CS 488/688: Introduction to Computer Graphics

Spring 2020


Welcome to the home page for CS488/688, the introductory computer graphics course in the School of Computer Science at the University of Waterloo. This course focuses on 3D graphics, although it does discuss some aspects of user interface design. CS488/688 has a fairly heavy project component and should not be taken in conjunction with other heavy project courses.


Course logistics for Spring 2020

Instructor
Gladimir V. G. Baranoski
gvgbaran@uwaterloo.ca
Office hours: Virtual office hours to be held on Fridays, with the specific times to be announced via Piazza.
Teaching Assistants
Petri Varsa
pmvarsa@uwaterloo.ca
Office hours: Virtual office hours to be held on Tuesdays, with the specific times to be announced via Piazza.

Spencer Van Leeuwen
srvanlee@uwaterloo.ca
Office hours: Virtual office hours to be held on Tuesdays, with the specific times to be announced via Piazza.

Virtual Office Hours
For the Spring 2020 term, office hours will be provided virtually by the course staff. Further details will be provided on Piazza.
Lab
The Undergraduate Graphics Lab is unavailable during the Spring 2020 term.

Course Outline
The course outline contains general information about the course, including the marking scheme.
CS 488/688 Course Notes
Available as a downloadable PDF.

Required Reading Materials
Every week, the instructor will release required reading materials equivalent to the contents covered in two traditional lectures in previous terms. The contents equivalent to one lecture will be released on Mondays, and the contents equivalent to another lecture will be released on Wednesdays. These materials will be released in the password protected course Lessons website whose access credentials will be provided via Piazza.
Getting help
We are using Piazza for questions and discussions of class-related material. You should have been signed up at the start of the term, but you can sign up manually if necessary.

Spring 2020 Assignments

Additional Resources

  • The website open.gl is a great starting point for programming in modern OpenGL, featuring a sequence of well written tutorials.
  • See also the longer sequence of tutorials at learnopengl.com, which go into more detail about specific topics.
  • Song Ho Ahn also has a number of useful tutorials that explain concepts in 3D computer graphics, especially as related to the OpenGL graphics pipeline.
  • Visit docs.gl for the best OpenGL API reference.
  • You might also want to look at Terence's OpenGL tutorial slides.