CS-638  Exploring Virtual Worlds (new course proposed by Brent Seales)

(see www.cs.unc.edu/~welch/comp239 for a pattern after which this course
is being conceived and modeled)

Proposed by Brent Seales

Credits: 3

Course Description:

This course covers a mixture of core techniques related to systems for 
constructing and modeling virtual environments, such as model-building, 
image-based rendering, head-mounted hardware, stereo image generation, 
head-tracking, and immersive display technology.  The core topics will be
presented using textbooks and papers from the current literature.  A
substantial group project will provide hands-on experience with the concepts,
algorithms and technology.

The purpose of this course is to bring together many concepts which may have
already been presented in other courses, such as CS635, CS630/631, CS335...

Prerequisites:  CS335, CS635

Needed Skills:

Students should be capable of structured functional/object-oriented 
programming, graphical user interface design, image processing and core
concepts in multimedia/graphics/imaging systems.  Mathematical skills should 
cover calculus, linear algebra, basic statistical methods, and numerical 
methods.

Learning Outcomes:

Students will learn the core technologies involved in systems that create
a virtual computer environment.  These component technologies, such as
advanced raster graphics architectures, geometric models, image-based rendering
algorithms, and head-mounted display technologies, will be presented and
critiqued.  Students will begin to understand the state-of-the-art and the
difference between the current and the fundamental limitations of such systems.
Students will develop a skill-set in this course that will enable them to
use tools, algorithms and hardware to implement a solution to a substantial 
problem in a virtual-reality environment.

Course Content:

* Introduction
  History (origins)

* Advanced raster graphics architectures

* VR systems and component technologies

* Images meet 3-D models
  Image warping
  Image-based rendering
  Texture-mapping
  3-D modeling 
  Calibration

* Display technology
  Head-mounted displays
  Stereo displays
  Immersive display environments (Case study:  the CAVE)

* Interaction techniques and Haptics/force Feedback

* Tracking

* Augmented reality

* Human factors
                                                                          
Textbooks: 

not sure of appropriate textbook selection yet

Papers:

selection of readings from SIGGRAPH and journals like Presence, IEEE CG&A,
Image and Vision computing, etc.