CIS881: Geometric Modeling
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Topics: CIS881 covers geometric modeling from the programming/algorithm point of view. This quarter, I'm trying to shift the emphasis a bit in the course and introduce some new material at the end of the quarter. The material breaks down into three categories: data generation techniques; curves and surfaces; advanced modeling techniques. I'm not sure how the timing will work out so I don't know how far we'll actually get into the new material (which is mostly in the 'advanced modeling' category).

Lab: CIS881 basically has one quarter-long project that's done in stages. The objective is to develop a program with basic geometric modeling capability. There will be a basic point-line editing program given to you with a basic interface. This will use Motif and OpenGL. You will modify this for the project. As opposed to some of the other graphics courses, you will be more on your own in terms of design of the lab. I'll be looking for certain functionality but beyond that it's up to you how to implement your lab; there are no sample labs.

Homework: There will also probably be some homework assignments to make sure everyone understands the calculations described in the book. I haven't decided how much or how often. It will probably be pretty sporadic and mostly concerning curves and surfaces although there may be some which cover the reading material for the advanced modeling techniques.

 

List of Topics: Below is a list of topics that we will try to cover. We will probably not make it through all of the topics here. We WILL NOT cover Motif in class; you are expected to either know it already or pick up what you do need for the class on the fly. Most of what you will need is already demonstrated in the course software. This list is NOT in chronological order. It almost is, but because of the way in which I'll need to time the topics in order to present material for the labs, I'll need to rearrange some things. See the schedule for my current best guess of the ordering.