Final Project

A final project, completed individually or in groups of 2, is required for the course. You have two options:

1. Extend a previous assignment in a non-trivial way. Here are some examples:
   • Extend your mesh decimation algorithm to consider image-based metrics such as the technique proposed by Lindstrom and Turk in 2000.
   • Extend your procedural modeler to tackle a different class of objects (plants, terrains, buildings, etc.).
   • Extend your image-based rendering system to render reflectance fields.
2. Implement your groundbreaking, earthshattering, SIGGRAPH-audience-aweing research ideas on any aspect of modeling, rendering, or animation. You should approach this systematically: formulate your goals, find out what previous work has been done in related areas, implement your new solutions, and evaluate their effectiveness. Please feel free to browse past SIGGRAPH papers for inspiration. Examples include:
   • Implement the implicit surface fairing (smoothing) method proposed by Desbrun et al. 99. Analyze and compare the efficiency of implicit "backward" integration methods vs. explicit "forward" integration methods.
   • Implement a point-based rendering system similar to QSplat. Use your system to study the trade-offs between point-based rendering and classic polygon-based rendering. Optionally, you can incorporate more advanced splatting techniques such as Eliptical Weighted Average (EWA) filtering which is described here.
   • Implement a system for creating line drawings from 3D models. One option is to use this approach for computing curvatures and derivatives of curvatures over a triangle mesh (this is the same algorithm we covered in lecture). Having the ability to compute these quantities will allow you to draw regular contours (silhouette boundaries) and suggestive contours, another type of line artists often draw, as described in this paper. Here is a collection of images (along with accompanying 3D models) that were generated using this technique. Another option is to implement a system for extracing and drawing apparent ridges, another type of line researchers have argued resemble those drawn by artists, which is described here.

What you have to do:

1. On Tuesday, Apr. 15, you will submit a proposal outlining your goals, and a short summary of the techniques you will implement. Very important: you MUST receive approval from the instructor PRIOR to the proposal deadline. This is best done with a short visit during office hours to verify that the scope and focus of your project is appropriate.
2. On Tuesday, May 6 (from 2PM-5PM in MEC 339), you will give a 15 minute presentation about your results. Describe your techniques, show off your pictures and bask in the admiration of your fellow students.
3. On Tuesday, May 6, immediately following your presentation, you will turn in a short (3-5 page) report about your project, together with your code and any images or animations you produced.

Your grade will be based on "technical merit", but there will be an informal art contest, where "artistic impression" will also be taken into account.