Class activities will be recorded here.

This page has the entire plan for the semester. For weeks in the future, consider it a plan subject to change. For weeks in the past consider it a record of what we have done. As for the current week, keep a watch for updates and changes.

Links to individual lecture videos are posted once available and once this site is updated, usually the same day. The Echo360 Portal for this course will show a link for lectures as soon as they become available.

Week 1 : August 19 - August 25
  • Tuesday
    Introduction (video)
    In this lecture we will review the structure of the course and set the context for image formation.
    The first assignment has been posted.
    Thursday
    Overview (video)
    We take a first quick pass comparing and contrasting the perspective projection pipeline and ray tracing. Then we begin to discuss object modeling.
Week 2 : August 26 - September 1
  • Tuesday
    Modeling (video)
    Introduce different modeling approaches including polygons and constructive solid geometry. Begin the shift to discussing points, vectors, and transformations.
    Thursday
    2D Transformations (video)
    More fully motivate vectors and points, relate to affine and Euclidean spaces. Use this to then discuss centrality of dot product to measuring distance and in turn positions in space. From there work up rotation, other 2D transforms, and finally introduce homogeneous coordinates.
Week 3 : September 2 - September 8
  • Tuesday
    3D Transformations (video)
    Review 2D transformation questions from close of last lecture then introduce 3D transformations. Emphasis is on understanding rotation as the process of specifying orthonormal basis vectors.
    Thursday
    Perspective Projection (video)
    Introducing the orthographic and perspective projection and relating these to specific linear algebraic formlations.
    The first assignment is due Friday at 11:55pm
Week 4 : September 9 - September 15
  • Tuesday
    Cameras (video)
    The mathematics of placing a perspective projection camera in a 3-D world.
    Thursday
    Clipping (video)
    Before rendering/drawing objects in an image, it is important to clip away geomety (parts of objects) not visible to the camera. This is called Clipping and is described here. If time permits, we will also take a quick look at SketchUP as an example of a high quality 3D drawing program.
Week 5 : September 16 - September 22
Week 6 : September 23 - September 29
  • Tuesday
    Midterm 1
    On campus students will take this midterm in the normal class period. Off campus students (CS410DL) will be given passwords to access the midterm through RamCT and asked to take the exam within 24 hours of the on campus time.
    Here is the mideterm with answers.
    Thursday
    Shading Part 1 - Color (video)
    This lecture takes up the question of how light sources illuminate objects and as a starting point disucsses color, human perception of color, color display technology and color spaces
    Reading, Chapter 10 in text
Week 7 : September 30 - October 6
  • Tuesday
    Shading Part 2 - Lighting (video)
    Continuing the 2 part series on illumination, this lecture presents the three most common models for illumination: ambient, diffuse and specular
    Thursday
    Shading and Texture (video)
    This lecture shifts from illumination of a single surface point to painting values across projected surfaces. It then takes up the technique of texture mapping.
    Reading Chapter 11 in text
Week 8 : October 7 - October 13
  • Tuesday
    Texture and Planar Projection (video)
    Today we will pick up where we left off on Thursday disucssing texture mapping, then move to an advanced topic regarding planar projective projection. Something frankly anyone working with advanced treatments of texture should understand.
    Thursday
    Depth (video)
    Hidden surface revmoval based upon relative depth, and hence occlusion, is a key component of 3-D rendering. Today we work through the most essential ideas associated with depth and in particular Z-buffering
    Reading Chapter 8.2.3 on
Week 9 : October 14 - October 20
  • Tuesday
    Sketchup - 3D Modeling Live (video)
    Thursday
    Ray Casting (video)
    In this lecture we begin the real meat of ray casting/tracing by developing the means to compute ray-polygon intersections.
    Reading Chapter 4 up to 4.4
Week 10 : October 21 - October 27
  • Tuesday
    Ray Tracing (video)
    Continuing the explanation of ray tracing this lecture takes up the mechanics of shooting rays into a scene and collecting illumination values. With the introduction of shadowing and recursion the shift is made from Ray Casting to Ray Tracing.
    Thursday
    Ray Tracing Continued (video)
    This lecture continued the material in the packet from Tuesday and included a number of review items relating back to concepts introduced earlier in the semester.
Week 11 : October 28 - November 3
  • Tuesday
    Midterm Review (video)
    In this lecture we review for the midterm. A list of 38 things you now know has been prepared and will provide the basis for this review.
    Thursday
    Midterm 2
    The Midterm will be administered through RamCT. The Midterm on campus will be taken in CSB 110 in the normal time slot. Distance learning students have a 2 day window in which to take the midterm. The midterm is to be taken closed book, closed notes, closed Google, etc.
Week 12 : November 4 - November 10
  • Tuesday
    Midterm Wrapup (video)
    In this lecture we used the midterm as an opportunity to work problems and review material. In the last 15 minutes we began to set the state for ray-sphere intersection in a ray tracer.
    Thursday
    Ray Tracing Spheres (video)
    A once through explanation of the Ray Casting asssignment and a formal walk through of how precisely to handle sphere to ray intersections.
    Finish Cpapter 4.
Week 13 : November 11 - November 17
  • Tuesday
    Ray Tracing Recap (video)
    In this lecture we return to the lecture packet walking through the construction of a Ray Tracer and relate this to the Ray Casting programming assignment. Key details associated with developing the ray casting algorithm are worked through with examples.
    Thursday
    Introduction to Curves (video)
    This is our first lecture on curves. It introduces different general forms and move along to a full deriviation of the Hermite Curve. The lecture opens with a few remarks about writing and research.
    Reading Chapter 15 in text.
Week 14 : November 18 - November 24
  • Tuesday
    Fall Recess
    Thursday
    Fall Recess
Week 15 : November 25 - December 1
  • Tuesday
    Ray Tracing and Refraction (video)
    The fourth programming assignment is to add recursion and refraction to your ray tracer. In this lecture we work through refraction.
    Reading Chapter 13 in text.
    Thursday
    From Hermite to Bezier Curves (video)
    Bezier Curves follow naturally from Hermite Curves. They also fall out of a simple geometric construction. This lecture developes Bezier Curves from both perspectives.
    Reading Chapter 15 in text.
Week 16 : December 2 - December 8
Week 17 : December 9 - December 15
  • Wed.
    Final Exam - December 12th - 2:00 to 4:00 PM