Computer Graphics

Computer Graphics

This course provides a hands-on introduction to the fundamentals of computer graphics. You will learn concepts including ray tracing, texturing, and camera models. In the practical assignments, you will apply this knowledge to build your own ray tracer. The course culminates in a rendering competition, where students model a 3D scene and render it with their own renderer, competing to see who can make best artistic use of the tools they have built.

The first lecture is on Thursday, 16.10. at 08:30 in E1 3 HS 001

Pre-requisites

• Programming experience (assignments use C++)
• Basic knowledge of linear algebra and analysis

We will be using the university's GitLab (https://gitlab.cs.uni-saarland.de/) for the practical assignments.
A SIC account (https://sam.sic.saarland) is mandatory for that, so please make sure you can log into yours.

Format

The first half of the course (until the winter break) follows a non-standard format:

• The course is split into blocks, each lasting two weeks
• Each block comprises
  •   two lectures (Monday and Thursday of the first week),
  •   a practical assignment (graded),
  •   a reading assignment, and
  •   a mini-test (mandatory but ungraded)
• During the first week of each block:
  •   Monday, 10:15: lecture, practical assignments released
  •   Thursday, 08:30: lecture, reading assignment released
  •   Throughout the week: code interviews with your tutor about the previous assignment (mandatory)
• During the second week of each block:
  •   Monday, 10:15: mini-test, solutions for test and previous assignment are discussed, office hour
  •   Thursday, 08:30: office hour
  •   Sunday, 23:59: practical assignment deadline

In the second half, starting January, there are lectures every Monday and Thursday and no assignments (you will be working on the project and rendering competition).

Precise dates can be found in the calendar here on CMS (Information/Timetable at the top).

Practical Assignments

Assignments are posted on CMS every second week during the first half of the course. Assignments are mandatory (every single one must be submitted) and part of the final grade.

We allow students to submit in groups of two. These groups must be fixed before submitting the first assignment and cannot be changed later on.

Both team members are expected to fully understand all code. If, during code interviews, the tutor repeatedly notices that a student does not understand the submitted solution, further measures might be taken to ensure fair grading.

Mini-tests

Mandatory mini-tests are held every second Monday in the lecture hall. While these tests are not graded, students must submit a solution for every test to be admitted to the exam.
In justified cases, we allow students to submit test solutions via email to their tutor instead. Justifications include medical reasons and schedule conflicts. Students must notify their tutor and provide proof at least one week before the test.

Project and rendering competition

After the last practical assignment, you will work on the project and rendering competition. Both are mandatory and graded.

In the project, you extend your renderer by additional features of your choice. By implementing more features than required, you can obtain bonus points (with a soft-max limit). Ideally, you choose your features such that they benefit your rendering competition entry.

With the rendering competition, you will show that not only do you know how to write a renderer, but also how to use it to render an appealing, original scene. The competition will be graded based on completeness (creation of an original scene, rendering it, presentation via a webpage that describes the idea and methodology) and bonus points will be awarded to the top-ranking submissions (based on artistic merit as judged by a jury).

Grading

The final grade is computed as follows:

•  20% Project and rendering competition (minimum 50% to pass)
•  30% Assignments (minimum 50% to pass)
•  50% Final exam (minimum 50% to pass)

Bonus points: By implementing additional features or winning the competition, your points for the project can exceed 100%. These additional points are included in the total prior to weighting, i.e., the formula for the final grade is:

final = 0.2 * (project + bonus) + 0.3 * assignment + 0.5 * exam