CPSC 424 Schedule

Week 1: 9/1-9/5

Topics: introduction; fundamentals; the graphics pipeline; intro to WebGL

• Eck, chapter 1 (introduction)
• Eck, sections 2.1.1-2.1.3 (pixels and coordinate systems)
• Eck, section 2.3 (transforms)
• Eck, chapter 6 intro (intro to WebGL)
• Eck, sections 6.1.1-6.1.6 (the programmable pipeline)
• Eck, section 6.2 (WebGL first examples)
• Eck, section A.3 (JavaScript)

• slides: course introduction
• slides: fundamentals (2D and 3D graphics, pixels, coordinate systems, transformations)

• slides: fundamentals (transformations)
• A Brief History of Computer Graphics
• History of computer graphics
• A Short History of Computer Graphics (1960s-2000s)
• History of Computer Graphics (1940s-1999)
• Computer Graphics, History

• slides: graphics pipeline (and intro to WebGL)

Week 2: 9/8-9/12

Topics: the viewing pipeline; viewing and projection; hierarchical modeling

• Eck, section 3.3 (projection and viewing)
• Eck, section 3.5 (linear algebra concepts)
• Eck, section 7.1 (transformations in WebGL)
• Eck, section 2.4.1 (building complex objects)

• slides: intro to WebGL
• examples — view page source to see the program text
  • Hello WebGL (WebGL program structure, simple shaders)
• support code
  • webgl-utils.js (utility functions)

• slides: modeling, viewing, and projection

• slides: parallel projections; viewing and projection in WebGL

Week 3: 9/15-9/19

Topics: geometry; lighting and shading

• Eck, section 3.4 (polygonal meshes, glDrawArrays and glDrawElements)
• Eck, sections 4.1-4.2, 7.2 (lighting and material)

• slides: the viewing pipeline in WebGL
• slides: specifying geometry

• slides: lighting (lighting models, the OpenGL lighting model)

• slides: lighting (color, shading models)

Week 4: 9/22-9/26

Topics: GLSL; more lighting and shading; scene graphs

• Eck, sections 4.1-4.2, 7.2 (lighting and material)
• Eck, section 6.3 (GLSL)
• Eck, sections 2.4.2, 4.4 (scene graphs)

• slides: lighting (implementing lighting and shading, other lighting models)

• slides: GLSL
• slides: lighting (attenuation; spotlights)

• slides: comments on lab 2
• slides: lighting (lighting in WebGL)
• slides: scene graphs

Week 5: 9/29-10/3

Topics: scene graphs; textures

• Eck, sections 2.4.2, 4.4 (scene graphs)
• Eck, sections 4.3, 6.4 (image textures)
• Eck, sections 7.3.1-7.3.2 (texture transforms, generated texture coordinates)
• Eck, section 7.3.3 (procedural textures)

• slides: scene graphs
• slides: textures (image textures, image textures in WebGL)

• slides: textures (image textures in WebGL, textures and lighting, texture transforms, generating texture coordinates)

• slides: comments on lab 3
• slides: textures (generating texture coordinates, procedural textures)

Week 6: 10/6-10/10

Topics: more uses of textures — bump maps, cubemaps, environment mapping, framebuffers and dynamic cubemaps

• Eck, section 7.3.4 (bump maps)
• Eck, section 6.4.4 (cubemaps)
• Eck, section 7.3.5 (environment mapping)
• Eck, section 7.4 (framebuffers)

• slides: bump mapping

• slides: bump mapping (wrapup)
• slides: handling reflection, working with cubemaps

• slides: environment mapping
• slides: rendering to textures

Week 7: 10/13-10/17

Topics: refraction, shadows

• slides: environment mapping, shadows (dynamic cubemaps, other effects using framebuffers, refraction, shadows)

• review information

Week 8: 10/20-10/24

Topics: three.js

• Eck, chapter 5 (three.js)

• slides: three.js basics (scene, camera, renderer, mesh objects, materials, modeling transforms, hierarchical modeling)
• examples — view page source to see the program text
  • simple scene
  • hierarchical modeling

• slides: three.js basics (hierarchical modeling, lights, image textures) — spotlights updated 10/28
• examples — view page source to see the program text
  • hierarchical modeling
  • image textures (including defining texture coordinates)

Week 9: 10/27-10/31

Topics: three.js; Blender

• Eck, chapter 5 (three.js)
• Eck, section B.1 (Blender basics)

• slides: more three.js (polymeshes, loading meshes)
• examples — view page source to see the program text
  • definining polymeshes
  • loading polymeshes
  • image textures (including defining texture coordinates for polymeshes)
• reference: glTF quick reference, gltF 2.0 specifications

• slides: more three.js (parametric surfaces, surfaces from curves, cubemaps, environment mapping, shadow mapping, user input, custom shaders)
• examples — view page source to see the program text
  • surfaces and curves
  • cubemaps
  • bump mapping
  • reflection (environment mapping)
  • refraction (environment mapping)
  • shadow mapping
  • custom shaders
  • custom shaders (with lighting)

Reading:

• Eck, section B.1 (Blender basics)

• Blender 1: Basics (lab)

Week 10: 11/3-11/7

Topics: Blender; animation

• Eck, section B.1 (Blender basics)
• Eck, section B.2 (Blender modeling)
• Eck, section B.4 (Blender lighting and materials)

Reading:

• Eck, section B.2 (Blender modeling)

• Blender 2: Modeling (lab)

Reading:

• Eck, section B.4 (Blender lighting and materials)

Week 11: 11/10-11/14

Topics:

Week 12: 11/17-11/21

Topics:

Week 13: 11/24-11/28

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Week 14: 12/1-12/5

Topics:

Week 15: 12/8-12/12

Topics:

Reading Period: 12/13-12/15

Final Exams: 12/16-12/19

last updated: --Mon Nov 3 01:24:09 EST 2025--
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