CS 424: Fundamentals of Computer Graphics
Term Project

It's time to begin working on your term project for this course. You must selet a topic, and get my approval for it, no later than November 5. Before that date, you should meet with me to discuss your ideas for the the project, and you should make sure that I approve the topic that you select. On November 5, you should turn in a statement of your topic in writing. During the last week of classes, you will do a 15-minute presentation to the class about your project. You can choose one of four project types:

  1. A research paper, at least 10 pages long. The paper should be on some topic related to computer graphics or its applications. You should do a substantial amount of research, with bibliography and references. Most of the research should not be from Wikipedia, blogs, or similar sources. You will probably do presentation of your findings.
  2. An exploration of some graphics technology that we have not covered in class, plus a shorter paper or web site about the technology and your work. The length of the paper will depend on how much other work you do. You will present your findings, including an explanation and demonstration of your work.
  3. A significant 3D graphics programming project using OpenGL 1.0, Three.js, or WebGL. You will demonstrate the program and discuss the programming, including the structure of the program and interesting techniques that you use.
  4. A reasonably large-scale Blender project, using more than just the basic techniques covered in class. You will show the images and animations that you produce, and you will demonstrate and explain some of the techniques that you used. A web site about the project would be a good idea.

The term project counts for 20% of your grade for the course. That will include about 5% for the presentation and 15% for the project itself. Attendance at all presentations is required. You will lose points on your project grade if you miss any of the presentations during the last week of classes. It is possible that the final exam will include some questions based on the presentations.

Project Ideas

Here are some starting points for thinking about your project, if you want to do something of type 1 or 2. You are certainly not limited to these ideas. We should not have people working on identical or closely related topics, unless they can coordinate to produce complementary papers.

Timeline