Program Overview

CS 543, Computer Graphics, Fall Semester 2006

The Computer Graphics course, CS 543, was offered in the Fall Semester of 2006.

Lectures

Lectures took place in FL 320 on Tuesdays from 6pm to 8:50pm.

Instructor

The instructor for the course was Prof. Emmanuel Agu, located in FL-139. Office hours were held on Tuesdays from 5-6PM, with additional hours available by appointment.

Text

The primary text for the course was "Computer Graphics using OpenGL (second edition)" by F.S. Hill Jr. Supplemental texts included "OpenGL Programming Guide (4th Edition)" by Woo, Neider, Davis, and Shreiner, and "OpenGL Reference Manual (4th Edition)" by Shreiner.

Facilities

Students were allowed to complete assignments in C/C++ and could choose to develop their code on either Unix or Windows. However, the final executable was required to run on the WPI CCC Unix machines, with clear instructions provided on how to run it.

Grade Policy

The grade policy for the course consisted of 50% exams (2 exams) and 50% assignments (5 projects).

Notes

• Reading was mandatory, and working ahead was encouraged.
• Exams were based on both lectures and readings, making class attendance strongly encouraged.
• Working and discussions in pairs were allowed, but each student was required to turn in unique projects.
• Cheating was strictly forbidden, with penalties including a zero grade for the assignment or exam and an academic dishonesty report filed with the Office of Student Affairs.

Projects

There were five projects in the course:

1. One project in 2D and interaction
2. Three projects in 3D
3. One project in raytracing

The 3D projects involved modeling and rendering an airplane to help Boeing design its new range of aircraft. Students were required to model their aircraft design using basic shapes and could choose a fixed configuration of components.

Schedule

The course schedule included the following topics and due dates:

• Week 1: Overview, graphics intro, basic HW/SW, OpenGL/GLUT intro
• Week 2: 2D systems, window-to-viewport mapping, clipping, fractals, points, scalars, vectors
• Week 3: 3D transformations and coordinate systems, 3D modeling
• Week 4: 3D modeling using polygonal meshes, synthetic camera, 3D viewing, view volume, and projection
• Week 5: 3D clipping, illumination, shading
• Week 6: Texturing, hidden surface removal, shadows
• Week 7: Midterm exam
• Week 8: Raster graphics
• Week 9: Curves, color spaces, ray tracing
• Week 10-14: Ray tracing and final exam

Assignment Submission

Assignments were required to be archived using the Unix tar command and emailed to the instructor. Both executable and source code were to be turned in, with instructions on compiling and running the program, and well-documented code. Insufficient documentation would result in a loss of points.