CS 419G -- CS Skills for Simulation and Game Development

Fall 2009

http://cs.oregonstate.edu/~mjb/cs419g

IM	Classes	Grades	VHR

This page was last updated: November 6, 2009

Announcements:

• Click here to get a copy of Dan White's notes.

• Click here to get a copy of Brian Apgar's notes.

• Please print the following notes from the Class Note Handouts section or from the Projects section:

  Nov 9	Particle Systems
  Nov 11	Meshes of Springs

What We Will Be Doing (and Not Doing) This Quarter

This is not a game-programming course. We will not be creating any games (yet). Game and simulation development is very much a data and math-intensive activity. So, this is a middleware CS course that will fill in many of the missing pieces for those wanting to enter the simulation and game development worlds in a software tool-building capacity.

Similarly, this is only a little bit a computer graphics course. We will not be writing graphics programs, but you will sometimes be given graphics program skeletons to test your coding.

Even if you aren't looking for a job in one of these fields, you will likely find these fast-paced and varied topics useful and enjoyable.

CS 419G topics include:

• Parametric lines
• Vectors: dot product, cross product, uses for dot and cross products
• Matrices: definition, multiplication, transpose, determinant, inverse
• 3D coordinate systems, transformations
• Forward kinematics (hierarchical transformations)
• Newton's method for solving for roots of nonlinear equations
• Inverse kinematics using Jacobian matrices
• Rigid-body constant-acceleration kinematics, projectiles
• Rigid-body dynamics, integrating equations of motion
• Collisions, impulse-momentum, rebounding
• Particle systems
• Multithreading, OpenMP, pthreads
• Multicore architectures
• CUDA, Larrabee, OpenCL
• Modeling the world as a mesh of springs (e.g., cloth)
• Guest Lectures

For your programming assignments, you will have access to the graphics systems in OSU's Computer Graphics Education Lab (CGEL) in Batcheller Hall 244.

Prerequisites

Professor

Office:	Kelley 2117
Phone:	541-737-2542
E-mail:	mjb@cs.oregonstate.edu
Web site:	http://cs.oregonstate.edu/~mjb

Office Hours:

The Virtual Hand Raise (VHR)

I recognize that it sometimes takes a certain amount of courage to ask a question or express an opinion in class. But, the worst thing of all is to not say anything! So, this class has a feature called the Virtual Hand Raise. Click here to get into it. It will allow you to send me a question or comment, completely anonymously. I will answer questions submitted this way at the start of the next class.

Textbook

Class Note Handouts

1. Brian Apgar
2. Dan White

Class Schedule

To see an academic year calendar, click here.

The class lecture time is: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 1:00 - 1:50. Unless otherwise specified, all lectures will be held in Kelley room 1001.

1	Sept 28	Introductions. Discussion of class objectives and how we will go about it. Project #1. Parametric line equation.
2	Sept 30	Project #1 (the web form) is due at 23:59:59 tonight! Vectors, I
3	Oct 2	Vectors, II
4	Oct 5	Matrices
5	Oct 7	Brian Apgar, Buzz Monkey, speaking on: Hardware Matters: Multiplatform Game Development
6	Oct 9	Transformations
7	Oct 12	Transformation matrices
8	Oct 14	Forward Kinematics, I
9	Oct 16	Forward Kinematics, II
10	Oct 19	Solving nonlinear equations -- Newton's Method
11	Oct 21	Inverse Kinematics, I
12	Oct 23	Inverse Kinematics, II
13	Oct 26	Constant acceleration physics
14	Oct 28	Dan White, Pipeworks, speaking on: Game Programming -- The Big Picture
15	Oct 30	Test #1 review. Worksheets. Collisions
16	Nov 2	Test #1
17	Nov 4	Go over test questions Mechanical dynamics
18	Nov 6	Numerical integration
19	Nov 9	Particle systems
20	Nov 11	Meshes of Springs, I
21	Nov 13	Meshes of Springs, II
22	Nov 16	Parallel computing
23	Nov 18	Shared memory multicore programming
24	Nov 20	OpenMP, pthreads
25	Nov 23	CUDA
26	Nov 25	Larrabee
27	Nov 27	Thanksgiving Holiday -- no class today
28	Nov 30	GUEST SPEAKER?
29	Dec 2	OpenCL
30	Dec 4	Class Evaluations. Where to find More Information.
*	Dec 9	Test #2 Wednesday, December 9, 12:00 - 1:20, Kelley 1001.

