2011/2012, 4th quarter, time slot B [CS site | OSIRIS]
INFOGR: Graphics
Wolfgang Hürst (WWW, Email),

Home | Schedule | Lecture | Tutorials | Practicals (forum) | Exams & grading

[Engels/English] "Graphics" is an introductory lecture about computer graphics. Generally, computer graphics deals with the representation and manipulation of pictorial data by a computer. One important aspect, which will be covered by this lecture, is the creation of realistic images based on 3D models. The course will start with a short coverage of the mathematical basics needed for computer graphics. Then, we discuss some fundamental techniques of modern computer graphics, such as transformations and projection of 3D models, hidden surface removal, triangle rasterization, shading, texture mapping, and ray tracing. We will also look into some advanced topics such as global illumination, radiosity, and shadows.

[Nederlands/Dutch] "Graphics" is een inleidende cursus over computer graphics. Computer Graphics houdt zich bezig met de representatie en manipulatie van beelddata door computers. Een belangrijk facet hierbij, dat wordt behandeld in deze cursus, is het maken van plaatjes van 3D-modellen. De cursus begint met een korte inleiding in de wiskundige basis welke voor computer graphics belangrijk is. Vervolgens bespreken wij enige fundamentele technieken van moderne computer graphics (b.v. transformatie en projectie van 3d modellen), hidden surface removal, triangle rasterization, shading, texture mapping en ray tracing. Wij zullen ook enige geavanceerde thema's behandelen, b.v. global illumination, radiosity en schaduwen.

Lecturer: Wolfgang Hürst (WWW, Email)
Tutorials: Peter de Waal (WWW, Email)
Practicals: Emiel Bon, Marries van de Hoef, Tim de Jager, Alexander van der Zalm, Bas Zalmstra
News:
  • [15.05.12] Recordings & slides from today's lectures are now online.

  • [13.05.12] Results from the first programming assignment have been emailed (check your cs student email account if you didn't get it, or look it up in this PDF using the usual password).

  • [10.05.12] Recordings & slides from today's lectures, the 3rd tutorial and comments to the second one are now online.

  • [09.05.12] Recordings & slides from yesterday's lectures are now online.

  • [07.05.12] Marries made an annotated version of the slides on shader programming. You can find them together with further reference material that might come in helpful at the top of the practicals page under the revised paragraph entitled REFERENCE MATERIAL. Notice that I also updated the phrasing in the schedule in order to avoid any confusions: Marries's talk is NOT part of the midterm exam. The exam covers the lectures about the theory (now entitled "Lecture 1" till "Lecture 5") plus the related tutorials ("Tutorial 1" till "Tutorial 3").

  • [03.05.12] The 2nd tutorial and comments to the first one are now online. I heard that there was some confusion about the TA sessions. TAs for the practicals take place in room BBL 175 (which is reserved for us Mon-Fri, 9-17h; TAs are present Mon, 11-13h, and Tue/Thu, 11-15h). TA sessions for the tutorials (exercises) take place Tuesdays after the lecture (11-12:45h) and Thursday before the lecture (13:15-15h). You can find the rooms on the CS site. Notice that for some days, the Thursday tutorials will be in a different room than usual. I'll upload Marries's slides from today's talk tomorrow.

  • [02.05.12] I forgot to give you the link to the movie clip that I showed during yesterday's lecture. Here it is: 3D Curves: Spiral. Thanks to Steven van Rossum, one of last year's students who made this animation.

  • [27.04.12] Just a reminder that we created a forum for the practicals where you can ask questions, post comments, etc. I recommend to follow it closely, since the TAs will also post tips, errata, etc. there that are related to the assignments. Because every registered user can post there, I won't announce changes here, so make sure to keep an eye on both this website as well as the forum.

  • [26.04.12] Slides and recordings from today's lectures and the first tutorial are now online.

  • [25.04.12]

    • Recordings from yesterday's lectures are now online.

    • The forum for the practicals is now online. I recommend registering and checking it regularly, because the TAs might post valuable tips & comments there.

    • Please notice that exam dates have changed. In particular:

      • The midterm exam is now one day later because it was scheduled on the same day as the datastructuren exam.
        The new date & time is Fri, 25.05.12, 09:00-12:00, EDUC-GAMMA.
      • The final exam is now two days earlier because the original room was too small.
        The new date & time is Tue, 03.07.12, 09:00-12:00, EDUC-GAMMA.
      • Notice that the date for the final datastructuren exam will change as well to avoid having two exams on one day.

    • Some people said that the registration for the course didn't work. I have no control over the system, but asked the people who have to increase the upper limit of participants. Things should be fine now. If not, let me know and I'll take care of it.

    • Finally, be reminded to search for a team mate for the practicals and to contact me if you have trouble finding s.o. or if you want to ask for any related exceptions. Notice that I will make the decisions about exceptions by the end of this week, so if you ask me later, changes that you get one are very low.
  • [24.04.12] It looks like there was a small bug in the file FrameRateCounter.cs from the first practical assignment (i.e. it used a different namespace than the namespace specified to use in the assignment). It should be fixed now. If you downloaded it before 24.4.12, 12:01PM, make sure to download the current (= revised) version. Sorry for the inconvenience.

    [24.4., 13:50, UPDATE] Slides are now online, cf. Lectures

    [24.4., 15:45, UPDATE] Because we didn't have these cases last year, I forgot to specify the critera for the practicals for students who do it the 2nd time. A related paragraph was added under "IMPORTANT INFORMATION", cf. Practicals, "STUDENTS DOING THE COURSE A SECOND TIME". If you have any related questions, please contact me. I can be rather flexible in these cases (but if and only if you let me know in time).

  • [23.04.12] The website is up and running. Lecture starts Tuesday, April 24, at 9:00.
    UPDATE: Info about the first programming assignment is now online. In tomorrow's lecture you will get the password for accessing the file.

Textbook:
We will use Fundamentals of Computer Graphics by Peter Shirley et al. as the textbook for the course. Note that this is the 3rd edition of the book. Since the lecture mostly deals with the basics (which didn't change that much), it might be ok if you use an older edition. I can't promise that I won't cover any of the "new stuff", but in general, you should be fine with the previous edition as well. Further info about the book's content (including list of errata) can be found on the book's web page, ed. 3 (or ed. 1&2).
Times and locations:
Times for lectures, practicals, and tutorials can be found under Schedule. Rooms are listed in Osiris and on the department's web site for this course. Please refer to the induvidual pages (i.e. Lecture, Tutorials, and Practicals for further details regarding these events.
Language:
Please note that for various reasons this lecture will be given in English. However, questions can be asked in Dutch and also the exam questions may be answered in Dutch (or English).
Previous years:
Information from previous years of this course can be found here: Be aware that changes to this year's lecture may apply.

Feedback:
If you have any questions, problems, recommendations, etc., please, do not hesitate to contact the instructor or any of the TAs.
(c) Wolfgang Hürst