Course Content

What is the content of this course, or more formally, what are the expected learning outcomes?

Computer graphics is a huge field that is impossible to cover entirely in just one semester. Instead we will concentrate on the subset that the lecturer finds most interesting, interactive 3D graphics.

By the end of the semester you should understand and have some practical experience with:

• The differences between various fields within computer graphics, such as between interactive and batch rendering
• The capabilities of various types of display technologies and devices used in computer graphics
• The design and implementation of interactive graphical programs, such as visualisation systems, simulators, games, and virtual reality
• The basics of 2D raster image processing: resolution, color spaces, blending, and program manipulation
• The basics of 3D graphics: coordinate spaces, transformations, geometry, texture mapping, and real time lighting
• Event driven user input programming and different styles of user interaction

If you choose to continue in computer graphics, this will serve as a solid foundation to build upon. Or at the very least you should know where you are going and what to do next.

How will it be taught?

This course will mostly be hands-on, learning by doing (experiential) rather than theoretical. We will be writing many small programs to test various concepts and techniques. If you ask "what would happen if I did this?" the most likely answer will be "try it and see."

Computer graphics is not a subject for those who seek after timeless wisdom and certainty. Most questions have at least two 'right' answers, and there are usually at least two ways of doing anything. Both the assignments and exam will require you to consider alternatives, make decisions, and justify your choices.

There will be a lecture session and a computer lab each week. The plan is that each lecture will cover one or two topics or problems. The textbook will be used as the basis for a discussion in more detail of a particular topic and how it applies to this course. The labs will be based around modifying or writing small programs to gain practical experience.

(Bring your friends. I have no objection to people who are not enrolled in the unit attending lectures, provided they don't disturb anyone.)

No lecture notes will be provided. The textbook will cover most of the material and you will learn much more if you make your own notes rather than simply download mine. (Some lectures will cover material that isn't in the textbook: I will provide an outline for those.)

Programming assignments will be half your assessment for the course. These will be marked by demonstration of the visual display and user interaction, not by handing in code listings. This is not a programming course so you won't primarily be assessed on good coding style or lack thereof, but students who use the techniques taught elsewhere at DCS will finish assignments faster and more easily.

I can't force you to attend lectures and labs, but you should. If you really prefer learning on your own, or can't attend any or all of the lectures/labs, please contact me to discuss other arrangements.

The final exam will be the other half of your assessment. It will not involve any programming. Instead it will be orientated around discussion of particular aspects of computer graphics, for instance the advantages and disadvantages of 8 bit and 24 bit image formats for texture mapping. (Don't worry if you don't understand what those terms mean, you will by the end of semester.)