Recent news

July 15:

• Retake results are available: click here.

July 2:

• Updated grade list, now including 'extra time' exams: download. Check carefully!
• Exam review ("inzagemoment"): Tuesday July 9, 14:00.
• Signing off for now, please feed the Caracal and see you sometime later!
  

June 29:

• Click here to obtain the retake assignment description.
• Deadline: July 12, NOON. Only for eligible students!
  

Course: "Graphics" is an introductory course about computer graphics. Computer graphics deals with the algorithmic processing of visual (images) and spatial (geometry) data. The course will focus on the very basics of modeling and rendering, i.e., the mathematical description of three-dimensional scenes and how to create (realistic) images of such models.

Rendering Algorithms: We have several options to convert the mathematical representation of a virtual world into a digital image. Modern games typically rely on the z-buffer algorithm. An alternative approach is ray tracing. In this course we will explore both methods. Ray tracing allows us to produce 'correct' images; rasterization lets us approximate this in real-time.

Math: An important aspect of computer graphics is the use of mathematics. This course provides a short coverage of the mathematical basics needed for rendering. We will introduce fundamental concepts of linear algebra and other areas of higher mathematics that are important far beyond the field of graphics.

The language for this course will be English.

The official schedule for this course is available on Osiris. Official course information via www.cs.uu.nl. And here is a list of participants.

Lecturers:

• Graphics theory: Jacco Bikker (j.bikker@uu.nl) 
  
• Mathematics: Debabrata Panja (d.panja@uu.nl)

Teaching Assistants:

Practicals

• Federico D'Ambrosio (AiO)
  
• Mark Dekker (AiO)
  
• Jan Posthoorn
• Willem Wijnia
• Iwan Boksebeld
• Niels Kwadijk
• Hugo Peters
  

Lecture:

• Tuesdays, 09:00h - 10:45h,
  Room EDUC-MEGARON and RUPPERT-BLAUW
  
• Thursdays, 13:15h - 15:00h,
  Room KBG-COSMOS

Practicals tutorial/consultation hours

• Math tutorials are offered after the math lectures (first three lectures and three lectures after the midterm exam).
• Working colleges take place after all other lectures.
  
• Room allocation for tutorials and practicals is complex; see schedule.

Below is a list of all lectures with a very brief summary of the topics, slides downloads, and recommended readings to prepare for the lecture.

Midterm Exam: Thursday May 16, 17:00-19:00 in EDUC-GAMMA.

What to study: Slides for lectures 1-6, suggested readings for these lectures, tutorials 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Final Exam: Thu June 27, 13:30-16:30, in EDUC-GAMMA.

Retake Exam: Thu July 11, 13:30-16:30, in EDUC-GAMMA.

Period 4 Schedule

Overview

During the course we will hand out tutorial sheets.

• The tutorials cover the mathematical aspects of the course.
• There will be several problem sheets throughout the semester. It is expected that you work on these at home and during the tutorial sessions. Please take this seriously! You will need the practice!
• The tutorials are a very good preparation for the midterm and final exam.
  Reading the textbook and attending the lectures is a good idea, but you can only be sure that you understood the material if you succeed in solving these problems. The problems in the tutorials will be very much like what you can expect in the written tests.
  

Assignment Sheets / Downloads

MATH TUtorials

During the course we will hand out tutorial sheets.

• The tutorials cover the mathematical aspects of the course.
• There will be several problem sheets throughout the semester. It is expected that you work on these at home and during the tutorial sessions. Please take this seriously! You will need the practice!
• The tutorials are a very good preparation for the midterm and final exam.
  Reading the textbook and attending the lectures is a good idea, but you can only be sure that you understood the material if you succeed in solving these problems. The problems in the tutorials will be very much like what you can expect in the written tests.
  

Assignment Sheets / Downloads

PRACTICAL ASSIGNMENTS

There will be three practical assignments, covering traditional rasterization algorithms, shaders and ray tracing. The first assignment will be online on Tuesday, April 23. We recommend that you start working on it right away.

