Fall 2010 CS 6v81 - 501

Computer Animation

Tuesday and Thursday 5:30pm - 6:45pm, ECSS 2.305


 
Instructor :

Xiaohu Guo
Office: ECSS 3.703
Phone: 972-883-4723
Email: xguo at utdallas.edu
Office hours: M/W 3:00pm - 5:00pm

 
TA :

Liang Shuai
TA Office: ECSS 4.411
Email: shuai at student.utdallas.edu
Office hours: Tuesday 10:00am - 12:00pm (noon)


Pre-requisites :

Formal prerequisite for this course is Computer Graphics (either undergraduate or graduate level). You should have familiarity with basic calculus, linear algebra and geometry, and good working knowledge of graphical programming (such as OpenGL, DirectX, or Java3D).

 
Course Description :
This graduate class focuses on the both theoretical foundations and programming techniques involved in computer animation. Algorithms and approaches for both character animation and physically based animation will be covered. Particular subjects may include skeletons, skinning, keyframing, facial animation, inverse kinematics, locomotion, motion capture, video game animation, particle systems, rigid bodies, clothing, and other techniques.
 
Textbooks :
  • Required: Computer Animation: Algorithms and Techniques, by Rick Parent, Morgan Kaufmann, 2nd Edition, 2007. ISBN: 0125320000.
 
Grading Policy :

The final grade will be based on programming assignments, midterm and final exams. Each student is required to complete three programming assignments individually. The programming assignments can be implemented in any of your prefered programming environment (e.g. Windows, C++, OpenGL). All the assignments and exams are mandatory. The final grade will be composed of the following parts:

  1. Programming Assignments: 45%
    - Assignment 1 (15%)
    - Assignment 2 (15%)
    - Assignment 3 (15%)
  2. Exams: 50%
    - Midterm Exam (20%)
    - Final Exam (30%)
  3. Class Attendance: 5%
 
Class Attendance :

I expect the students to come to class, read and study the materials and textbook. Download and print available materials from eLearning prior to coming to class. The class schedule specifies the chapters to read for each topic covered. Primary material of this course will come from the required textbook. In addition, material from recent articles or relevant reference books will be presented. Numerous slides and video clips on graphics will be shown. Students are advised to attend the class and follow the lecture notes closely. It is the student's responsibility to check what we covered in class and the announcements during class if he or she did not attend.

 
OpenGL Programming Guide and Environments :

 
Academic Honesty :

Copying source code from another student in this class or obtaining a solution from some other source will lead to an automatic failure for this course and to a disciplinary action. Allowing another student to copy one's work will be treated as an act of academic dishonesty, leading to the same penalty as copying. You should learn how to protect your data. Failure to do so is also unprofessional and it may expose you to the danger that someone will copy your homework and will submit it as his or her own (see above). In this case, you may be given a score of 0 for the assignment or project in question (and the other party will get a failure).

 
Class Schedule :
Week Tuesday Thursday
1   Aug 19: Introduction to Computer Animation
2 Aug 24: Vectors and Matrices Aug 26: Matrices
3 Aug 31: Matrices Sep 2: Skeleton
4 Sep 7: OpenGL Basics Sep 9: Skinning
5 Sep 14: Rotation Sep 16: Quaternion
6 Sep 21: Inverse Kinematics Sep 23: Inverse Kinematics
7 Sep 28: Inverse Kinematics Sep 30: Inverse Kinematics
8 Oct 5: Inverse Kinematics Oct 7: Midterm Review
9 Oct 12: Midterm Exam Oct 14: Recap of Midterm Exam
10 Oct 19: Curves Oct 21: Channels and Keyframes
11 Oct 26: Newtonian Dynamics Oct 28: Differential Equations: Explicit Solver
12 Nov 2: Differential Equations: Implicit Solver Nov 4: Particle System
13 Nov 9: Particle System Nov 11: Constrained Dynamics
14 Nov 16: Rigid Body Dynamics Nov 18: Rigid Body Dynamics
15 Nov 23: Final Review Nov 25: Thanksgiving
16 Nov 30: No Class Dec 2: Final Exam
  • Important: The dates in this schedule may change due to the class level. If the class needs more time and examples to understand a concept I will modify the schedule. If the class is ready to skip a chapter or go faster I will modify the schedule. Therefore, it is the student's responsibility to check what we covered in class and the changes in the schedule announced during class.