1. Introduction and Overview
CSc 8820: Advanced Graphics Algorithms
Introduction and Overview
Lecture 01
CSC8820: Advanced Graphics Algorithms

2. Contact information
Office
34 Peachtree Street, Suite 1441
Office hour
Tuesdays 3 – 5pm or by appointment
When sending to me, please include “csc8820” in the subject line.
CSC8820: Advanced Graphics Algorithms

3. What this course is about
In-depth study of selected topics in computer graphics
Focus on essential techniques for real-time graphics application
Real-time rendering
Animation and articulated figures
Modeling
Visualization
Learn how to do research in the field of computer graphics.
This is not an introductory computer graphics course. We will not cover a little about everything. Instead we’ll cover a lot about a few things.
We will focus on real-time graphics techniques.
What is real-time? 30 frame per second or 60 frame per second
Along the way you’ll learn how to do research in computer graphics. For example, how to search literatures, how to read research papers, how to write papers, how to identify important research topics, how to identify open problems and select a subject. All of this is not limited to computer graphics and also can be applied to research in general.
CSC8820: Advanced Graphics Algorithms

4. What you are expected to get from this course
Obtain a general understanding of state of the art in rendering, animation, and modeling.
Obtain a general understanding of various advanced algorithms essential to real-time graphics applications such as 3D games.
Develop research, writing, and presentation skills.
Will also touch on advanced visualization techniques
Study one subject of 3D computer graphics research in depth.
Hands-on experience with 3D graphics tools or API.
You’ll have an idea what are the major research topics in the computer graphics research. What is the cutting edge technology?
What is advanced algorithms? More complex, make use of basic graphics algorithms, better quality visual effects.
CSC8820: Advanced Graphics Algorithms

5. Textbook
We will focus on recent research papers in 3D graphics and visualization.

6. Recommended references
Real-time Rendering, 2nd Edition, by Tomas Akenine-Moller and Eric Haines, A K Peters, Ltd., 2002 (ISBN )

7. Grading plan No Exam Grade Percentage The grading scale is as follows:
Class participation and discussion: 10%
Research paper presentation: 40%
Term project: 50%
The grading scale is as follows:
A: 90+ B: C:
D: 60 – 69
F: < 60

8. Project One programming project One modeling and animation project
One (semester long) research project
In-depth understanding of one subject in computer graphics
Learn how to do research in this field
Learn how to write a technical report (i.e. draft of a research paper)
Final report due at the end of the semester.

9. Research Project
I will provide a list of topics for you to choose from.
You may work on your own idea with my approval.
Start early
No group work. This is an individual project.
One presentation of the term project
Will be given in the last lecture

10. Homework Four homework assignments
Pick one research paper
Prepare a presentation
Present and discuss
Learn how to study and evaluate a graphics research paper
Learn how to make effective presentations.

11. Overview Introductions About this course Topics
Instructor TA
Who are you?
About this course
Topics
Overview of computer graphics research

12. Tentative topics Shading language Shadow mapping Shadow volume
Bump mapping and environment mapping
Displacement mapping
Water
Hair
Cloth

13. Tentative topics Human character animation Physics based animation
Terrain visualization
Behavioral animation
Game AI
Autonomous characters

14. What is Computer Graphics?
The word “Computer Graphics” means different things to different people.
3D computer graphics is about generating a 2D image from the definition and interaction of 3D geometry objects.
We will focus on real-time 3D interactive computer graphics
I.e. Techniques for 3D games & visual simulation
Images courtesy Discreet
Lord of the Rings
CSC8820: Advanced Graphics Algorithms

15. Major research areas Modeling Animation Rendering
How to create and store geometry objects
Animation
How to manipulate geometry objects
Rendering
How to generate and display images of geometry objects

16. Major conferences ACM SIGGRAPH (www.siggraph.org)
The single most important conference.
IEEE Visualization (vis.computer.org)
EUROGRAPH (
Graphics Interface
Computer Animation & Virtual World
Game Developer Conference
And many many more …

17. Journals and magazines
ACM Transaction on Graphics
SIGGRAPH papers will be published here.
IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics
IEEE Computer Graphics & Applications
Computer Graphics Forum

18. Journals and magazines
ACM Journal of Graphics Tools
Computer & Graphics
The Journal of Visualization and Computer Animation
The Visual Computer
Game Developer Magazine

19. How to search and find papers?
The most comprehensive database of CG publications
Most of the recent journal papers are online
Find them through GSU library web page: E-journal Locator
SIGGRAPH papers since 1974 are also online
Go to and search for “computer graphics” and then click on “computer graphics proceedings …”
IEEE Xplore, ACM digital library, SpringerLink

20. How to search and find papers?
Recent graphics papers:
Search by paper title on Google.
Find one of the authors’ homepage. They often have links to their papers.

21. Influential research groups
UNC Chapel Hill (rendering & animation)
Stanford University (modeling & rendering)
Microsoft Research (everything)
CalTech (modeling)

22. Influential research groups
MIRALab – U of Geneva (animation)
U of Toronto (animation)
SUNY Stony Brook (visualization)
UC Davis (visualization)
INRIA - France (everything)

23. Major companies Hardware Software NVIDIA (GeForce card, Cg)
ATI (Radeon card)
3D Labs (OpenGL, OpenGL Shading Language)
Apple
SGI (Visualization systems?)
Software
Microsoft (DirectX)
AutoDesk (3D Studio Max, AutoCAD)
ALIAS (Maya)
SoftImage (SoftImage)

24. Major companies Movie Game Other Pixar Industrial Light & Magic
Electronic Arts
Sony
Microsoft
Other
Adobe (2D graphics)
SUN (Java3D)