CS 6620 - Fall 2012
Ray Tracing for Graphics (a.k.a. Advanced Computer Graphics II)
Example images generated by students who took this class in Fall 2012.
| Instructor: | Cem Yuksel (Office hours: by appointment, WEB 2686) |
|---|---|
| Time: | Tuesday & Thursday @ 3:40pm - 5:00pm |
| Location: | WEB 1248 |
Overview
This course covers fundamental concepts of rendering and ray tracing. Each student implements a ray tracer from scratch. With each project students add a new feature to their ray tracers. The related theory and implementation details are discussed in the lectures.
Course Objectives
The main objective of this course is to introduce students the fundamental concepts of image synthesis in computer graphics.
At the conclusion of this course students will be able to:
• Understand the stages of a general purpose rendering pipeline,
• Implement ray tracing for image synthesis and lighting simulation,
• Identify aliasing and sampling related problems in graphics, and
• Obtain the necessary background knowledge for following the state-of-the-art advancements in rendering related research in computer graphics.
Schedule
| Week | Date | Topic | Project Deadlines |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aug 21 | Introduction | |
| Aug 23 | Images and Transformations | ||
| 2 | Aug 28 | Camera Rays | Project 0 deadline - Scene Setup |
| Aug 30 | Ray Sphere Intersection | ||
| 3 | Sep 4 | Materials and Shading Models | Project 1 deadline - Ray Casting |
| Sep 6 | Lights | ||
| 4 | Sep 11 | Shadows and Reflections | Project 2 deadline - Shading |
| Sep 13 | Refractions | ||
| 5 | Sep 18 | Ray Plane and Box Intersections | Project 3 deadline - Shadows, Reflections, and Refractions |
| Sep 20 | Ray Triangle Intersection | ||
| 6 | Sep 25 | Space Partitioning | Project 4 deadline - Triangular Meshes |
| Sep 27 | Space Partitioning (cont.) | ||
| 7 | Oct 2 | Textures and Texture Mapping | Project 5 deadline - Space Partitioning |
| Oct 4 | Ray Differentials and Sampling | ||
| 8 | Oct 9 | — Fall Break — | |
| Oct 11 | — Fall Break — | ||
| 9 | Oct 16 | Antialiasing | Project 6 deadline - Textures |
| Oct 18 | Reconstruction Filters | ||
| 10 | Oct 23 | Depth of Field | Project 7 deadline - Antialiasing |
| Oct 25 | Motion Blur | ||
| 11 | Oct 30 | Glossy Surfaces | Project 8 deadline - Depth of Field |
| Nov 1 | Area Lights and Soft Shadows | ||
| 12 | Nov 6 | Monte Carlo Sampling | Project 9 deadline - Soft Shadows and Glossy Surfaces |
| Nov 8 | Ambient Occ. and Global Illum. | ||
| 13 | Nov 13 | Path Tracing | Project 10 deadline - Monte Carlo GI |
| Nov 15 | Guest Lecture: Peter Shirley | ||
| 14 | Nov 20 | Photon Mapping | Project 11 deadline - Path Tracer |
| Nov 22 | — Thanksgiving — | ||
| 15 | Nov 27 | Photon Mapping (cont.) | |
| Nov 29 | Final Gathering | ||
| 16 | Dec 4 | Adv. Global Illumination | Project 12 deadline - Photon Mapping |
| Dec 6 | Adv. Global Illumination (cont.) | ||
| Dec 14 | Final Projects | Final Project |
Projects
Students must prepare a project web page for each project (except for Project 0) that includes at least one image rendered using his/her project code, clearly showing that the requirements of the project have been completed. This web page can have multiple images showing different aspects of the project. Each image must also have a render time next to it (as well as hardware information). The images on the project web pages must be PNG or JPG. Students can convert the output images of their ray tracers using any image conversion software.
All project web pages of a student must be under the same web directory. The naming convention for the project web pages is prjN.html, where 1 ≤ N ≤ 13. Students should also prepare a 200x150 pixel thumbnail image for each project and put it in the same directory with the name convention prjN.jpg. For example, if the student's web directory is http://www.cs.utah.edu/~myname/courses/cs6620/, Project 1 submission should include:
http://www.cs.utah.edu/~myname/courses/cs6620/prj1.html and
http://www.cs.utah.edu/~myname/courses/cs6620/prj1.jpg
as well as all the files that are linked within prj1.html. Students should pick a directory before the Project 0 deadline.
Students must also submit their source codes for each project, which should NOT be included on the project web pages. Students are highly encouraged to use C++ for their projects.
Deadlines and Late Submissions: The deadline for each project is the class start time (3:40pm) on the date indicated on the schedule (see above). Each student is permitted 3 late submissions without penalty, provided that the project is submitted before the next class time. Additional late submissions suffer a 20% penalty applied at each following class time. No late submission is accepted for the final project without prior permission from the instructor.
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 with comments within the source code.
Grading
| Project 0 | 0 points |
|---|---|
| Projects 1-8 | 5 points |
| Projects 9-12 | 10 points |
| Final Project | 20 points |
| TOTAL | 100 points |
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.
2012 Teapot Rendering Competition Awards
Yang Shen
& Student Choice Award Jin Cui