CS 450/550 -- Fall Quarter 2024

Project #1

50 Points

Due: October 7

This page was last updated: July 21, 2024

Introduction

This project requires you to draw something fun and cool in 3D. It must be your own creation.

Just as an inspiration, here is what the CS 450/550 Class of 2022 did with this assignment, but I know you can do better.

Learning Objective:

When you are done with this assignment, you will understand how to generate and manipulate 3D graphics objects using OpenGL. At this point, you will realize that you can basically draw anything just by repeatedly applying what you did here.

Instructions

1. You can use pre-canned 3D objects, such as the ones that GLUT provides, or the OSU functions that we provide, or OBJ files, but in addition to your own, not instead of. You must create your own geometry.

2. You can explicitly list your own 3D coordinates, or you can use equations and define the 3D shapes procedurally.

3. You must have at least 100 x-y-z coordinates. These can be divided up among multiple of your objects.

4. The scene must have 3D thickness, nothing that is completely planar.

5. You must use at least 5 different colors.

6. The 3D rotation and scaling from the sample program must still be working.

Getting Started

Go to the Class Resources Page and scroll down to Downloadable Files. Then download one of the SampleWindows.zip, SampleLinux.tar, or SampleMac.tar files (by right-clicking on them). This will produce a folder full of all the other files you need. You do not need to go hunt the internet for any other files. Use the ones that have been given to you.

Start by getting the sample program to work. If you are on Windows, double-click on the .sln file. If you are on Linux or Mac, type make

Then start modifying the function InitLists( ) to draw something of your own design.

No, using a GLUT object or an OSU object or an OBJ file will not count.

Something Fun -- Using Random Numbers

Sometimes it is fun to use random numbers when drawing your scene. They can be used to modify several graphical things such as positions and colors. The functions below are included in your Sample code. the Ranf function will return a number between the low and high values. For example, to pick a random color, call:
glColor3f( Ranf(0.,1.) , Ranf(0.,1.) , Ranf(0.,1.) );

Every time you run your program, the random number sequence starts from the same seed. If you want your program to behave differently every time you run it, call the function TimeOfDaySeed( ) first thing in your main.

float
Ranf( float low, float high )
{
        float r = (float) rand();               // 0 - RAND_MAX
        float t = r  /  (float) RAND_MAX;       // 0. - 1.

        return   low  +  t * ( high - low );
}

// call this if you want to force your program to use
// a different random number sequence every time you run it:
void
TimeOfDaySeed( )
{
	struct tm y2k = { 0 };
	y2k.tm_hour = 0;   y2k.tm_min = 0; y2k.tm_sec = 0;
	y2k.tm_year = 100; y2k.tm_mon = 0; y2k.tm_mday = 1;

	time_t  timer;
	time( &timer );
	double seconds = difftime( timer, mktime(&y2k) );
	unsigned int seed = (unsigned int)( 1000.*seconds );    // milliseconds
	srand( seed );
}

Turn-in:

Use the Teach system to turn in your:

1. Your .cpp file
2. A short PDF report containing:
   • Project number and title
   • Your name
   • Your email address
   • A description of what you did to get the display you got
   • A cool-looking screen shot from your program
   • The link to the Kaltura video demonstrating that your project does what the requirements ask for. If you can, we'd appreciate it if you'd narrate your video so that you can tell us what it is doing.

3. Be sure that your video's permissions are set to unlisted.. The best place to set this is on the OSU Media Server.

4. A good way to test your video's permissions is to ask a friend to try to open the same video link that you are giving us.

5. The video doesn't have to be made with Kaltura. Any similar tool will do.

Grading:

Feature	Points
At least 100 vertices	20
At least 5 colors	20
3D rotation and scaling	10
Potential Total	50