CMSC 427 - Computer Graphics

Lecture Notes

Fall 2001
This page has pointers to the material covered in each lecture and will be updated throughout the semester. The lecture notes appearing on this page are copyrighted by Amitabh Varshney, except for images that appear with appropriate credits. Use of these lecture notes by students of the class CMSC 427 at the University of Maryland is permitted for their educational purposes. Any other use requires permission of the author.

These course notes are visible only from umd.edu domains.

Aug 30
Discussion of course policies and course plan
Motivation, Overview
applications, pipeline
PDF (2), PDF (6)

Sep 4
Graphics Display Technology
human visual system, graphics hardware, vector/raster graphics
PDF (2), PDF (6)

Sep 6
Graphics APIs
OpenGL overview and Event-Driven Computing
PDF (2), PDF (6)

Sep 11
Designing Interactive Programs and Pixel Operations
GLUT overview, bitmaps, pixmaps, images
PDF (2), PDF (6)

Sep 13
Line Drawing
overview, algorithms
PDF (2), PDF (6)
Assignment 1 given

Sep 18
Polygon Filling
overview, algorithms
PDF (2), PDF (6)

Sep 20
Sampling and Filtering
Aliasing and Anti-aliasing, common effects and solutions
PDF (2), PDF (6)

Sep 25
No class because of tornado

Sep 27
Color and Transparency
color models, dithering, alpha-blending
PDF (2), PDF (6)
Assignment 2 given

Oct 2
Geometric Primitives and 2D transformations
lines, triangles, normals
translate, rotate, shear, scale, homogeneous coords
PDF (2), PDF (6)

Oct 4
2D and 3D Transformations
translate, rotate, shear, scale, homogeneous coords, normals
PDF (2), PDF (6)

Oct 9
3D Transformations and 3D Viewing
representation in OpenGL
viewing parameters
PDF (2), PDF (6)
Assignment 2 due

Oct 11
Review for Mid-term
sample exam, recap

Oct 16
Mid-Term Exam

Oct 18
3D Viewing
parallel and perspective projections
PDF (2), PDF (6)

Oct 23
3D Viewing and Picking
canonical view volumes and selection
PDF (2), PDF (6)
Assignment 3 given

Oct 25
Visibility and Cullings
depth cues, coherences, VFC, backface
PDF (2), PDF (6)

Oct 30
Visibility Determination
hidden surfaces, Z-buffer, other algorithms
PDF (2), PDF (6)

Nov 1
Illumination and Shading
Ambient, Diffuse, Specular Illuminations; Flat, Gouraud, Phong Shadings
PDF (2), PDF (6)

Nov 6
Textures
use, types, mappings
PDF (2), PDF (6)
Assignment 3 due, Assignment 4 given

Nov 8
OpenGL for Illumination, Shading, and Textures
overview of various OpenGL functions
PDF (2), PDF (6)

Nov 13
Ray Tracing
basic algorithm and efficiency measures
PDF (2), PDF (6)

Nov 15
Radiosity
basic algorithm and efficiency measures
PDF (2), PDF (6)

Nov 20
Modeling Overview
various approaches
PDF (2), PDF (6)

Nov 27
Curves and Surfaces
Bezier and B-splines
PDF (2), PDF (6)
Assignment 4 due

Nov 29
Volume Rendering
overview, applications
PDF

Dec 4
Other graphics primitives
points and images
PDF (2), PDF (6)

Dec 6
Virtual Environments
technology, applications
PDF

Dec 11
Wrap-up Review

Dec 14
Final Exam
8:00 - 10:00 AM
CSS 1113