Instructor

Matthias Zwicker
Office hours: Friday 3:00pm-4:00pm, 4114 EBU3B

Teaching Assistant

Wojciech Jarosz (cse168-ta(at)graphics.ucsd.edu)

Lectures

MW 5:00-6:20pm, 2204 WHL

Discussion Section

Monday 10:00-11:00, EBU3B b250

Lab Hours

Monday/Thursday 11:00-12:30, EBU3B b250

Mailing List

cse168(at)graphics.ucsd.edu
Visit http://graphics.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/cse168 to view more mailing list options.

Webboard

A webboard for the class has been set up. To access it go to http://webboard.ucsd.edu and use your network (e-mail) username and your PID as the password.

Book

Peter Shirley, "Fundamentals of Computer Graphics", AK Peters 2002 [Errata]

Useful book on geometry, ray intersections, transformations etc.
Philip Schneider and David Eberly, "Geometric Tools for Computer Graphics", Morgan Kaufmann 2002

More advanced text on global illumination and photon mapping
Henrik Wann Jensen, "Realistic Image Synthesis Using Photon Mapping, AK Peters, 2001

Slightly dated, but still a very comprehensive overview of image synthesis
Andrew Glassner, "Principles of digital image synthesis", Morgan Kaufmann, 1995

Additional notes

Ray tracing document

Course Objective

This course will cover the basic algorithms used for computer graphics rendering. The course will have four programming assignments in which the students will implemeent a ray tracer with acceleration structures, and advanced rendering capabilities such as Monte Carlo ray tracing and photon mapping. At the end of the course the students should be able to write a ray tracer, able to handle different types of geometry efficiently, capable of choosing good acceleration structures, have basic knowledge of shading models such as the Lambert and Phong models, knowledge of texture and bump mapping techniques (possibly mipmap filtering), basic knowledge of sampling and filtering, global illumination and photon mapping, and an idea of more advanced topics such as programmable graphics hardware.

Contents

The ray tracing algorithm, camera models, geometry intersection, geometry tessellation, acceleration structures, shading models, texturing, bump mapping, sampling and filtering, and a brief introduction to advanced topics such as Monte Carlo ray tracing and/or programmable graphics hardware.

Grading

This is class is for 4 units. It will be graded based on four programming exercises (including a final project) and a midterm. The grading for the projects are: 1 (20%), 2 (20%), 3 (15%), 4 final project (30%), midterm (15%)

Programming Assignments

The miro base code is available for Windows and OSX/Linux. It includes a README.pdf that should help answer most questions you might have. If there's still something confounding, email Wojciech.

Programming assignment 1 [PDF] Due 4:30pm, Monday, April 17 (image gallery)
Programming assignment 2 [PDF] (new basecode) Due 4:30pm, Monday, May 1 (image gallery)
Programming assignment 3 [PDF] (new basecode, mip-mapping document, extras, bump textures) Due 4:30pm, Monday, May 15 (image gallery)
Programming assignment 4 [PDF] Due 7pm, Monday, June 12
For additional inspiration check previous years' entries:

• Rendering competition 2003.
• Rendering competition 2004.
• Rendering competition 2005.

Here are some other object files in OBJ format which you can use in your assignments:

• teapot.obj
• sphere.obj
• bunny.zip
• sponza.zip
• budda_smooth.zip
• dragon_smooth.zip

Photon Map implementation from Realistic Image Synthesis Using Photon Mapping.

Useful Resources

Ray Tracing News

Schedule