1. Welcome to CS123!
Mechanics
9/4/2014

2. Your Staff Professor: Head TA: Undergraduate TAs, all 123 veterans:
Andy van Dam (avd)
Head TA:
Brandon Montell (bmontell), 2015
Undergraduate TAs, all 123 veterans:
Allison Hamburger (ahamburg), 2016
Ben Most (bmost), 2015
Joshua Lewis (jml16), 2015
Michael Murphy (mjm9), 2015
Veena Vignale (vvignale), 2015 – 5th year Masters
Vivian Morgowicz (vmorgowi), 2016
9/4/2014

3. Who Should Take CS123? Juniors or higher Sophomores
CS15-16, CS17-18, or CS19 and CS32
or equivalent, with strong software engineering skills (OO design and programming, debugging) – this is a projects-based “studio course”
Sophomores
did well in intro sequence
consider themselves strong programmers
willing to put in a bit of extra time up front (e.g., to learn C++)
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4. Requirements Info If you don’t know C++, you CAN take this class
C++ is Java + explicit memory management and some C grottiness
additional time investment required early on
C++ help session TONIGHT at 8:00 PM in Motorola (CIT 165)
CS123 Java to C++ transition tutorial on course website (docs page)
TAs can help you with C++ issues on hours
Linear Algebra (vector and matrix arithmetic, dot and cross products)
help session to review these concepts (later on in the semester)
Consider taking Philip Klein’s CS53, Directions: The Matrix in Computer Science
If you’re not sure you should be in CS123 or have not met the prereqs, stay after class and see Brandon or
9/4/2014

5. Bird’s Eye View of the Course (1/2)
Quick start: 2D and 3D graphics with OpenGL
2D raster graphics
2D modeling hierarchy
basic image transformations
Basic 3D scene management
tessellation of curved surfaces
transformations (translation, rotation, scale)
virtual camera model
Scene graph traversal
9/4/2014

6. Bird’s Eye View of the Course (2/2)
3D Modeling and Rendering – the core
intersecting rays with simple solids
ray tracing
lighting and shadowing of polygonal models
stochastic methods for photorealistic rendering
GPU hardware rendering (GLSL)
Other Topics
color theory
animation
user interfaces
9/4/2014

7. Workload We don’t want a killer course but it will be intense
Expect hours of work per week
Course is front-loaded, lots to learn in the first three weeks
Combining with another programming-heavy course (like CS33) is doable but can be challenging, especially for those who have only taken the intro sequence.
Final project doing shader programming on GPU
Expect to put in a fair amount of time during reading period
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8. Half Credit requirements
Each project will include a section called half credit requirements
Those taking cs1234 will need to complete these requirements
Those not taking cs1234 can use the requirements as additional extra credit
Expect 7-10 additional hours of work
CS1234 can be used as a capstone course
Half credit requirements can be be used to get grad credit
Do NOT show up at the class time listed on Banner for CS1234
Banner hack ;)
9/4/2014

9. Course Documents (1/3) Course missive (online) Course guide (online)
Assignment deadlines and lecture topics are subject to change
Responsible for info on course website:
Mailing list for course updates – mail will be sent to your Brown CS address
Course guide (online)
9/4/2014

10. Course Documents (2/3) Collaboration Policy
More types of collaboration allowed this year than last year
Allowed: discussion of solutions to written “algo” assignments (hand-ins must acknowledge collaboration that takes place), high-level design of programs
Not allowed: written notes from discussions with other students, detailed discussion of programs
This is different from rules in other courses.
Read collaboration policy carefully before you sign because it is a contract
MOSS – an AI program that is usually correct – we hand-check suspicious similarity
Typical verdict: directed NC and parental notification
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11. Course Documents (3/3)
Lectures posted online. You are encouraged to bring your laptops to read along and annotate lectures.
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12. The Book The textbook for this class is recommended, but not required
Most lectures will correspond to chapters in the book
An improved index has been linked on the site’s docs page
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13. Assignments 6 Programming Projects 10 Labs 1 Final Project
Three of which build up to a ray-tracing system
Additional requirements for half credit course
70% of final grade
10 Labs
Learn what modern graphics systems can do
Real-time computer graphics and GPU shaders
3D interaction and UI
10% of final grade
1 Final Project
Real-time project using GPU programming
You are strongly encouraged to work in groups of 2-3; 2 most common
20% of final grade
9/4/2014

14. First Assignment First assignment, Brush: warm-up exercise in C++
Out NOW
Start early, especially if you’re uncomfortable with C++
Bring questions to help session tonight
Algorithm assignment due Sunday, September 7 at 5pm
hand in (on paper) in the cs123 bin on the second floor of the CIT
no late hand-ins accepted
Program due Wednesday, September 10th, 11:59pm
9/4/2014

15. Projects Brush – a 2d drawing program (intro to C++)
Image created using brushes from the “Brush” assignment
Projects
Brush – a 2d drawing program (intro to C++)
Shapes – procedural geometry
Filter – image processing
Sceneview – 3d static scene viewer for OpenGL
Intersect – parametric shapes, ray-shape intersections
Ray – your own 3d rendering engine
Each project is preceded by a short “algo” assignment, which ensures that you understand the concepts behind the project before starting to code.
9/4/2014

16. Labs – Thursday 8:30-10:30pm, Friday 4-6
OpenGL 2D – build a simple pong game
OpenGL 3D – build an archery simulator
Animation – learn how to light and animate scenes with OpenGL
Terrain – generate a natural-looking world environment
Particles – render flame, fluid, non-rigid objects
Camtrans – create an OpenGL viewing camera
Shaders I – procedural texturing (snow, grass, etc.)
Shaders II – link C++ to shaders and implement Phong lighting
Shaders III – make objects look like glass and metal
Modeler – build a UI for composing a scene from primitive shapes
Lab assignments are due (checked off by a TA) before the next week’s lab
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17. Final Project Demos
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