CSC 222
Computer Graphics

Fall, 1995

This course meets from 9-10 AM MWF in Business 15. The textbook will be Introduction to Computer Graphics, by Foley, van Dam, Feiner, Hughes, and Phillips. It comes with two software packages named SRGP and SPHIGS, and an Electronic Instructor's Manual (which is available from the publisher by anonymous ftp, so there's no point in my trying to keep it secret).

The syllabus is available in LaTeX, DVI, and Postscript.

Homework Assignments

Homework 1 assigned 15 Sept, due 22 Sept (delayed to 29 Sept): pick one of the problems 2.3 through 2.12, except for 2.5 (for which I wrote a solution).
Homework 2 assigned 29 Sept, due 13 Oct: problems 3.1 through 3.5.
Homework 3 assigned 3 Nov, due 20 Nov: draw a house or similar simple object on the screen and allow the user to "fly" around it interactively.

Reading assignments

By the next class meeting, you should have read up through section 9.2.3 of the Foley, van Dam, et al book. We'll skip 9.2.4--9.4, but please read section 9.5 as well.

You should also have read my SRGP example programs ex25.c and lines.c, as well as the example programs provided with SRGP in the SRGP examples directory.

I've also prepared a sequence of successively more complicated SPHIGS programs in my SPHIGS examples directory. Also take a look at the two example programs provided with SPHIGS in the SPHIGS examples directory.

Using SRGP and SPHIGS

To write programs using the SRGP and SPHIGS graphics packages, you have two choices: you can work on the Compaq computers in Business 15, using the C/C++ compiler there, or you can work on panther. The former has the advantage that you can compile and run programs in class and see how they work; the C compiler on the Compaqs also provides debugging windows and stuff like that. The latter has the advantage that you can work on your programs from home over a modem line (although you can't run the programs from home) and use all the Unix stuff you're used to from previous courses, such as Makefiles to keep all your compilation modules and options straight.

If you want to use the Compaqs, note that only the front five on each side of the classroom have SRGP and C installed. From the main menu, select "Windows", type in the password I gave out in class, and the full power of Microsoft Windows will be at your fingertips. (This includes the power to delete files the Computing Center staff have installed, making life difficult for everybody else. Please don't do this; if you do, you and I will both get in trouble.) Double-click on the "Microsoft C++" folder, then on the "Microsoft C++" icon, and you'll be in an interactive compiler environment. To use SRGP properly, you need to tell the compiler to use the "Large" memory model and to include the relevant SRGP directories in its search paths. All this stuff is under the "Configuration" menu in C/C++.

If you want to use panther, you'll only be able to run your programs on a DEC X workstation (of which there are three in the Mac lab in the basement of the business building, and two more in Alumnae Hall 130. There's also one on my desk, so this choice makes it a little easier for me to grade your programs). Each workstation has a name like "adl11" written on a tag on the front of the machine. Before you can run graphics programs on adl11, you need to give the Unix command "setenv DISPLAY adl11:0.0", and similarly for the other machines.

If you're working on panther, however, you can compile your programs from any terminal or workstation you wish, including dialing in from home. SRGP and SPHIGS come with a Makefile to make such compilation easier. I've customized this Makefile to work on our system; the customized version for SRGP is in ~sbloch/class/222/Makefile, and the customized version for SPHIGS is in ~sbloch/class/222/sphigs_examples/Makefile.

Other Neat Stuff

For examples of some of the neat stuff people do with computer graphics in the context of geometry, take a look at

the University of Minnesota Geometry Center.
Lightscape Technologies, Inc, a computer-graphics software company.
the Computer Graphics Virtual Library.

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Last modified: Mon Feb 12 10:13:20 EST 1996