by asperling on November 18, 2014
There was an unexpected conflict with the versions of GLEW in the lab and what we provided in the 559_Tools zip earlier this year. This caused project 2 to not work on some lab computers even if your setup at home was correct. To ensure compatibility between home and the lab, follow these steps (on your home computer):
1. Redownload 559_Tools.zip
2. Place the “glew” folder in your “Program Files” folder, NOT “Program Files (x86)”. You should not do anything with FLTK or glm, those folders have not changed.
3. Redownload the project 2 framework code from the framework code page. It should now build and run both at home and in the lab.
by Mike Gleicher on November 15, 2014
Last week in class you learned about color, hopefully by reading and by hearing about it. You also learned what Project 2 will be, and wrote some shaders.
This week in class, there will be more guest lectures. You’ll learn about depth perception and virtual reality, and you’ll learn about visual effects. Again, in both cases, there will be guest lecturers who know a lot about graphics, so feel free to ask them questions!
There are no assigned readings for Tuesday and Thursday’s topics. However, this might be a chance to go and catch up on old readings. Or to find readings related to the things you want to do for the project.
For this week, there are two assignments due on Wednesday, November 19th:
Assignment 9a: Project 2 Checkpoint 1. This is a really important assignment to make sure you’ve started on project 2. This is your chance to tell us that you want to work with a partner.
Assignment 9b: Lecture topics. Some questions to remind you about what you learned about. With all the project stuff, you might be forgetting that there will be an exam, with material to stay on top of.
by Mike Gleicher on November 13, 2014
This video is an interview with Tony DeRose of Pixar who talks about how they make curved surfaces for movies. (i.e. Subdivision). It’s trying to be simplified, but it gives nice visual examples of how subdivision works, and actually shows an example of a convergence analysis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX0NB9IyYpU
by asperling on November 12, 2014
by Mike Gleicher on November 7, 2014
Last week in class week in class, we had a project due. There was also class lectures on subdivision and surfaces. If you didn’t look at the reading for last week, you probably want to.
For next week, there is an Assignment due on Shaders. We didn’t say too much about how to actually write the shaders in class, but there are lots of good resources – once you understand the basics of what is going on, which we did discuss in class. Adam, or any of the guest lecturers in class, can probably answer questions on shaders better than I. Remember, even if you are falling behind on project deadlines, you still should keep up on assignments.
In class next week, we’ll learn about Color. The guest lecturer is Danielle Albers Szafir. There are readings. You should read them.
Project 2 is coming soon. In fact, the posting has appeared. For the following week (Wednesday, November 19) , you will have to have started. So, you might want to look at the project now, and start to think about what you want to do and who you might want to do it with. (We are allowing students to work in pairs).
I will be out of the country for the week at a Data Visualization conference.
by Mike Gleicher on November 5, 2014
If you hand something in, and then change your mind and want to hand in an improved version later, you can do that. We’ll look at the last thing you turn in.
In the event that Moodle doesn’t let you change your submission, put it somewhere in AFS public and send email to Adam.
by Mike Gleicher on November 4, 2014
If you’re curious, you can look at the answer key for the midterm exam. We have not graded all the exams yet, but based on the first 20 exams (and this is not a random sample, so it might not reflect the class statistics) we see a reasonable distribution. The mean and median are in the 70s, and the high scores are in the high 90s.
We expect to give you your raw (numerical) scores next week (but it might be delayed slightly). We will give people an opportunity to check their exams, and will figure out the grading curve after that.
by Mike Gleicher on November 4, 2014
In the next few days, a bunch of postings about project 2 may start to appear on the web site. It’s a chicken and egg thing: I cannot write the “main part” unless there are the detail pages to refer to, and you cannot understand the details until you see the main part. So just ignore all the project 2 details until the main part is announced. You have enough other stuff to do, so I’d imagine this won’t be hard.
But to give you a sense of the timetable for class:
- Wednesday, November 5 – Project 1 is due. There is a no-cost extention (or grace period) for a few days if you qualify. Remember, there is a “help blackout” during the extension – if you need help, ask before then.
- Wednesday, November 12 – Assignment 8 is due. Note: you want to do this to make sure you understand shaders. Remember, the extension for project 1 requires you to keep up on assignments.
- Thursday, November 13 – Project 2 begins. Hopefully, you learned from this project that we are serious about not waiting until the last minute.
- Wednesday, November 19 – The first project 2 checkpoint will be due. You won’t have to do much, but we will make sure you have at least started.
Sometime during that time period, we’ll get exams back to you. (We’re focused on helping people with Project 1 right now – but we have an answer key and have graded roughly a quarter of the exams.
by Mike Gleicher on November 1, 2014
Last week in class we talked about real-time rendering tricks using texture, and introduced the graphics pipeline so you can start thinking about programming it. Of course, the main thing that you remember is probably the exam. Or Halloween.
For this week coming up, the big thing is Project 1. It’s due. There is a generous late policy, but you cannot do this project at the last minute.
In lectures, we’ll talk a little more about writing shaders. But then we’ll move quickly to talking about surfaces. And maybe meshes.
The Readings for this week are on smooth surfaces. The lectures will introduce the topic, so you can do the readings to get the details afterwards. It’s OK to delay reading these – but you will want to read them. Very useful for Project 2 and the final exam. But OK to wait until Project 1 is done.
by Mike Gleicher on October 30, 2014
Yes, you read it right. (if you read the previous post). The late policy for this project is extremely lenient. In return, we hope that you take the extra time to do extra cool projects. And that you’re understanding about delays we have in getting things back to you.