Computer Graphics: 2009-2010

Information

Lecturer

Joe Pitt-Francis

Degrees

Part A — Honour School of Computer Science

Part B — Honour School of Mathematics and Computer Science

ECS Part II — MEng Engineering and Computing Science

Part B — Honour School of Computer Science

Term

Michaelmas Term 2009 (16 lectures)

Overview

This course is an introductory course in Computer Graphics, and covers a wide range of the field of interactive computer graphics at all levels of abstraction, and with emphasis on both theory and practise. It follows a standard textbook in the field, with additional material used to keep the course up-to-date.

Learning outcomes

Knowledge and understanding

Understanding of the fundamentals of the modern computer graphics pipeline
The mathematics of affine transformations in three dimensions
Manipulation of lighting effects Intellectual skills
Application of mathematics to graphics systems

Practical skills

Ability to program low-level scan-conversion of simple shapes
Working knowledge of a modern 3D graphics library via the practical assignments Transferable skills
Ability to produce usable graphics user-interfaces
Ability to write programs from a practical specification and produce realistic graphics output

Synopsis

The following are major topics that will be covered. (Numbers in brackets give an approximation to the number of lecture hours spent on the topic.)

Fundamentals of graphics hardware and software (2).
Raster graphics operations and techniques (1).
Essential algorithms: line generation, solid area display, transformations, clipping, projection (5).
Abstraction, and simple examples of libraries of graphics functions (2).
Modelling of 3-dimensional solids, and display of parametric curves (2).
Rendering techniques and colour and lighting models (3).
Input devices, interactive techniques, and the human-machine interface (1).

There is practical work to supplement the lecture material; the course does assume previous experience of practical programming in a high-level procedural language, and simple knowledge of matrices and vectors. The practicals themselves will be in Java.

Syllabus

The following are major topics that will be covered. (Numbers in brackets give an approximation to the number of lecture hours spent on the topic.)

Fundamentals of graphics hardware and software (2).
Raster graphics operations and techniques (1).
Essential algorithms: line generation, solid area display, transformations, clipping, projection (5).
Abstraction, and simple examples of libraries of graphics functions (2).
Modelling of 3-dimensional solids, and display of parametric curves (2).
Rendering techniques and colour and lighting models (3).
Input devices, interactive techniques, and the human-machine interface (1).

Reading list

The main course text is "Introduction to Computer Graphics" by J D Foley, A Van Dam, S K Feiner, J F Hughes and R L Phillips, Published by Addison-Wesley, at around £40.00.

Note that this is an abridged and updated version of "Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice" by Foley, Van Dam, Feiner, & Hughes, also available from Addison-Wesley for about £45.00. The latter could be used for the course, but the early editions contain some differences in the examples, exercises, and implementation language (Pascal).