Crowd Simulation (INFOMCRWS) - Course Introduction Wouter van Toll November 13, 2017

INFOMCRWS: Course Organization Course website http://www.cs.uu.nl/docs/vakken/mcrws/ Latest news Schedule Literature downloads Assignment details Secret page November 16, 2018 INFOMCRWS: Course Organization

INFOMCRWS: Course Organization In this presentation Lecturers Course motivation Course overview Assignments November 16, 2018 INFOMCRWS: Course Organization

INFOMCRWS: Course Organization Lecturers Who do we think we are? November 16, 2018 INFOMCRWS: Course Organization

INFOMCRWS: Course Organization About us dr. Wouter van Toll Lecturer Geometric algorithms Game programming Did PhD research on this topic Supervised by Marc van Kreveld and... dr. Roland Geraerts Assistant Professor Taught this course often Supervised many students Did PhD research on motion planning November 16, 2018 INFOMCRWS: Course Organization

INFOMCRWS: Course Organization About you Who’s following the GMT master? Who’s about to choose a thesis project? What do you expect from this course? Who has exciting hobbies? November 16, 2018 INFOMCRWS: Course Organization

Course motivation Why does this course exist? November 16, 2018 INFOMCRWS: Course Organization

INFOMCRWS: Course Organization Why this topic? Path planning / Crowd simulation Many open questions Touches many disciplines of computer science Computational geometry, AI, Animation, Software architecture, ... Important research topic in this department PhD and MSc projects Software Demo! November 16, 2018 INFOMCRWS: Course Organization

INFOMCRWS: Course Organization Why this topic? Interest from the industry Real-world questions lead to research November 16, 2018 INFOMCRWS: Course Organization

INFOMCRWS: Course Organization Learning goals Become an expert on path planning and crowd simulation Know about history + state of the art Know where the remaining “gaps” are Analyze / solve difficult problems in a game context Further improve your academic skills Become a critical reader Give good presentations Participate in discussions November 16, 2018 INFOMCRWS: Course Organization

INFOMCRWS: Course Organization Course Overview What are you going to do? November 16, 2018 INFOMCRWS: Course Organization

INFOMCRWS: Course Organization Main components Read and discuss state-of-the-art research papers Prepare abstracts before every session Give a presentation about 1 paper Other assignments to get hands-on experience Find errors in games Implement a crowd simulation game No exam, but mandatory attendance November 16, 2018 INFOMCRWS: Course Organization

Schedule (simplified) Week 46: Introduction lectures Path planning / Crowd simulation Week 47: Workshops Crowd simulation software / Giving presentations Week 48: Presentations of Assignment 1 by you Weeks 49-51 and 2-4: Paper presentations by you Exception: Workshop on A* Search Week 4: Presentations of Assignment 2 by you Week 5: Nothing! (Exam week) November 16, 2018 INFOMCRWS: Course Organization

Presentation and abstracts Main component of the course November 16, 2018 INFOMCRWS: Course Organization

INFOMCRWS: Course Organization Paper presentation We’ve chosen 20 papers on various subtopics They will be presented by you (in the given order) 2 per day, starting in December Each presentation takes half a session You can choose your favourite paper (1-20) First come, first serve Papers 1-($nrStudents-20): Teams of 2 Other papers: Individual November 16, 2018 INFOMCRWS: Course Organization

INFOMCRWS: Course Organization Paper presentation Guidelines Summarize the paper’s contents (10’) Give a critical review of the pros/cons (15’) Lead a group discussion, answer questions (15’) Grading criteria Thoroughness, accuracy, criticality Ability to answer questions & lead discussion Overall presentation quality 15% of your final grade November 16, 2018 INFOMCRWS: Course Organization

INFOMCRWS: Course Organization Abstracts Before each presentation session: Read both papers Write an abstract for one* of them Write 3 critical questions for both of them Components of an abstract Short summary Critical assessment Limitations Surprising elements Mistakes / Pitfalls? November 16, 2018 INFOMCRWS: Course Organization