Practicals tutorial/consultation hours

After each lecture, teaching assistants will be present in various rooms to help you with the mathematics and practicals. Please see the schedule for a list of available rooms for each week.

Important Rules

Because of the large group of students taking this lecture, we need strict rules to keep everything manageable.

• Working in teams: Programming assignments 2 and 3 are designed for groups of 2 students. Details:
  
  • Assignment 1: The introduction assignment is a solo assignment. You can find a partner for assignment 2 and 3 after doing this assignment.
  • Working alone: This year there is no penalty for working alone on the assignments. This is an experiment.
    
  • Building groups: You can choose your partner(s) yourself among your fellow students. If you can not find one on your own, contact one of the TAs during the practical consultation hours. They will help you to team up with other students.
  • If your partner drops the course: This is a risk of working in pairs. You may continue working with the materials that you produced together. You can however not continue working on these materials with a new partner.
  • Project team responsibility: it is up to you how you split the work among your team members. However, this freedom comes at the price that you have to be prepared for situations such as team members dropping the course or not delivering what they promised to you. It is your responsibility to make sure that you are aware of your team's progress, so you can react to such issues in an appropriate way.

• Rules for returning customers:

• You can not reuse your grades this year; we have new assignments.

• Plagiarism:

• We use an automated plagiarism system. Plagiarism will always be reported and may have severe consequences.

• Do not store your projects on github or share code in any other way. If your code is used by another team (e.g. in the future) you may be penalized as well. Sharing ideas is fine, of course.
  

• Exceptions to the rules:

• All exceptions require involvement of the study counselor, Corine de Gee (c.degee@uu.nl).
  

Soft- / Hardware and Infrastructure:

• Required equipment: For the practicals, you need a Windows PC with Visual Studio. The free Community Edition of Visual Studio 2017 is a good platform for C# development. We will be using OpenTK to access OpenGL from C#. This is also free software.
  
• Alternative platforms: For this course, support will be mostly limited to Microsoft Windows and C#. You may of course use alternative platforms and programming languages, but an appropriate level of autonomy is expected in that case.
  
• "Groep indeling" and TA-support: Respect the "groep indeling" on OSIRIS.
  
  

GRADING

Programming assignments: There will be three programming assignments throughout the course. The final grading P for your programming assignments is calculated as follows: P=0.2*P1+0.4*P2+0.4*P3. P must be at least 5.0 (before rounding) to pass the course.

Exams: There will be a midterm exam T1 and a final exam T2. The final grading T for your exams is calculated as follows: T = 0.3*T1 + 0.7*T2. T must be at least 5.0 (before rounding) to pass the course.

Final grade: If both T (= the grade for the written exams) and P (= the programming grade) are at least 5.0, the final grade for the course is (T + P) / 2. Your final grade must be at least 6 (after rounding) to pass the course.

RETAKES AND REQUIREMENTS

If you did not pass the course but your final grade for the course is at least 4.0 (before rounding), you are entitled to participate in a retake. This can either be a retake assignment or a retake exam.

Retake (exam) T3: This exam will cover all lectures and tutorials. The result from your retake exam T3 will replace the lower one of your original scores, will replace one exam grade in such a way that the positive impact on your final grade is maximal. I.e.: either T1 or T2 if and only if it improves your final grade. In most cases this will be T2, since this exam has a higher weight. Criteria for passing stay the same as indicated above (i.e. P and T must be at least 5.0 before rounding, and your final grade must be at least 6 after rounding). 

Retake (practicals): There will be one retake assignment that can replace either P2 or P3 if it improves your final grade. The topic for the retake assignment is decided on individually. To get your assignment and related deadlines, contact the instructor.

Exceptions: Exceptions to these rules in principle always require involvement of the study coach.

Results

To be released.

Textbook:

• The textbook of this course is Fundamentals of Computer Graphics by Peter Shirley et al. The course is designed based on the 4th edition of the book. Since the basics (which we are covering) did not change that much, older editions might work, too (no promises).
• Here is the web page of the text book.

