• Set up your working environment at home
• Suggestions and comments about this course
• If you are a student with a disability and you need academic accommodations, please see me and contact the Disability Resource Center (DRC) at 993-2474. All academic accommodations must be arranged through the DRC.

CS 662 Computer Graphics Game Technologies (4:3:1). Prerequisite: CS 652 or CS 451 with a grade of B or better. Topics include advanced graphics methods in modeling, rendering, and simulation for games. The objective of this course is to teach CS students about basic knowledge and skills for creating 3D interactive game effects. Students are expected to complete a term project and to make an in depth presentation on a topic related to a game engine.

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There are all together 100 points:

• Homework assignments (20 points)
• Random in class quizzes (20 points)
• One game engine related review presentation (20 points)
• One game project (40 points)

Your overall course score, S, will be the sum of these points.

• A: S is at least 90 points
• B: S is at least 80 points
• C: S is at least 65 points
• F: S is less than 65 points

Each assignment may not be accepted if it is not turned in on time. Therefore, you should plan on working early. If you cannot finish your assignment, you should turn in your partial work. You should come to meet me or my TA during the office hours.

If there is an accident or emergency and you let me know, I will consider it accordingly.

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TEACHING ASSISTANT

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You may form into study groups, most of size 3. You can meet with your study group and discuss all homework questions freely and frequently in your group. However, you must do your own programs, assignments, and project. In short, collaborate freely, acknowledge all help and sources, and do your own work.

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Brian: 3D terrain rendering. Special effect: view dependent lighting, shading, texture mapping, and shadowing.

Danny: physically-based swing game.

Glenn: Asteroids -- spaceship shoots at asteroids that are moving around, and tries not to get hit by them. Special effect: HDR, shaders.

Jon, Stephen: GemBlo -- a set of shaped crystalline pieces that players have to fit into a playfield.

Scott -- Asteroids. Special effect, sound, explosion, HDR.

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SYLLABUS: (tentative)

1. Introduction

• Introduction to Cg programming
• Cg Home page: http://developer.nvidia.com/page/cg_main.html
• Alan Watt's COM4240: http://www.dcs.shef.ac.uk/intranet/teaching/modules/level3/com4240.html
• Alan Watt's COM4240 course notes: http://www.dcs.shef.ac.uk/~ahw/com4240/

2. Modeling and Rendering

• Some modeling techniques
• Rubik's cube: http://www.helm.lu/cube/cubcol/
• Per-Fragment phong shading: Alan Watt's Lecture 1
• Renderman's surface shader: http://www.fundza.com/rman_shaders/surface/sl_surface1.html
• Fake rim-lighting: http://www.fundza.com/rman_shaders/surface/fake_rim/fake_rim1.html
• Dynamic range: http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Glossary/Digital_Imaging/dynamic_range_01.htm
• High Dynamic Range: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_dynamic_range_imaging

3. Physically-based Modeling and Simulation

• Doug James: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~djames/pbmis/index.html
• A survey: http://parasol.tamu.edu/people/sthomas/talks/GPproject.ppt
• Gas: http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~gfx/Courses/2001/GfxSeminar.spring.01/PPT/fostergaspaper.ppt
• Spider: http://graphics.gmu.edu/spider/
• Water: http://www.vterrain.org/Water/
• Ocean Scene: http://meshuggah.4fo.de/OceanScene.htm
• Terrain Generation: http://www.vterrain.org/Elevation/Artificial/index.html

4. Fogs

• OpenGL blending
• Fog

5. Texture Mapping

• Alan Watt's Lecture 2
• Kurt Akeley, Pat Hanrahan: https://graphics.stanford.edu/courses/cs448a-01-fall/lectures/lecture11/advancedshading.2up.pdf

6. Shadows

• Shadow methods
• Alan Watt's Lecture 2

7. GPU Methods: efficiency, advanced mappings

• Alan Watt's Lecture 3
• Alan Watt's Chapter 5
• Parallax Mapping.
  • For fun-- why pigeons bob their heads: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_016.html
  • Kaneko, T., et al, 2001. Detailed Shape Representation with Parallax Mapping. In Proceedings of ICAT 2001, pp. 205-208.
  • Tatarchuk, N., 2005. Practical Dynamic Parallax Occlusion Mapping, Siggraph presentation.
• Relief Texture mapping
  • Manuel M. Oliveira: http://www.inf.ufrgs.br/%7Eoliveira/RTM.html

8. Game Effects
9. Animation
10. Virtual Reality
11. Final Project and Presentation

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• Alan Watt and Fabio Policarpo, Advanced Game Development with Programmable Graphics Hardware, A K Peters, Ltd., 2005. (Required.)

REFERENCES:

• CS 652 - Interactive Computer Graphics
• GMU Graphics Group
• GMU Graphics Research
• Alan Watt and Fabio Policarpo, 3D Games: Real-Time Rendering and Software Technology, Volume 1, Addison-Welsey, 2000.
• Alan Watt and Fabio Policarpo, 3D Games: Animation and Advanced Real-time Rendering, Volume 2, Addison-Welsey, 2003.
• Jim X. Chen and Edward J.Wegman, Foundation of 3D Graphics Programming Using JOGL and Java3D, 2006.
• Jim X. Chen, Guide to Graphics Software Tools, Springer Verlag, 2002.
• Mason Woo, Jackie Neider, and Tom Davis, OpenGL Programming Guide, Addison Wesley, latest version.
• Donald Hearn and M. Pauline Baker, Computer Graphics, C version, 2nd edition, Printice-Hall, latest version. 
• Edward Angle, Interactive Computer Graphics: A Top-Down Approach with OpenGL, Addison Wesley.
• Cornel Pokorny, COMPUTER GRAPHICS: an Object-Oriented Approach to the Art and Science, Franklin, Beedle & Associates, Incorporated.
• James D. Foley, Andries van Dam, Steven K. Feiner, John F. Hughes, Computer Graphics:Principles and Practice, Addison-Wesley 2nd edition.
• Grigore C. Burdea and Philippe Coiffet, Virtual Reality Technology, Wiley-Interscience, 2nd edition.

2006 by Prof. Jim X. Chen, Department of Computer Science, George mason University