INFOMCRWS: Course Organization Abstracts Hand in (1-page PDF) via Blackboard Deadline: the corresponding morning, 9.00h Graded (0-5) on accuracy / criticality 10 of these assignments in total (1 per session) 40% of your final grade November 16, 2018 INFOMCRWS: Course Organization

INFOMCRWS: Course Organization Assignment 1 Find errors in games November 16, 2018 INFOMCRWS: Course Organization

INFOMCRWS: Course Organization Assignment 1 Study crowd simulation in a modern game Look for problems, or try to trigger them yourself Poor collision avoidance Poor group coherence Bad handling of dynamic changes Make videos of the problem(s) Show your results in a presentation (Week 48) 3 slides: Game info, Problem description, Analysis Around 5 minutes per presentation, including videos November 16, 2018 INFOMCRWS: Course Organization

Assignment 1: Examples https://youtu.be/ABJjdpxeMtE https://youtu.be/IZpgMnu_lAk November 16, 2018 INFOMCRWS: Course Organization

INFOMCRWS: Course Organization Assignment 1 Learning goals Be critical about the state of the art Analyze problems, think about possible solutions It doesn’t matter that you’re not an expert yet :) In teams of 2 10% of your final grade Deadline: November 24, 17.00h November 16, 2018 INFOMCRWS: Course Organization

Assignment 2 Implement a crowd simulation game November 16, 2018 INFOMCRWS: Course Organization

INFOMCRWS: Course Organization Assignment 2 Create your own computer game that contains (crowds of) navigating characters Should solve at least 1 problem from Assignment 1 Use Unity and the UU Crowd Simulation plug-in Demo/Workshop next week, to get you started Weekly support hour The rest is up to you! You can use third-party assets etc. if you credit them November 16, 2018 INFOMCRWS: Course Organization

INFOMCRWS: Course Organization Assignment 2: Examples November 16, 2018 INFOMCRWS: Course Organization

INFOMCRWS: Course Organization Assignment 2 Learning goals Solve difficult problems Experience the complexity yourself It’s difficult to simulate the behavior you want In teams of 4 35% of your final grade Presentation: January 24 Deadline (game + report): January 26, 17.00h ...but start early! November 16, 2018 INFOMCRWS: Course Organization

INFOMCRWS: Course Organization Grade overview November 16, 2018 INFOMCRWS: Course Organization

INFOMCRWS: Course Organization Bonus assignment Organize a well-conducted flash mob Replay a game situation from Assignment 1 Film the event and people’s reactions Hand in a movie and a small document You’re encouraged to work together Can earn all participants 0.5 bonus points Deadline: February 1 November 16, 2018 INFOMCRWS: Course Organization

INFOMCRWS: Course Organization Closing comments */ November 16, 2018 INFOMCRWS: Course Organization

INFOMCRWS: Course Organization Blackboard All deliverables are assignments on Blackboard Hand in digitally before the deadline You can view your grades there as well November 16, 2018 INFOMCRWS: Course Organization

INFOMCRWS: Course Organization How not to fail You pass the course if you have: a final grade of >= 5.5 handed in Assignments 1 and 2 handed in at least 8 of the 10 abstracts successfully given your paper presentation missed at most 4 sessions from the schedule November 16, 2018 INFOMCRWS: Course Organization

INFOMCRWS: Course Organization How not to fail In short: active participation Mandatory attendance 4 papers / 2 abstracts per week Mandatory assignments It’s hard work, but (hopefully) fun! Room for creativity Room for improving your academic skills November 16, 2018 INFOMCRWS: Course Organization

INFOMCRWS: Course Organization The final slide Questions so far? ? Contact info Wouter van Toll W.G.vanToll@uu.nl www.uu.nl/staff/WGvanToll Office: BBG 4.19 (Mon-Thu) November 16, 2018 INFOMCRWS: Course Organization