Program Overview

Course Overview

The goal of this course is to expose students to a wide range of state-of-the-art research, techniques, and systems in the field of computer graphics. The format of the course will consist of weekly seminars, where each student will be responsible for presenting 3-4 seminars and participating in seminars other than their own. There will be no exams. Students will be graded on the quality of their presentations and accompanying write-up as well as their participation in classroom discussions.

Topics

Students are free to select any topic found in current graphics literature for their presentations. This may focus on a single algorithm, a comparison of algorithms, or an overview of a topic, language, or system. The text introduces a wide range of these topics and can be used as a foundation for the presentation or as a lead to more specific journal or conference articles.

Sample Topics

• Modeling non-rigid objects
  • Modeling natural phenomena
  • Grammar-based modeling
  • Evolutionary procedural modeling
• Particle systems
• Finite element methods in graphics
• Visualizing multivariate data
• Antialiasing
• Surface/light interactions
• Forward or backward ray tracing
• Coherence in ray tracing
• Flow visualization
• Volume visualization
• Graphics architectures
• Graphics languages
• Object-oriented graphics
• Topics in computational geometry
• Efficiency and complexity issues in graphics algorithms
• Graphics and human perception
• Molecular graphics
• Fractals and chaos
• Turbulence
• Radiosity
• Interactions in virtual reality
• Texture mapping
• Animating position, speed, or orientation
• Animating articulated structures
• Shadows
• Morphing
• Multimedia

Presentation Format

Students must come prepared with transparencies, slides, videos, handouts, and any other instructional aid determined to be useful in presenting the material. Computer demonstrations are encouraged for applicable topics. The presentation should last approximately 45 minutes, followed by questions and informal discussion.

Other Guidelines

In choosing a topic, students might want to consider an area in which they already have some interest and/or knowledge to help them quickly focus their efforts. Each student should include a reading list in their presentation for those interested in pursuing the topic further. A minimum of 20 hours is expected to be spent preparing each talk. Each write-up, consisting of a 1-3 page summary of the presentation, should be turned in within 2 weeks of the corresponding talk.

Text Resources

• Text books
• Journals
• Conference proceedings
• Articles referenced in previous talks

Software Resources

• Convert: converts images between various formats
• Libsx: library which facilitates use of X
• AVS: commercial visualization system
• IRIS Inventor: commercial class library for 3-D graphics
• OpenGL: 3D graphics language
• IBM Visualization Data Explorer: commercial visualization system
• Renderzb: simple z-buffer implementation
• Rayshad: simple ray tracer for ellipsoid objects
• Show_img: simple viewer for .img files
• XmdvTool: visualization package for multivariate data
• Xgrabsc: allows grabbing a section of an X window and storing it
• Xwd/xwud: allows grabbing or displaying a complete X window
• Xv: general-purpose image display tool
• Animate: create animation sequence
• Mpeg_encode: create an MPEG animation
• Mpeg_play: play an MPEG animation