Course pages 2019–20
Further Graphics
Principal lecturer: Dr Alex Benton
Taken by: Part IB CST 75%, Part II CST 50%
Past exam questions
No. of lectures: 8
Suggested hours of supervisions: 2
Prerequisite courses: Introduction to Graphics
This course is a prerequisite for: Advanced Graphics
Aims
This course explores the modern state of computer graphics, applying long-standing techniques to cutting-edge hardware.
Lectures
The order and content of lectures is provisional and subject to change.
- Ray Marching. Signed distance fields and GPU-based realtime rendering. [1 lecture]
- Implicit surfaces. Organic and soft surface modelling. [1 lecture]
- Computational Geometry. Mathematics of surfaces. [1 lecture]
- Bezier curves and NURBS. These points of data make a beautiful line. [2 lectures]
- Subdivision Surfaces. Smooth modeling of continuous surfaces. [1 lecture]
- Global Illumination. Realistic global lighting techniques. [1 lecture]
- Virtual Reality. Technology and best practices for an emerging medium. [1 lecture]
Objectives
On completing the course, students should be able to
- use graphics hardware to render interactive images, both polygonal and implicit;
- understand the core technologies of ray tracing, rendering, and implicit surfaces;
- learn techniques of computational geometry and their applications to visualization;
- describe the underlying theory of splines and subdivision and define the Catmull-Clark and Doo-Sabin subdivision methods;
- understand several global illumination technologies such as radiosity and ambient occlusion;
Recommended reading
Students should expect to refer to one or more of these books, but should not find it necessary to purchase any of them.
* Shirley, P. & Marschner, S. (2009). Fundamentals of Computer Graphics. CRC Press (3rd ed.).
Watt, A. (2000). 3D Computer Graphics. Addison-Wesley (3rd ed).
Hughes, van Dam, McGuire, Skalar, Foley, Feiner & Akeley (2013). Computer Graphics: Principles & Practice. Addison-Wesley (3rd edition)
Akenine-Möller, et. al. (2018). Real-time rendering. CRC Press (4th ed.).