| Instructor: | Cem Yuksel (Office hours: by appointment, MEB 3116) |
|---|---|
| Time: | Tuesday & Thursday @ 2:00pm - 3:20pm |
| Location: | WEB L110 |
| Contact: | cs6610@googlegroups.com (includes instructor & TA) |
| TA: | Siddhant Ranade |
| Office Hours: | Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays: 1pm to 3pm |
Overview
This course covers the fundamental concepts of interactive (and real-time) rendering. The topics covered in this course are directly related to any application domain that displays 3D information, ranging from video games to interactive visualization. This is a project-heavy course with multiple programming assignments.
Interactive rendering often relies on the GPU hardware to perform most of the rendering-related tasks. Therefore, this course will cover topics related to GPU programming for interactive rendering. The examples that will be covered in this course will use the OpenGL API and the OpenGL Shading Language (GLSL), but students are permitted to use other fundamental graphics API like Direct3D or Vulkan for their projects.
The Canvas page for the course will be primarily used for project submissions, announcements, and discussion board.
Course Objectives
The main objective of this course is to introduce students the fundamental concepts of interactive rendering in computer graphics.
At the conclusion of this course students will be able to:
• Understand the stages of the interactive graphics rendering pipeline,
• Effectively use OpenGL and GLSL,
• Write complex GPU shaders, and
• Implement modern interactive rendering methods.
| Week | Date | Topic | Project Deadlines |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jan 7 | Images and Transformations | |
| Jan 9 | Rendering Algorithms | ||
| 2 | Jan 14 | The Graphics Pipeline | |
| Jan 16 | Introduction to GLUT & GLFW | ||
| 3 | Jan 21 | Introduction to Modern OpenGL | Project 1 deadline - Hello World |
| Jan 23 | Introduction to GLSL | ||
| 4 | Jan 28 | Lights and Shading | Project 2 deadline - Transformations |
| Jan 30 | The Rendering Equation | ||
| 5 | Feb 4 | Textures | Project 3 deadline - Shading |
| Feb 6 | Textures (cont.) | ||
| 6 | Feb 11 | Render to Texture | Project 4 deadline - Textures |
| Feb 13 | — TA lab session — | ||
| 7 | Feb 18 | Environment Mapping | Project 5 deadline - Render Buffers |
| Feb 20 | Reflections | ||
| 8 | Feb 25 | Shadows | Project 6 deadline - Environment Mapping |
| Feb 27 | Shadow Mapping | ||
| 9 | Mar 3 | Geometry Shaders | Project 7 deadline - Shadow Mapping |
| Mar 5 | Final Project Discussions | ||
| 10 | Mar 10 | — Spring Break — | |
| Mar 12 | — Spring Break — | ||
| 11 | Mar 17 | — No Class — | |
| Mar 19 | Tessellation Shaders [1] | Final Project Proposal deadline | |
| 12 | Mar 24 | Bump, Normal, Displacement, and Parallax Mapping | |
| Mar 26 | Mesh Shaders [2], Compute Shaders, and Selection | Project 8 deadline - Tessellation | |
| 13 | Mar 31 | Global Illumination and Ambient Occlusion | |
| Apr 2 | Light Mapping and Soft Shadows | ||
| 14 | Apr 7 | Deferred Shading | Final Project Progress Report deadline |
| Apr 9 | Transparency and Alpha Blending | ||
| 15 | Apr 14 | Volume Rendering | |
| Apr 16 | GPU Ray Tracing | ||
| 16 | Apr 21 | General Discussion | |
| Apr 23 | — | — | |
| Apr 24 | Final Project Presentations Time: 1:00pm-3:00pm | Final Project deadline - Final Project |
Projects
Students must submit their source codes for each project through Canvas. Students are highly encouraged to use C++ for their projects.
Deadlines and Late Submissions: The deadline for each project is at noon (12:01pm) on the date indicated on the schedule (see above). Late submissions suffer a 20% penalty and an additional 20% penalty is applied on each following class day at noon. Therefore, a project that is submitted two weeks after its deadline can only receive up to 20% of its total points. If a project is submitted more than two weeks later than its deadline, it will receive no points. To accomodate special circumstances, first three late penalties (i.e. up to 60% late penalty) of each student will be omitted. No late submission is accepted for the final project without prior permission from the instructor.
Project submissions are handled through canvas.
All projects are individual projects. Group projects are not permitted. Therefore, each student must write his/her own code. Collaboration between students is encouraged, but code sharing is not permitted. External libraries and source code can be used only for additional functionalities that are not core parts of the projects, and they should be clearly indicated in comments within the source code and in the project report.
Failure to follow these rules may lead to a failing grade. Academic misconduct will not be tolerated. See the Academic Misconduct Policy of the School of Computing for details.
Grading
| Project 1-3 | 5 points |
|---|---|
| Projects 4-8 | 10 points |
| Final Project Abstract | 5 points |
| Final Project Progress Report | 10 points |
| Final Project | 20 points |
| TOTAL | 100 points |
School of Computing Policies and Guidelines
The School of Computing Policies and Guidelines represent important information that students taking courses in, or seeking degrees from, the School of Computing, must be aware of. It is important that you read, understand, and adhere to this information.
Safe Classroom Environment
In this class, derogatory comments based on race, ethnicity, class, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, (dis)ability status, age, citizenship, or nationality will not be tolerated, nor is it permissible to state one's opinion in a manner that silences the voices of others. Further, egregious disrespect, including, but not limited to, racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia, transphobia, classism, etc. will not be tolerated.
University of Utah Disability Accommodation Policy
The University of Utah seeks to provide equal access to its programs, services, and activities for people with disabilities. If you need accommodations in the class, reasonable prior notice should be given to the Center for Disability Services, 162 Olpin Union Building, 801-581-5020 (V/TDD), http://disability.utah.edu/. CDS will work with you and the instructor to make arrangements for accommodations.
University Safety Statement
The University of Utah values the safety of all campus community members. To report suspicious activity or to request a courtesy escort, call campus police at 801-585-COPS (801-585-2677). You will receive important emergency alerts and safety messages regarding campus safety via text message. For more information regarding safety and to view available training resources, including helpful videos, visit safeu.utah.edu.
References