Projects

Click here to get a copy of the Bonus Day Submission Form. Fill this out and turn it in the next class period after turning in your project.

Project Turn-In Procedures

• Your electronic turnin will be done at http://engr.oregonstate.edu/teach and will consist of:
  
  1. Source files of everything (.cpp)
  2. A Windows .exe file if needed. This file must be able to run on the CGEL machines.

  Electronic submissions are due at 23:59:59 on the listed due date.

• Your project will be graded and the score posted to the class web page.
  If you disagree with the score, or want to know why you did not receive full credit, then turn in a note to me along with a listing of your program.
  You have one week after the grades are posted to do this!

Grading

Click here to see the current grade posting.

CS 419G will be graded on a fill-the-bucket basis. There will be 9 projects and two tests. You get to keep all the points you earn.

Your final grade will be based on your overall class point total. Based on an available point total of 850, grade cutoffs will be no higher than:

Attendance at the Guest Lectures will count 5 points each, making it possible to earn a bonus of 15 points to add to your total.

Class Rules

• Lab Rules: No propping the CGEL doors open, no food in the lab, drinks only in closed containers. (I am not being a jerk about the no-food requirement -- ask to see my shrine to the cockroaches that once inhabited the CGEL. Their friends are no doubt waiting for a reason to come back.)

• Keep the air conditioning in the CGEL running -- we have had problems with systems in that room failing when the temperature gets too high.

• Computer Security: We take computer security very seriously. Please use intelligently-chosen passwords and protect them. Anyone caught abusing the system or causing deliberate damage will be asked to drop the class and the matter will be turned over to the Dean's Office.

• Working Together: It is OK to work together by sharing information, but each person's projects must be original work with no sharing of code.

• Cheating: You are expected to do your own work. Sharing code, except for explicit team projects, is considered cheating. Anyone caught cheating will fail this class, and the matter will be turned over to the Dean's Office.

• Academic Dishonesty: You are expected to read and understand the Computer Science department's Academic Dishonesty Policy. You can find it here. If you do not understand some part of it, ask me!

• The only address I will ever use to email you will be mjb at some Oregon State domain. If you get an email from a different address claiming to be me, do not respond to it, and let me know right away.

Students With Disabilities

Accommodations are collaborative efforts between students, faculty and Disability Access Services (DAS). Students with accommodations approved through DAS are responsible for contacting the faculty member in charge of the course prior to or during the first week of the term to discuss accommodations. Students who believe they are eligible for accommodations but who have not yet obtained approval through DAS should contact DAS immediately at 737-4098.

Other Useful URLs:

• Game Development:
  • Game Developer: http://www.gamedev.net
  • Gamasutra: http://www.gamasutra.com
  • Select Parks Game Development Information: http://www.selectparks.net

• Local Companies:
  • Buzz Monkey: http://www.buzzmonkey.com
  • Garage Games: http://www.garagegames.com
  • Pipeworks: http://www.pipeworks.com

• Regional Discussion Groups:
  • Corvallis Gaming Special Interest Group: http://www.sao.corvallis.or.us/drupal/node/26
  • PAGDIG: Portland Area Game Developer Interest Group: http://www.pagdig.org

• Conferences:
  • Games Development Conference (GDC): http://www.gdconf.com
  • E3Expo http://www.e3expo.com
  • SIGGRAPH http://www.siggraph.org