There will be no final exam in this course.
Projects can be implemented in the UTCS computer labs or on your own machine.
You will work on five projects (these are subject to adjustment, along with their relative weights):
Project 1: Impressionist (~15%)
An interactive program that creates pictures that look like paintings.
Project 2: Ray tracer (~25%)
A recursive ray tracer for generating simple images that model reflection and refraction. You will work on this project with a teammate.
Project 3: Shaders (~15%)
A project to produce a number of visual effects using OpenGL vertex and fragment shaders.
Project 4: Animator (~20%)
An interactive modeling and animation system with a built in dynamic simulator. You will work on this project with a teammate.
Project 5: Final project (~25%)
Choose between a substantial extension to the ray tracer or the animator, or other suggested projects.
Projects will be graded during in-person sessions with the TA. During the grading session, the TA will run the project to make sure that it conforms to the project guidelines. The TA and/or Instructor will then quiz individual members of the team to determine how well they understand the structure of the code, the design trade-offs, and the implemented algorithms.
One grade will be assigned for all members of the team for the project's implementation. Separate grades will be recorded for each team member's "knowledge of the project." For some of the projects, the last component of the grade will involve using your project to create an artifact, hopefully, of some artistic merit. Extra credit will be given for the nicest artifacts, as determined by class vote.
Assignments must be turned in by 11:59pm on the due date to receive full credit. This means that the modification stamp on the electronic submission must be earlier than this time. Late assignments are marked down at a rate of 33% per day (not per lecture), meaning that if you fail to turn in an assignment on time it is worth 66% for the first 24 hours after the deadline, 33% for the next 24 hours, and it is worth nothing after that. In addition, no extra credit for bells and whistles will be awarded for any late assignment.
You are given a budget of 3 buffer days that you can spend as you see fit over the course of the semester to mitigate these late penalties. When you turn in your assignment, the due time will be subracted from the turnin time and you will be charged a buffer day for each 24 hour period or fraction thereof in this difference. Once your three buffer days are used up, late penalties will apply. You may choose to apply late penalties to an early project while you still have buffer days in order to save buffer days for a later project, but you must inform us when you turn in your project that you wish to do so.
Exceptions to these policies will be given only in unusual circumstances and only in advance.
There will be a small number of homework sets that will test your in-depth understanding of topics covered topics. You must work on the homework sets individually.
You are responsible for all material discussed in class, posted on the web site, and sent to the class email list. In particular, you are responsible for insuring that the TA has a valid email address for you, for reading your email daily, and for insuring that your mailbox does not overflow. You are responsible for following the course policies on collaboration and cooperation. You must provide at least two weeks advance notice to the instructor for any forseeable situation requiring special consideration from the instructor (e.g. religious holiday conflicts; disability accomodations, etc.)
As in all classes at UT, you are expected to abide by University standards of academic integrity. Please be sure you are familiar with these standards, and if you have questions about how they apply in this course, please ask the instructor before taking any questionable actions.
Feb 4, 2015 -- Last day to add a course. Last day to drop a course for a possible refund.(note that add/drop without approvals is Jan 23.)
March 30, 2015 -- Last day for grad students to change to/from pass/fail.
April 6, 2015 -- Last day for drops/withdrawals for undergrads with dean's permission.
May 8, 2015 (Last class day) -- Last day for drops/withdrawals with permission for graduate students.
The Dean may grant exceptions to these deadlines for substantiated non-academic reasons.
Acknowledgements: The syllabus and other materials for this course are largely adapted from Brian Curless' CSE 557 course at the University of Washington.