Final Project Specifications

The Computer Graphics final projects are individual assignments. The objective of the project is to implement an OpenGL-based Graphics program that does not need to be large but represents a level of complexity that includes elements of all important Graphics techniques we studied in the class.

In particular, the program is required to incorporate, at the minimum, the following features:

Creation of hierarchical (composite) objects
Rendering of objects as 3-D images, illuminated one or more light sources
Some form of animation, using appropriate linear and affine transformations
Use of texture mapping
Some interactive features, such as moving or shaping objects, changing views, zooming etc.

You can choose from the following two project concepts:

A short animated movie.

The movie is required to be composed of a simple scene, with some composite objects, such as a robot, a car, an airplane etc. moving or acting in some way within it. It also has to have some interactive features. At the minimum, it should have a set of VCR-like controls to play, stop, fast and slow forward and rewind,, freeze frame, frame-by-frame play and replay etc. In addition, some aspects of the characters and/or the environment should be editable (e.g. changing the color of a character or object).

A small computer game.

The game is required to present a simple story line with some characters that interact with each other and with the user. For example, the user can "shoot down" an "enemy" character. This interaction changes the story line, thereby editing the contents. In this case individual editing of features, such as colors, is not required, but optionally, the game can be developed into a game editor, i.e. a program to create computer games.

OPTIONAL (extra credit): combine features of the above options. This would result either in a movie editor program that allows editing of the story line itself, or in a game editor program in which characters and environments can be created and changed.