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Jörn Loviscach

GCG Generative Computergrafik
= DM-310-1 Digital Film Production

Schedule

Intended Learning Outcomes

• Students know fundamental concepts of the 3D animation process and its support through software.
• Students can employ basic techniques for modeling, animation, and rendering in software they develop themselves.
• Students are able to use selected tool kits such as game engines and the .fx framework for basic tasks.
• Students are able to develop (genuinely!) object oriented software consisting of a several hundred lines of code.

Prerequisites

Lecture

The day before each lecture, I prepare lecture notes and put them in the corresponding directory beneath this Web page, together with example code. The notes are no work for eternity; I typically focus on content and on didactics rather than on form. According to the regulations, your attendance in the lecture is not required. However, if you don't attend the lecture, you will have a hard time working on the assignments.

Laboratory

I recommend that you collect information from everywhere. But I expect everybody to understand the program he or she submits. Furthermore, any material that you did not write, draw, etc. on your own has to be clearly declared as such. In the assignments, you will achieve a better grade with self-developed material, although in industrial practice you would of course strive to reuse somebody else's work.

Attendance at the lab is compulsory, limited by the typical exemptions such as illness. As an alternative to attend the lab, you may contact me in advance (!) for a special meeting or electronic communication. Notice that most of the work has to be done at home. You may also use the computer graphics lab when there are no classes.

Assignments are to be submitted via e-mail. According to the regulations, you need to include not only source code and executable files, but also substantial documentation:

• Objectives (merely my description of the assignment)
• Requirements (largely contained in my description of the assignment; make precise where necessary)
• Software Design (e.g., UML diagrams)
• Test documentation (What have you tested in which way? Consequences?)
• User guide and an example application (e.g., commented screen shots)

I grade every assignment with zero to three points, and that is the least point number according to the following categories:
 

Points	Solution of Problem	Structure	Naming	Comments	Documentation
0	vital part missing	spaghetti	muddled	virtually no comments	important part(s) missing
1	mostly complete, but for instance erroneous behavior in important exceptional cases	some logical problems, no defensive programming	partially confusing	every class and every non-trivial method explained with comments that are automatically extractable (in the context of C# that means XML)	mostly complete, but for instance not covering important problems or gaps
2	complete up to minor gaps	basically object-oriented, basic defensive programming	comprehensible	in addition: explanations of code that cannot be understood on first linear reading (If there are no difficult-to-read passages in the code, that's even better!); do not comment every single line	virtually complete
3	complete	clean classes built using design patterns; defensive programming; instrumented code	self-explaining	in addition: comments describing vital algorithms in brief	exhaustive

If you achieve three points in every category and if your solution clearly exceeds the original task in features, structure, or documentation, you are awarded four points instead. If you achieve one point for every assignment, your total grade will be 4.0 (sufficient). If you achieve four points for every assignment, your grade will be 1.0 (excellent).

For commenting style see "Code Complete 2" or at least the bullet lists about self-documenting code and about commenting (free registration required).

Book and Web Recommendations

• Roedy Green: How to Write Unmaintainable Code
• McConnell: Code Complete 2
• Freeman, Freeman et al.: Head First Design Patterns
• Watt/Policarpo: 3D Games Vol. I+II
• Miller: Managed DirectX 9 Kick Start
• Brill/Bender: Computergrafik
• Shirley: Fundamentals of Computer Graphics
• DeLoura et al.: Game Programming Gems I-IV
• Fernando et al.: GPU Programming Gems I+II

Schedule, Syllabus