One of my goals with this course is to aid students in the MCIS degree program who seek to do their thesis in the area of computer graphics. This course will provide a head start towards finding a topic for a thesis project.
The textbook forms a great introduction to many of the topic areas. In
some cases, in goes into too much detail. We
will also be assigning you a few papers to read each week which we
expect you to discuss in class. It isn't necessary to understand
everything, but it is necessary for you to know what it is you don't
understand. That knowledge should give rise to questions in class.
At the beginning of each class, each student will bring in
the following with regard to the reading assignment:
OPTIONAL Textbooks:
A. Watt, 3D Computer Graphics, 3rd edition, Addison-Wesley.
Prerequisites:
A willingness to learn and read a lot of technical papers is the only requirement. (CS 351 is not a prerequiste, but may help to have background knowledge in computer graphics).
Lectures:
Every week will begin with a 45 minute introduction to a research area by one of the professor. This will be followed by three presentations of in-depth topics within that area by students, with accompanying discussion.
Coursework:
Participating in reading and discussions is extremely important in
this course. We may give pop quizzes to check whether or not you have
truly read the week's papers. These quizzes will be trivial for you if
you have read the paper.
In addition to participating in discussions, you will be expected to
participate in two ways. First, over the quarter you will present
several assigned research papers, making either a Powerpoint or
web-based presentation (5 to 15 minute presentations each). We will
post your presentation afterwards onto the class website. Second, you
will do a project. For most of you, this will be a more in depth
survey of a research topic of your choosing. This survey will take the
form of a paper you turn in at the end of the quarter. If you are
particularly enthusiastic and the scope of the class permits, you may
substitute a coding project for your paper survey(s). This may be
performed individually or in groups. This must be discussed beforehand
with a professor who will decide whether or not such a project can be
completed within the quarter. We will not accept projects that have
not been discussed beforehand with the professors. The discussion will
culminate in a written project proposal which will assign grading
weight to each project component.
1) What they found to be the most interesting in the reading
2) What they were the most confused about or would like to know more about
Course Evaluation:
The proportion of the final mark associated with the different
components of the course is as follows: Participation 15%
Presentation 35%
Project 50%