Class News

Monday 11/26/07

Today we discuss OpenGL bindings in other languages

JOGL - Java bindings for OpenGL (which are used in Sun's implementation of Java3D, especially useful are
- JSR-231 API - this is the OpenGL API in Java specification
- the Java 1.4.2 API - this is useful when coding any Java project
- the demos page
- Applet Demo Page which will run an OpenGL java applet in your browser, but requires a fast connection to download all the requisite code!
BGL and Draw Modules in the Blender Python API allow one to write and run python programs using the OpenGL library
- bgl.py a simple Blender Python Script

Monday 11/12/07

Today we start working our way through the OpenGL Programming Guide. You can view an early version (version 1.1) on the web, but its a good idea to buy "the blue book" if you plan to do any serious OpenGL programming in the future. There is quite a bit of OpenGL documentation online, but you will probably want to buy the OpenGL reference manual (the red book), also if you plan to continue with OpenGL programming. Several students have also recommended the Nehe OpenGL tutorials as a good source of sample programs illustrating particular OpenGL features.

Thursday 11/8/07

The 11/8/07 version of the CS155 Lecture Notes is available. This version contains the formulas for texture mapping cylinders and spheres.

Monday 11/5/07

HW4 and Final project assigned ..

Thursday 11/1/07

The CS155 Blender Game Demo gallery is at the following link
http://popper.cs-i.brandeis.edu:8088/tim/cs155f07/blender/gallery.html

Monday 10/22/07

The latest copy of the CS155 Lecture Notes is available. This copy contains formulas for the transformations as well all other formulas derived during the class. (This is a new version as of Sat 10/27/07 4:17pm)

The practice midterm is now available. The midterm will be in class in one week on Monday 10/29/07.

The initial code for hw3 is now available in the following zip file:
hw3.zip

Course Notes

Ray Tracing

Notes to be posted soon

Interactive 3d graphics

Event/Controller/Actuator Model of Blender
Keyboard Events controlling Motion Actuators to move characters
Editing and Painting objects

Online Resources

Essential Blender resources

Blender Basics - a free online introduction to Blender written for high school students - This is an excellent free and downloadable book for learning the basics of Blender modeling and animation. It is also a good reference book. You don't need to read it cover to cover (though you can). You should definitely download this now and have a look.
Blender texture disk - This is a public domain CD which you can browse online or download freely, and which contains a nice selection of textures (gold foil and the wood textures are my favorites).
The blender wiki - this wiki contains the latest documentation for blender as well as many tutorials, hotkey lists, etc. You should definitely bookmark this site.