Introduction to Computer Graphics

GAMES101, Lingqi Yan, UC Santa Barbara

Lecture 1:
Overview of Computer Graphics

http://www.cs.ucsb.edu/~lingqi/teaching/games101.html
Welcome!
 Instructor
• Lingqi Yan (闫令琪)

- 2018 - now: Assistant Professor @ UCSB

- 2013 - 2018: Ph.D @ UC Berkeley
- 2009 - 2013: B.E. @ Tsinghua University
- Website: www.cs.ucsb.edu/~lingqi/

- Research: Rendering in Computer Graphics

- Hobbies: research, video games, piano,

traveling, NBA, etc.

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 Instructor’s Achievements

2018: Oscar Nominee 


for Best Visual Effects

2019: research 2017 


widely adopted in 

Lion King HD
2019: six APEX Champions in one evening

(collaborated with Adobe)
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 Course Staff
• Teaching Assistants

- 刘光哲（清华，[email protected]）

- 史⾬宸（中科⼤，[email protected]）

- 邓俊⾠（哈⼯⼤，[email protected]）

• More will be recruited soon after this lecture


(based on need)

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 Today’s Topics
• What is Computer Graphics?

• Why study Computer Graphics?

• Course Topics

• Course Logistics

• Linear Algebra Review

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 What is Computer Graphics?

GAMES101 7 Lingqi Yan, UC Santa Barbara

 Today’s Topics
• What is Computer Graphics?

• Why study Computer Graphics?

- Applications

- Fundamental Intellectual Challenges

- Technical Challenges

• Course Topics

• Course Logistics

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 Video Games

GAMES101 Sekiro: Shadows Die twice

9 (2019 Game of the Year) Lingqi Yan, UC Santa Barbara
 Video Games

GAMES101 Borderlands
10 3 (2019) Lingqi Yan, UC Santa Barbara
 Movies

The Matrix (1999)

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 Movies

The
Avatar
Matrix
(2009)
(1999)

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 Animations

Zootopia (2016)

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 Animations

Frozen 2 (2019)

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 Design

CG Photo

Autodesk Gallary

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 Design

Ikea - 75% of catalog is rendered imagery

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 Visualization

Science, engineering, medicine, journalism, etc.

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 Virtual Reality

Oculus VR

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 Augmented Reality

Microsoft Hololens

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 Digital Illustration

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEdRLlqdgA4
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 Simulation

The Dust Bowl phenomena Black hole from Interstellar

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 Graphical User Interfaces

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 Typography
The Quick Brown
Fox Jumps Over
The Lazy Dog

The font Baskerville

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 Why Study Computer Graphics?

• Fundamental Intellectual Challenges

- Creates and interacts with realistic virtual world

- Requires understanding of all aspects of physical world

- New computing methods, displays, technologies

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 Why Study Computer Graphics?

• Technical Challenges

- Math of (perspective) projections, curves, surfaces

- Physics of lighting and shading

- Representing / operating shapes in 3D

- Animation / simulation

- 3D graphics software programming and hardware

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 Why Study Computer Graphics?
• Forget about the previous reasons

Computer Graphics

is

AWESOME!

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Questions?
 Today’s Topics
• What is Computer Graphics?

• Why study Computer Graphics?

• Course Topics (mainly 4 parts)

- Rasterization

- Curves and Meshes

- Ray Tracing

- Animation / Simulation

• Course Logistics

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 Rasterization
• Project geometry primitives (3D triangles / polygons) onto the screen

• Break projected primitives into fragments (pixels)

• Gold standard in Video Games (Real-time Applications)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/

http://vispy.org/modern-gl.html
File:Rasterisation-triangle_example.svg

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 Curves and Meshes
• How to represent geometry in Computer Graphics

Bezier Curve Catmull-Clark subdivision

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A9zier_curve https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/

File:Catmull-Clark_subdivision_of_4_planes.png

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 Ray Tracing
• Shoot rays from the camera though each pixel

- Calculate intersection and shading

- Continue to bounce the rays till they hit light sources

• Gold standard in Animations / Movies (Offline Applications)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_tracing_(graphics)
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 Animation / Simulation
• Key frame Animation

• Mass-spring System

https://cs184.eecs.berkeley.edu/sp18/lecture/simulation/slide_010
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 GAMES101 is NOT about
• Using OpenGL / DirectX / Vulkan

• The syntax of Shaders

• We learn Graphics, 

not Graphics APIs!

• After this course, 


you’ll be able to learn these

by yourself (I promise)

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 GAMES101 is NOT about
• 3D modeling using Maya / 3DS MAX / Blender, or 

VR / game development using Unity / Unreal Engine

(where can I learn them?)

Modeling character animation in Maya

CSGO PoV Cam set up in Unreal Engine

[http://tutorials.cgrecord.net/2017/08/
 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TQ18SmQSw0]
17-minute-animation-process-in-autodesk.html]

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 GAMES101 is NOT about
• Computer Vision / Deep Learning topics, e.g. XYZ-GAN

(where can I learn them?)

Semantic Segmentation
GAN 2.0: NVIDIA’s

https://modeldepot.io/oandrienko/icnet-for-fast-segmentation
face generator (both are fake)

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 Differences?
• Personal Understanding

Computer Graphics

(Rendering)
MODEL IMAGE
Computer Vision
Computer Graphics
 Computer Vision

(Modeling, Simulation) (Image Processing)


(Not Comp. Photography)

• No clear boundaries

• And I can’t define Computer Graphics

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Questions?
 Today’s Topics
• What is Computer Graphics?

• Why study Computer Graphics?

• Course Topics

• Course Logistics

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 General Information
• Modern Course

-
X
Comprehensive but
without hardware programming!

- Pace / contents subject to change

• Course Website

- http://www.cs.ucsb.edu/~lingqi/teaching/games101.html

- Has all the needed information

- Syllabus, slides, reading materials, etc.

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 Course Website
• Course slides and (pre)-reading materials

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 References
• No Required Textbooks

- Reading materials (if any) will

available online before lectures

- Lecture slides will be available

after class

• Most recommended reference

- Steve Marschner and Peter

Shirley, "Fundamentals of
Computer Graphics", 3rd or later
edition.

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 Q&A
• Sign up on our BBS for discussion

(http://games-cn.org/forums/forum/games-online-course-forum/)

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 Assignments
• Assignments

- Mostly programming tasks with provided code skeletons and

virtual machine image

- Weekly (usually no more than 20 lines of code per week)

- Language: C++

• Submission

- Submit your project by 11:59PM on/before the due dates

(strictly enforced)

- Feedback will be provided in a week

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 Assignments
• Assignment Submission Website

(http://www.smartchair.org/GAMES2020Course-YLQ/)

• No Exams

• Course Project / Final Project

- Starting midway of this course

- References will be provided, but you decide the topic

- Best work will be posted online for showing off

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 Use An IDE!
• IDE: Integrated Development Environment

• Helps you parse a entire project

- And gives hints on syntax / usages of member functions, etc.

• Recommended IDEs

- Visual Studio (Windows only) / Visual Studio Code (cross platform)

- Qt Creator (personal)

• Not Recommended IDEs (for C++ programming)

- CLion, Eclipse

- Sublime Text, Vi / Vim, Emacs (not even IDEs)

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 Academic integrity
• Work alone for regular assignments

- no copy-pasting from any other sources

• Do not publish your code (on Github, etc.) 


for assignments using our skeleton code

• Do not post your solution online

- Discussion / explanation is welcomed

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Questions?
Thank you!