CS 526 (A/D 588): Computer Graphics II, Spring 2002

Andy Johnson

Electronic Visualization Laboratory
2032 Engineering Research Facility (ERF) and 918 SEO

phone (EVL)  (312) 996-3002   email: aej at evl.uic.edu
fax   (EVL)  (312) 413-7585   WWW  : http://www.evl.uic.edu/aej

office hours: M/W 3:20-5:00, and by appointment

09090 Lecture - Monday / Wednesday from 2:00pm to 3:20pm in 316 Douglas Hall

TEXTBOOKS:

Game Programming Gems 2 575 pages (October 2001) Charles River Media; ISBN 1584500549	Inventor Mentor (release 2) 514 pages (March 1994) Addison-Wesley Pub Co; ISBN: 0201624958

SCHEDULE OF TOPICS TO BE COVERED:

Day	Topic	Events
1/7 1/9	Intro to the Class & Scene Graphs	1/9 project 1 out
1/14 1/16	Scene Graphs & OpenInventor	1/16 last day to drop / add course 1/16 presentation 1 assigned
1/23	Intro to video game history	-
1/28 1/30	Presentation 1	-
2/4 2/6	Presentation 1 - history 60s and 70s	-
2/11 2/13	Presentation 1 - history 80s and 90s	-
2/18 2/20	Project Presentations	2/18 Project 1 due, project 2 out
2/25 2/27	Presentation 2 - special topics	-
3/4 3/6	Presentation 2 - special topics	3/4 project 2 ideas due
3/11 3/13	Presentation 2 - special topics	-
3/18 3/20	Spring Break	-
3/25 3/27	Presentation 3 - current tech	-
4/1 4/3	Presentation 3 - current tech	-
4/8 4/10	Presentation 3 - current tech	-
4/15 4/17	Project Presentations	4/17 Project 2 due
4/22 4/24	final thoughts	-
4/30	Final Exam - 3:30 - 5:30 in EVL	Open book, Open Note

PREREQUISITES:

You must have passed CS 488 / EECS 488 (Computer Graphics I) to take CS 526. This class will use Open Inventor which is built on top of OpenGL for both of the programming assignments, and I will assume that you can do projects at the level of the final 488 assignment.

Standard departmental disclaimer: If you do not have the prerequisites for this course make sure that you drop this course right away. The department will verify the prerequisites for all students registered in this course during the first few weeks of the term and if you do not have the prerequisites, you will be notified and dropped from the course after the normal drop/add period. By that time, you will not be able to enroll in any new course.

OVERVIEW:

From the course guide: State of the art in computer graphics and interactive techniques: three-dimensional surface and volumetric models.

ATTENDANCE:

Attendance is very important, but not mandatory. Part of your grade will be based on your in-class participation (ie asking good questions, making good comments) so please take that into account.

I do make a habit of putting all of my notes on the web, these notes should not be considered 'official' until the day of class. If I make any major changes to a page afterwards, then I will announce it in class but note that at the bottom of each page is a modification date so you should be able to tell when the notes were last modified. I try to ensure that the notes on the web accurately reflect the lecture, but its what is discussed in class 'that counts', not whats written in the notes.

ASSIGNMENTS:

• Each student will mqke three presentations during the term.
• Each student will do two projects including two more short presentations during the term.

More on the paper presentations

• The presentations will be done individually, and are expected to be be professional - you don't need to dress up, but the A/V should be good, it must be rehearsed, and the audience should learn from the presentation.
• The regular presentations will be 25 minutes long with an additional 10 minutes of questions at the end, the project presentations will be 15 minutes long with an additional 5 minutes of questions at the end
• See the link on the course web site for the set of html files on how to give good presentations, so you know what I mean by a 'good' presentation.
• Whatever you do, don't read the paper to your audience.
• Be sure to have a backup plan in case the technology fails. I will never intentionally take away technology, but as in real life, technology fails, so be prepared.
• Presentation slots will be randomly assigned, you may trade slots with other students as you wish as long as both agree to the trade and you notify Andy about it at least a week in advance.
• If two people ask to present the same material then the first person who's email arrives to Andy wins.
• Everyone in the class is expected to read the appropriate material before coming to class so we can have a good discussion.

More on the projects

• There will be two programming projects in the class
• project 1 will introduce Open Inventor with a simulation
• project 2 will involve using project 1 as the basis for a game

EXAMINATIONS:

There will be an open-book final exam at the end of the term covering the material presented in class. This exam may be a written exam during the regular final exam period, or it may be a programming project due during the final exam period.

GRADES:

The final grade will be calculated as follows	%	Letter grades will be assigned as follows
Projects (15% each)	30%	A: 87% - 100%
Paper Presentations (10% each)	30%	B: 75% - 86%
In class participation	20%	C: 62% - 74%
Final Exam	20%	D: 50% - 61%
TOTAL	100%	E: 00% - 49%

Note: that you must get a passing (D or better) grade on _all_ projects and final to get a passing grade in the course.

Also note: I only give Incompletes for serious hospitalization issues which come up suddenly near the end of the term.

Also also note: I have no qualms about giving Ds or Es in a graduate level course, though the vast majority of the grades have tended to be As and Bs. I also have no qualms about failing graduate students for cheating - so be good.

last modified 4/24/02