CS-543 Course Syllabus

	Department of Computer Science Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Course Title:	Computer Graphics
Course Number:	CS-543
Semester	Fall 2015

Meeting Info:	Wednesdays, 6:00pm-8:50pm, Fuller Labs (FL), Room 320

Instructor:	Prof. Robert W. Lindeman
E-Mail:	gogo at wpi.edu
Office:	FL-B24b
Telephone:	x6712

Textbook:	Angel, E., Shreiner, D., Interactive Computer Graphics: A Top-Down Approach, 7th Edition, 2015, Pearson, ISBN: 0-13-357484-9 Read each chapter during the week it is assigned. The book discusses much more than I can cover in class, and I will cover things not in the books. You must come to class prepared!

Course Objectives:

This course is designed to give you an appreciation for the complexity involved in representing scenes (called modeling) and then drawing them using the computer (called rendering). The topics covered here have been the source of much excitement in the field of CS, in part due to the instantaneous feedback you get while creating programs that do these sorts of things, partly because of the trade-offs one must make in order to balance realism with modeling and rendering time, and partly because of the ability to "show off" what you have created to others.

There are several objectives for this course:

Understand and apply various methods for describing objects for graphical rendering
Understand the way that light interacts with objects within an environment, and apply them to object coloring
Understand and apply the mathematical underpinnings of affine transformations
Understand and apply the subtle yet powerful notion of coordinate spaces, and hierarchical scene structures
Understand the rendering pipeline, appreciate what each step does, and why it is important
Gain proficiency with WebGL and the OpenGL graphics library, as examples of how these concepts can be implemented
Do some cool stuff!

Grading:

50%	Projects
25%	Midterm Exam
25%	Final Exam

Projects:

The assignments for this course consist of several programming problems. The programming assignments are designed to supplement the theoretical foundations established in the lecture with practical experience. The assignments for this course are very demanding, and will require a lot of time. On the flip side, most people enjoy the assignments in this course, so it should be okay.

Each assignment is to be done individually, though discussion about different approaches is encouraged (more about this below).

Late Policy:

Assignments are due at the specified date and time.
Late assignments will be penalized 10% for each 24-hour period after the due date/time. You will be given adequate time to complete each assignment, if you start when it is assigned. Assignments will be turned in electronically, and the date/time received will be used to determine any late penalty.

Exams:

All exams will be closed book and closed note. If you read the book, keep up with the assignments, ask questions in class, and study hard, you should have no problem with the exams. Participation in the exams is mandatory. See the instructor if you expect not to be available on the exam dates.

Office Hours:

You do not need an appointment to come to office hours; just show up and take your turn. Office hours are an important way for you to get help or to discuss anything you have on your mind. I am there to help you; that is an important part of my job, so please make good use of these hours. Here is a link to my weekly schedule, including office hours. Feel free to come by during free times in my schedule, if you need to.

General:

Questions and discussion are highly encouraged throughout the lecture hours. The best way to reach the instructor is by using e-mail.

Class Conduct:

This course is intended for serious students. Participants will be expected to adhere to all rules of professional behavior. As such, students are expected to discuss their work with each other, but are also expected to do the work by themselves. Any breach of professional ethics as evidenced, for example, by copying exams or assignments, downloading code from the Internet, cooperating in more than discussions and study groups, or misusing computer resources, will be considered adequate reason for an F in the course. It is to be emphasized that knowledge of material and professional behavior are tied together; failure in one of them negates any excellence in the other. Students who stay in the course past the first three days agree to adhere to the strictest rules of professional behavior.

The official WPI statements on Academic Honesty can be accessed at http://www.wpi.edu/offices/policies/honesty.html. Those who have any doubt about what that means, and fail to gain that understanding after a discussion with the instructor, are encouraged to drop this class. Remember this warning - any breach of ethics will give you an F for the course.

Course Schedule:

Week	Dates	Lecture Topic	Materials	Book Chapters	Projects
1	09/02	Introduction. Getting your feet wet with WebGL.	Course Intro Slides WebGL Intro Slides	Ch. 1-2	Project 0 ASSIGNED Project 1 ASSIGNED
2	09/09	Animation & Input	Image Formation Slides Pipeline Intro Slides WebGL Program Structure Slides WebGL Complete Programs Slides	Ch. 3	Project 1.1 DUE
3	09/16	Geometry	Shaders Slides Points, Scalars, Vector Slides 3D Modeling Slides 2D Transformation Slides 3D Transformation Slides	Ch. 4	Project 1.2 DUE
4	09/23	Transformations; Viewing	WebGL Transforms Slides Applying Transforms Slides Camera Positioning Slides Camera Control Slides Viewing Projections Slides	Ch. 4 & 5
5	09/30	Viewing; Lighting	Illumination & Shading-I Slides Shading-II Slides Viewing Projection-I Slides Viewing Projection-II Slides	Ch. 5 & 6
6	10/07	Shading; Projections; Meshes	Mesh Slides	Ch. 6	Project 1.3 DUE
7	10/14	MIDTERM EXAM
8	10/21	NO CLASS! SEMESTER BREAK!
9	10/28	Mapping Techniques	Fractals & IFS Slides	Ch. 7	Project 2 ASSIGNED
10	11/04	Mapping Techniques	Cliff's Mapping Slides Mapping Slides Emmanuel's Mapping Slides	Ch. 7	Project 2: PREP WORK DUE
11	11/11	Rasterization, Hidden Surface Removal, & Clipping	Acceleration Structures Slides	Ch. 8	Project 2: New Work DUE
12	11/18	Rasterization, Hidden Surface Removal & Clipping; Hierarchy	Hidden Surfaces Slides Rasterization Slides	Ch. 8 & 9	Project 3 ASSIGNED
13	11/25	NO CLASS!! THANKSGIVING!			Project 3: PREP WORK DUE (Tuesday)
14	12/02	Clipping; Curves & Surfaces	2D Clipping Slides 3D Clipping Slides Curves & Surfaces Slides	Ch. TBD
15	12/09	Advanced Topics; Final Review			Project 3: New Work DUE
16	12/16	FINAL EXAM