Objectives and Contextualisation

The techniques of Computer Graphics and Graphic Visualization, especially those of realism (rendering) and animation by Computer (Computer Animation) are present in many fields, fundamentally in the entertainment (cinema, television, videojuegos, etc.) but also in others such as scientific visualization, visualization of medical images, cartography, industrial design (realization and simulation of both static and dynamic products) and others. Regularly viewing these computer-generated images should not detract from or minimize the complexity with which they have been designed and generated. In many cases (mainly entertainment) there must be a graphic designer who designs the character, some screenwriters, but also a computer scientist who models the shape of the character and defines the dynamic equations of the movements as well as generating them properly. This course aims to introduce the different processes and algorithms that must be used to obtain a realistic image. These algorithms are not intended to be known for you to implement (many of them are already implemented in graphical libraries), but to know the possibilities of each algorithm and the parameters used to configure them. Important concepts of computer animation of both trajectories (rotation and translation) and of articulated objects are also introduced in order to know how to define kinematics models and generate movements of these objects. More specifically, the student is expected to acquire skills in the OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) graphics library within a Visual C ++ graphical environment with MFC interface or Qt environment.

KNOWLEDGE: At the end of the course the student must be able to:

· Understand and know how to apply the main techniques to generate and visualize three-dimensional scenes on a computer.
· Understand volumetric models and fractal models to represent three-dimensional objects, widely used for the generation of realistic images.
· Understand both the basic concepts and the main algorithms of realism (rendering): algorithms for removing hidden faces, models and types of lighting of a scene, shading and transparency models as well as models to represent and visualize textures. The textures significantly increase the realism of the scene.
· Understand and know how to apply the main kinematic models (those of rigid solids and those of articulated objects), widely used in computer animation techniques.
· Understand and know how to apply the OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) graphics library, which is used in graphical visualization on both Windows and Linux and Mac OS platforms.
· Understand and know how to apply the programming of shaders (GLSL, HLSL languages) to make the most of the processing capacity of the GPUs (Graphic Processing Unit) of current graphics cards.

SKILLS: It is intended that students acquire the following skills:

· Have a degree of knowledge and practice in OpenGL for:
o Be able to model an object from basic OpenGL primitives.
o Know how to model different light sources and clearly define their parameters to visualize the desired scene.
o Assign textures to an object to give it a better degree of realism.
· Define the kinematic model of a moving object based on geometric transformations (translation, rotation and scaling), be it a rigid or articulated object. Know how to represent, render and move it in OpenGL.

COMPETENCES: It is intended that students acquire the following skills:

· Teamwork.
· Self-employment
· Capacity for analysis, synthesis and foresight.
· Critical reasoning.
· Ability to solve problems.