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.

Note that due to ongoing Corona restrictions, INFOGR takes place on TEAMS. Please join is there!
The information on this website is static; announcements and updates will be on Teams.

This course will be taught in English.

Lecturers:

•   Tamara Mchedlidze (t.mtsentlintze@uu.nl)
  
•   Evanthia Dimara (e.dimara@uu.nl) 
  

Teaching Assistants:

•   Theo Harkes (a.t.harkes@uu.nl)
•   Ilan Hartskeerl (i.hartskeerl@uu.nl)
•   Julius de Jeu (j.p.dejeu@uu.nl)
•   Joep Kneefel (j.p.kneefel@students.uu.nl)
•   Karel Kubat (k.l.kubat@uu.nl)
•   Niels Kwadijk (n.kwadijk@uu.nl)
•   Hugo Peters (h.a.peters@uu.nl)

Math Tutorials:

•   Sarita de Berg (s.deberg@uu.nl)
•   Fernando Lucatelli Nunes (f.lucatellinunes@uu.nl)

Practicals:

•   Jacco Bikker (bikker.j@gmail.com)

Period 4 Schedule

• You are supposed to work alone on the exercises, for the reason that they prepare you for the exam, which is also individual.
• You should finish the exercises for a lecture before the tutorial session on that lecture. So, for example, on May 6 you should have finished all exercises on Lecture 1.
• Presence at the tutorial sessions (Thursdays at 13:15-14:15) is mandatory. During the session, we will ask randomly chosen students to explain how they solved the exercises. There is no need to prepare slides or anything for this, the idea is that you just shortly explain your solution, for example using the Teams blackboard function, or just in words.
• If you are asked and you are not there or have not done the exercise, there will be a penalty of 0.5 to your final exam grade (T).
• You can ask questions about the exercises in the Math tutorials channel on Teams. Post your question as: @Math tutorials: ‘question’, if you want to ask your question to the students, or @Fernando @Sarita: ‘question’, if you want to ask question specifically to the tutorial organisers. Make sure your question is concise and suitably specific. We cannot help you if you just state ‘I do not understand this exercise’.
• We will (generally) look at the Math tutorials channel to answer questions on each working day at 9:30 and 16:00.
• If you did not manage to do one or more of the exercises, you can let us know by posting in the Math Tutorials channel what you did not manage to do. We will take this information into account when randomly selecting students to present. We will only accept this information till Wednesday evenings. If you could not do the exercise for personal reasons (and not because the task was too difficult) please contact Sarita and Fernando by email.

PRACTICAL ASSIGNMENTS

There will be two practical assignments, covering traditional rasterization algorithms, shaders and ray tracing. A tutorial that prepares you for these assignments will be online on the first day of the course. We recommend that you start working on it right away.

Important Rules

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

• Working in teams: The two programming assignments are designed for groups of two students. You may however also work on the assignments alone. Details:
  
  • Working alone: This year there is no penalty for working alone on the assignments. It is however not allowed to work in a team of three or more students.
    
  • 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 online assistance sessions. 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.

• 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.
  

Soft- / Hardware and Infrastructure:

• Required equipment: For the practicals, you need a Windows PC with Visual Studio. The free Community Edition of Visual Studio 2019 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: Feel free to ignore this. We do.
  
  

GRADING

Programming assignments: There will be two programming assignments throughout the course. The final grading P for your programming assignments is the average of the two grades for the assignments: P = (P1+P2)/2. 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. 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.

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.
• 2019 Graphics course, by Jacco Bikker and Deb Panja.
• 2020 Graphics course, by Jacco Bikker and Michael Behrisch.