelism; granularity; programming techniques

• Pixel-Planes and Pixel-Flow (1)
  • uses of paralellism; the expression tree; building a triangle; building an image

• Standards (1)
  • GKS, PHIGS, GL