Project Assignment 1:
Plan - First Draft
 

Assignments:	1	2	3	4	5	6
Design project:	Plan 1	Plan 2	Progress	Draft	Final	Present

This assignment is still subject to change

Design and produce a significant graphics program

You may do anything you like. Of course, the more "significant" and challenging your final result, the better your grade. In general, I expect something of about the complexity of the book's "Level of Effort III" projects.

I encourage you to scan quickly through the book for ideas. I encourage you to spend some time browsing the web and reading other materials looking for ideas.

In general, I encourage 3-D projects, rather than 2-D, although some 2-D images are very challenging.

I expect you to use some of the techniques the book covers in Chapters 5 - 9, although you'll have to start using them before we cover them in class (if we ever cover them). You can read and copy the programs.

I invite discussions about appropriate projects. I expect these specifications to evolve as your project unfolds. Software development is an iterative process.

You may work in teams of 1 - 3. I recommend two.

Deliverables:

Software requirements - What is the need? One page description and sketch of what you intend to do. "Am I on the right track?"

Software specification - What would a good response to the need look like? One - four page description. Details will depend on your project, but I expect to see an outline of the objects that will compose your image. UML class diagrams might be appropriate. Probably a small prototype showing a simple version of a part of the image. Probably a careful hand sketch.

Software design - How will the image be created? Details will depend on your project, but I expect to see nearly complete interfaces for classes and objects. You should have a prototype program running that draws something vaguely like your intended image. How will you test your final program?

Nearly complete program. Draft of final report.

Program, image(s), and documentation. Complete documentation of requirements (why?), specification (what?), design (how?), implementation, and quality assurance.

You will make a brief class presentation. Your classmates will be asked to vote on which images impress them most.

Warning: This schedule is back-end loaded. Most of the work is assigned in the last half of the semester. Plan ahead. If I were you, I'd plan to have Progress report 1 done before I left for Spring Break.

The lifecycle of this project should resemble that described in COEN 181 Software Engineering, if you have taken that class, or Senior Design. You may find some of the same tools useful.

To complete your project, you'll have to use features of OpenGL before we discuss them in class. For some examples, see How do I do ___ in OpenGL?

Grading

This project counts for 40% of your final grade:

• 10 points - Plan 1
• 10 points - Plan 2
• 20 points - Progress report
• 20 points - Draft final report
• 50 points - Final report
• 20 points - Final presentation
• 10 points - Peer evaluation

 

• Total 140 points, which will be scaled to count for 40%

Here are some sample projects from

• Spring 2004
• Spring 2003
• Summer 2002

One good set of project ideas are demonstrations of various OpenGL features. For some examples, see Interactive tutorial programs written by Nate Robins

Other ideas

• How many of the figures from the text can you draw BESIDES those generated by his sample programs?
• Tutorial and demos on how to use the TEXT API in OpenGL. It is there, but our book never mentions text.
• Reproduce an ad or other graphic from a magazine
• Reproduce a TV ad graphic
• Draw a picture of mountain scenery, a floral arrangement, or a self-portrait
• Write a tutorial and demo of some difficult-to-understand concept in one of your other classes
• See links to snow sculptures from www.stanwagon.com. Can you draw some of those? Stan is a mathematician, and his snow sculpturing team is sponsored by Mathematica!