This course is a graduate level exploration of topics relevant to the construction of realtime graphical simulations and video games. It includes an introduction to three scene-graph based graphical programming systems:

• Microsoft’s Direct3D
• Microsoft/SGI’s Fahrenheit
• Sun’s Java3D

Projects will be carried out by either individuals, or two-person teams. You may form your own teams, or (if requested) I will seek a partnership for you. The following projects are available. Others can be suggested by students, but these projects already have resources in place and are actually needed by someone.

1. 3D Camera and Stereolithography. Real 3D has donated a laser-based camera capable of capturing 3d imagery into Ray Dream Studio. This project will investigate the data formats produced by the camera and by Ray Dream Studio; the data formats used in stereolithography, and either locate or construct filters as needed to transform one format to another.


Application: Imagine a 3D camera located in a theme park. We want to be able to prototype the concept of "3d souvenirs". We have an actual theme park which is interested in this project. Software is needed which quickly previews the trinket, allows customers to specify colors, etc. We may be able to run an in-park experiment with this system in the fall semester.
 

2. Monkeys. N-space, one of Orlando’s most successful game production companies, has donated two "Monkey" input devices. These systems capture pose information on a small human figure and can control the positioning of a human avatar for keyframe animation. This project will investigate the data formats of the Monkey, its legacy software and how it might be used to drive models in the 3D Studio, Maya and Multigen systems.


Application: We want to be able to capture, store and playback a library of avatar motions such as walking, jumping, or hitting a baseball.
 

3. Urban Models. Can a city be grown from a seed? Clearly the popular program "SimCity 3000" provides an example. This project will investigate tools for constructing buildings on the basis of style models ("Give me a Frank Lloyd Wright-style three story administrative building of 24,000 square feet.")


Application: Creation of generic cities for military training applications.
 

4. MathEngine. If you’ve wanted to experiment with physical modeling, the MathEngine software (www.mathengine.com) gives us a giant head start. This software is free for use; one pays royalties if it is included in a product that earns money.


Application: Design a relatively simple interactive game (like asteroids, Pong or 3D billiards) and implement it with Direct 3D and MathEngine.
 

5. Hex Warfare. Many strategic war games use a 2d hexagonal grid as the battlefield. An upcoming project (for which we may win a funding contract) requires that we build a 2d "scene editor" that drives actual 3d terrain construction. You would grab a hilly-terrain hex from the toolbar, drag and drop it next to a series of river hexes. The 3d database would be automatically constructed, and then be viewable in three dimensions.

Week		Chapter	Topic	Activities
1	23-Aug	T1	Setup; Intro to C++	Discuss projects
	25-Aug	T2,P1	3D Graphics	Choose projects
2	30-Aug	T3	Intro to Direct3D
	1-Sep	T4	Direct3D Code
3	6-Sep	----	Labor Day Holiday	-------------------------
	8-Sep	P2	3D Max Introduced
4	13-Sep		Project 1-Lit Review & Requirements
	15-Sep		Project 2-Lit Review & Requirements		Pres 1
5	20-Sep		Project 3-Lit Review & Requirements
	22-Sep		Project 4-Lit Review & Requirements
6	27-Sep	T5,T6	Texture Mapping; Lights & Shadows
	29-Sep		D3D Show-and-Tell		Lab 1
7	4-Oct	x1	Simulation Cycle
	6-Oct	x2	Direct I/O
8	11-Oct		Proj. 1,2-Design Review	Midterm Exam:Out
	13-Oct		Proj. 3,4-Design Review		Pres 2
9	18-Oct	x3	Fahrenheit	<Guest lectures
	20-Oct	x4	Fahrenheit	<Guest lectures
10	25-Oct		3DMax Show-and-Tell	MTX back	Lab 2
	27-Oct	T7	Direct3D Frames (scene graphs)
11	1-Nov	x5	Java 3D	<Guest lectures
	3-Nov	x6	Java 3D	<Guest lectures
12	8-Nov	P5	Mesh Modeling Fundamentals
	10-Nov	P6	Mesh Modeling Tools
13	15-Nov	P7,P8	Patches and NURBS
	17-Nov	T8	Meshes in D3d
14	22-Nov		Project 1-Final Presentation
	24-Nov		Project 2-Final Presentation
15	29-Nov		Project 3-Final Presentation		Pres 3
	1-Dec		Project 4-Final Presentation
16	6-Dec	Final Exam

Referred to above as "T": Direct 3D Programming – Stan Trujillo – Coriolis Group Books, 1996.

Referred to above as "P": 3D Studio Max 3 Fundamentals – Michael Todd Peterson – New Riders, 1999

Expected Background.  The prerequisite is CAP4021 or CAP5725 or a machine vision course.You should have at least one of the following skills (so you don’t have to learn EVERYTHING from scratch).

• Visual C++ in the Windows environment
• Java via an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) - is there any other way?
• Computer graphics fundamental concepts (matrix transformations, primitives as in OpenGL)
• Some scene graph experience, e. g. with VRML

Resources. You will need access to a computer equipped with the following software:

Visual C++, Version 6.
Direct 3D
3D Studio Max, Version 3

You probably already have Visual C++ on your own computer; if not, get it! Direct 3D cannot be used without C++. Direct 3D is freely downloadable from the Microsoft site, and also installs from the CD that comes with the Trujillo book.

You don't need your own copy of 3D Studio Max, which is good because it costs around $1000 for students. And I do not encourage you to pirate it.

Grading.
 

Grading:	Presentation 1		10
	Presentation 2		15
	Presentation 3		20
	Lab 1		5
	Lab 2		5
	Technical Paper		20
	Final Exam		20
	Class Participation		5
			100

As you can see from the above, the two small labs and final exam play a relatively minor role in this project-oriented course, whereas the project’s presentations and technical paper add up to 65% of all the credit.

Mon & Wed – 5 to 6 PM (right before class)

Thurs – 2 to 3 PM

Others by appointment as needed
 
 

I have provided a syllabus/schedule above, which we will follow as closely as possible. If necessary we will modify the schedule and provide new copies. The key factor in getting the 5% "class participation" grade, as well as the 20% "final exam" grade, is that you must read the assignments before the class. Rather than lecturing my way through a lot of material, I will provide a set of Queries (questions) which you should answer while reading the appropriate chapters.

Then in class, we can discuss the subject matter by talking about your answers to the Queries. This gets your mind actively engaged in the subject matter and puts class in its proper place – as a "fill in the blanks" session rather than a long and probably boring solo by MY brain, while your brains think of beaches and beverages…..

After the lecture I will post a revised set of Queries. These contain written out answers to the questions which are based on information not found in the text. Such answers typically consist of added material that came up during the discussion. Do not rely on my updated Queries as your only set of notes on the course! They're just to provide some fill-in information.

This is a graduate course, and so you should be thinking "can I get a thesis topic out of this material?" Even if you are on the non-thesis track, you should be thinking "can I get a good demo out of this material, to excite a boss so I get hired to do fascinating work for BIG BUCKS.