CSE3313
Computer Graphics

Course Resources

Synopsis

• Glitch
• Material Editor
• Sample Open GL source code
• Web Resources
• Graphics Books
• Audio Recording of Lectures

Glitch

Glitch is an OpenGL program designed to assist you in learning and experimenting with OpenGL (the graphics API used in this course). Glitch allows you to interactively change and assemble OpenGL code fragments in real-time, and see "under the hood", showing you internal OpenGL state. A number of glitch tutorial files have been developed in relation to topics covered in this course.

Glitch was developed by a former student of this course in 2003 (Aidan Lane). It is available under a GPL license as open source, so you can look at the code and see how it works. You can also modify it and or add extra features. In addition, you can also download compiled binaries for popular operating systems.

The glitch page has all the details...

Material Editor

A java based material editor has been developed to assist you in understanding the illumination models (see lecture topics 22 and 23). The editor should run in a standard web browser and lets you choose different shading models (Lambert, Phong, Blinn/Cook-Torrance) as well as edit material components in real-time.

The material editor page.

Sample OpenGL source code

Some basic sample OpenGL programs are provided for you to look at. These programs are written in ANSI C and should compile on any operating system that supports OpenGL and ANSI C. Makefiles for Unix/Linux variants are provided.

Question: Can I use this sample code in my assignment submission?

Answer: Yes, but if you are copying code directly please bound the copied sample code with comments saying that you copied this code from the sample code. e.g.

/********************** this section copied from the simple.c sample code init function: */

    /* set clear color to black */

glClearColor (0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0);

/* set fill color to white */

glColor3f(1.0, 1.0, 1.0);

/* set up standard orthogonal view with clipping */

/* box as cube of side 2 centered at origin */

/* This is default view and these statement could be removed */

glMatrixMode (GL_PROJECTION);

glLoadIdentity ();

glViewport(0,0,250,250);

gluOrtho2D(-1.0, 1.0, -1.0, 1.0);

/********************** end of copied code segment **********************/

Please note that you will not get any credit for copied code.

The OpenGL sample code page.

Web Resources

This section contains links to external sites that you might find interesting or helpful in understanding the course material (in addition to the materials on this web site and that found in the reference texts for this unit). If you find other sites that you think might be useful and relevant to the course please email the url to the lecturer.

OpenGL:

The OpenGL tips and tricks page has a list of OpenGL links.

Other graphics related links:

• Some 3D animation software companies: Alias (Maya), Maxon (Cinema4D), Discreet (3D Studio Max), Newtek (Lightwave), Splutterfish (Brazil renderer), Pixar (Renderman).
• Paul Bourke's web site has lots of interesting graphics information
• Public domain/Open Source 3D software:
  • The excellent Graphics Gems series of books has numerous code examples for graphics programming.
  • In a similar tradition, the Games Programming Gems series of books brings the gems concept to a new generation of graphics programmers.
  • Dave Eberly's Geometric Tools site has reference to his excellent series of computer graphics books (see below) along with downloadable C++ source code.
  • 3D Modelling: Blender is an open-souce 3D modelling package.
  • Open source Rendering: POV Ray, Rayshade and PBRT - a very advanced physically-based renderer with the companion book written in literate programming style (available from the library)
  • Rendering information: Rendermaina
  • Realtime/Scene Graph: Simple Scene Graph, Open Scene Graph, Coin, Open Inventor.
  • GUI Toolkits: QT (Trolltek)
  • The OpenAL site tries to be to audio what OpenGL is to graphics
  • Processing is a simple Java-based programming system for graphics

 

Graphics papers and research:

• ACM SIGGRAPH holds one of the major compuer graphics research conferences each year in the USA (see also the Seminal Graphics page).

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Graphics Books:

Here are a list of reference books read and recommended by the lecturer, in addition to the standard texts for this course. These books are all available from the library.

McReynolds, T. and D. Blythe (2005) Advanced graphics programming using openGL. San Francisco, CA, Elsevier Morgan Kaufmann Publishers.
[a comprehensive coverage of both basic and advanced features of OpenGL. Excellent reference book and a must-have for the serious OpenGL programmer]

Verth, J. M. v. and L. M. Bishop (2004) Essential mathematics for games and interactive applications: a programmers guide. Amsterdam; Boston, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers.
[great coverage of the maths necessary for practical computer graphics – highly recommended]

Eberly, D. H. (2005) 3D game engine architecture: engineering real-time applications with Wild Magic. San Francisco, Calif., Morgan Kaufmann.
[good reading for anyone interested in how OO design works with 3D graphics – download the source code from the author's website]

OpenGL ARB (2004) OpenGL Reference Manual (4th ed.) The Official Reference Document to OpenGL, Version 1.4, Boston, Mass., Addison-Wesley
[The "Blue Book". OpenGL is currently at Version 2.0, but this is the current set of documentation in print form. Covers every OpenGL function call. Essential reference for the serious graphics professional]

OpenGL ARB (2007) OpenGL Programming Guide (5th ed.) The Official Guide to Learning OpenGL Version 2.0, Boston Mass., Addison-Wesley
[The "Red Book". We're still waiting for the reference manual, but the OpenGL 2.0 programming guide is the most comprehensive guide on how to use OpenGL. Note version 1.0 of this book is available on-line]

Rost, R. J. (2007) OpenGL Shading Language (2nd ed.), Boston, Mass., Addison-Wesley
[The "Orange Book". Official programming guide to to the OpenGL shading language which will be fully integrated to OpenGL 2.0]

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Audio Recording of Lectures

The lectures for this course (at Clayton campus) are recorded and are available via the Monash lectures on-line web site. You'll need to supply your authcate username and password to access the lectures.

Please note that the lectures include a lot of visual material and explanation so you should not rely on using the audio recording as a substitute for attending the lectures.