Graphics Course Group Status Report

1. Summary

The field of Computer Graphics continues to evolve at a rapid pace, fueled mainly by the research and development taking place in industry at companies such as Microsoft, SGI, SUN, PIXAR and ILM, just to name a few. In addition, graphics is becoming a ubiquitous tool in a variety of application areas because of advances in scientific visualization, virtual reality, and use of the web. We have evolved the curriculum continuously to keep pace with the rapid development of the field, the interests of the students, and the demands of the employers.

We have a four courses in graphics. The first three comprise a sequence in display and illumination algorithms, the fourth is in geometric modeling. Fitting all of the important graphics topics into these courses is a continual challenge. There is also need for a stand alone survey of computer graphics for those students not interested in going into the field in depth. The graphics faculty also offer research seminars that cover recent developments in Animation, Visualization, and Virtual Reality. Developing new advanced courses on these topics is a priority of the graphics faculty

The graphics curriculum satisfies many of the CSE and ABET objectives. As an application area, Computer Graphics is an area in which students can exercise the principles of software design, databases, algorithms, data structures and programming languages which they have learned in the foundation courses. The graphics courses rely heavily on the application of various principles from areas of mathematics such as vector algebra, affine transformations, linear interpolation, perspective and parallel projections, the use of interpolating splines, geometry, and trigonometry. The advanced graphics courses use material common to Engineering such as heat transfer theory to explain radiosity and Fourier analysis to explain aliasing. The graphics sequence is intimately concerned with developing the principles of physics into computational models for illumination and shading. User interface issues are a common theme which run through the graphics curriculum. Students who study graphics in the Department receive a good grounding in the area, are usually ready for graduate studies in graphics and are very employable.

2. Detailed Analysis

2.1 Summary of the courses

CIS681: Introduction to Computer Graphics is the introductory course to computer graphics. 681 takes the student up through 3D wire frame perspective display with clipping and then ends with an introduction to using OpenGL. 681 started out incorporating a lot of 2D graphics including some business graphics. Over the years, we have decided to concentrate more and more on 3D graphics and have dropped a fair amount of the 2D graphics in order to accommodate the advanced 3D material in the display sequence. Introducing OpenGL to 681 is a fairly recent development and has replaced an introduction to ray tracing which essentially duplicated material in CIS781.

CIS781: Introduction to 3D Image Generation is a survey of display algorithms and basic illumination and shading models. It concentrates on the two standard display algorithms: ray tracing and z-buffer. 781 also surveys several (6 or 7) other display algorithms so that the student knows the various approaches that have been used and why they are less desirable than the standard ones. The survey is also useful because it increases the student's geometric bag of tricks as they learn the many geometric computations that are employed in the various algorithms. In addition to display algorithms, standard shading and illumination models are surveyed including smooth shading and basic texture mapping.

CIS782: Advanced 3D Image Generation contains all of the most sophisticated display techniques including radiosity, speed-ups for ray tracing, basic anti-aliasing of visible surfaces and anti-aliasing of texture maps, an introduction to curves and surfaces, and various topics from computer animation, volumetric graphics, and scientific visualization.

CIS881: Geometric Modeling surveys the representations, generative procedures, manipulative operations, and data structures important in modeling geometric objects. Basic polyhedral constuction and manipulation operations are surveyed including extrusion, solids of revolution, sweep operations, Euler operations, boolean operations, lofting, rounding, simplification, subdivision, and skinning. The data structures covered are the basic vertex-face list and the Winged Edge data structures. Curves and curved surfaces form a major component of the course and include Hermite curves and Coons patches, Bezier, B-spline, and NURBS curves and surfaces.

2.2 Relation of the courses to the rest of the CSE program

2.3 Relation to CSE and ABET objectives

2.3.1 CSE Objectives

Objective 1.To provide graduates with a thorough grounding 
in the key principles and practices of computing, and in 
the basic engineering, mathematical, and scientific principles
that underpin them. Students will: 
  a.Demonstrate proficiency in the areas of software 
    design and development, algorithms, operating systems, 
    programming languages, and architecture. 
  b.Demonstrate proficiency in relevant aspects of mathematics, 
    including discrete mathematics, as well as the appropriate 
    concepts from physics and electrical circuits and devices. 
  c.Successfully apply these principles and practices to a 
    variety of problems. 

Objective 2.To provide graduates with an understanding 
of additional engineering principles, and the mathematical 
and scientific principles that underpin them. Students will: 
   a.Demonstrate an understanding of differential and 
     integral calculus, differential equations, physics 
     and several areas of basic engineering sciences. 
   b.Have the ability to work with others and on 
     multi-disciplinary teams in both classroom and 
     laboratory environments. 

Objective 3.To provide graduates with an understanding of 
the overall human context in which engineering and 
computing activities take place. Students will: 
  a.Demonstrate an ability to communicate effectively. 
  b.Obtain familiarity with basic ideas and contemporary 
    issues in the social sciences and humanities. 
  c.Obtain an understanding of social, professional 
    and ethical issues related to computing. 

Objective 4.To prepare graduates for both immediate 
employment in the CSE profession and for admission to 
graduate programs in computing. 
   a.A large fraction of graduates will be immediately 
     employed in high-technology companies that utilize 
     their computing education. 
   b.Strong graduates from the program will be prepared 
     to enter good graduate programs in CSE

2.3.2 ABET Criterion 3: Program Outcomes and Assessment

2.4 Feedback

2.5 Possible changes

Textbooks for the mainstream of Computer Graphics display and illumination are well-developed at this point and, while we continually fine tune, there are no major problems. Geometric modeling has few books which cover the range of topics which we include in our course, so the basic text is augmented by papers from the literature. Some of our seminars lack good texts, but papers from the literature are used effectively.

Many students take only one course in computer graphics in order to get some exposure to the technology. The first course of the sequence is CIS681. However, CIS681 was designed as the first course of a sequence of courses in image generation: CIS681-781-782. While CIS681 thoroughly examines the 3D display pipeline and the 2D display algorithms related to that, it lacks much of the practical considerations which might be valuable to a student entering the workforce at the undergraduate level. As a result, we are currently discussing the possibility of introducing a new introductory course in Computer Graphics which covers much of what CIS681 covers, while still providing for more consideration of such issues as OpenGL and Motif, as well as modeling and animation issues encountered in off-the-shelf software. This would give those students a more tailored and more complete introduction to the field by eliminating content which only serves to prepare them for the rest of the courses in the sequence. This would serve them better for using computer graphics in jobs and studies in which computer graphics is not their main responsibility.

Other possible courses which might be introduced are a course in Computer Animation and a course in Vizualization. Both are currently taught as seminars by the graphics faculty.

3. Conclusions

People involved in preparing report: Rick Parent, Roger Crawfis

Date of report: Feb. 8, 1999