Additional resources for the practicals:

Resources that might be helpful:

• A somewhat old ray tracing tutorial:
  Ray Tracing Topics & Techniques

Web references:

• Department website: INFOGR-2013/14
• 2013 Graphics course, by Wolfgang Hürst
• 2014 Graphics course, by Michael Wand
• 2015 Graphics course, by Jacco Bikker
• 2016 Graphics course, by Jacco Bikker
• 2017 Graphics course, by Jacco Bikker and Deb Panja.
• 2018 Graphics course, by Jacco Bikker and Deb Panja.

Old posts

June 28:

• Expect a more visual impression of P3 after the weekend.
• And here is the complete grade overview (v2), including the exam grade list.
• Version 2 does not yet include 'extented time' participants; will be added on Tuesday.
  

June 21:

• Slides for the final lecture, "Post Processing", now available.
• This year's practice exam is now available, along with solutions.
  
• The 2017 final exam and solutions.
• The 2018 final exam and solutions.
• NOTIFICATION, for who it concerns: retake exam grade replacement policy was changed.

June 18:

• Slides for the "Visibility" lecture now available.
• And the NeedToKnow on the same topic.
  

June 17:

• Final tutorial solutions are now available.

June 13:

• Slides and notes for the lecture on transformations now available.

June 11:

• Slides and notes for today's math lecture now available.

June 10:

• Math exercise sheet 6 and 7 have been added.

June 6:

• Slides and 'NeedToKnow' for lecture 10 ("Shaders") now available.

June 5:

• Minor fix to Tutorial 5.
• Updated anonymous P2 grade list.
  

June 4:

• Lecture 9 ("OpenGL") slides and NeedToKnow now available.
• Grades for assignment P2 are available. Media will follow later.
  

June 1:

• Updated assignment P3, now with honours challenge.

May 27:

• Assignment P3 is now available, along with fresh templates.

May 24:

• Slides for lecture 8 now available.
• Exam review for the midterm exam: Wednesday May 29, 14:45 to 15:45.
  

May 23:

• Schedule has been changed to accommodate the public transport strike on May 28.
• May 28: there will be an online working lecture on Slack, 09:00 - 13:00.
  

May 20:

• Various midterm materials: the exam itself and math answers.
• Tutorial sheet 5 is now available.
  

May 16:

• Anonymous T1 grade sheet is now available.

May 15:

• A minor update to tutorial sheet 4 (and answers) has been posted.
• Updated anonymous P1 grade sheet.
  

May 14:

• Slides & NeedToKnow for today's lecture now available.
• P1 grades now available: download. Use the code sent to you to find your result.
  

May 13:

• Finalize your midterm preparations:
• Check your answers to the official midterm practice exam
  
• Check your answers to last year's midterm.
• Check your answers to the midterm from two years ago.

May 9:

• Slides for lecture 6 can now be downloaded.
• NeedToKnow #3: ray tracing.

May 8:

• Tutorial 3 and 4 solutions can now be downloaded.
• Prepare yourself for the midterm exam with the official midterm practice exam!
• Or try last year's midterm.
• Or the one from two years ago. Solutions will arrive next week.
  

May 7:

• Lecture 5 slides have been uploaded.
• NeedToKnow #2: rasters, colors, rays.
  

May 6:

• Tutorial 1 and 2 solutions can now be downloaded.

May 3:

• Programming assignment 2 now available.

May 2:

• Slides and notes for the fourth math lecture now available.

Apr 30:

• Slides and notes for the third math lecture now available.

Apr 25:

• Slides and notes for the second math lecture now available.
• Tutorial exercise sheets 3 and 4 now available.
  

Apr 23:

• Slides for Jacco's introduction and Deb's first math lecture can now be downloaded.
• Lecture 0 'NeedToKnow' now available.
  
• Assignment 1 ("introduction") files now available.
  

Apr 17:

• Tutorial exercise sheet 1 now available.
• Tutorial exercise sheet 2 now available.

Apr 4:

• INFOGR2018 Slack channel now open: welcome! (uu.nl e-mail address required)

Feb 26:

• Initial version of this website.