This is a course on the theoretical underpinnings of 3D Graphics in computing, suitable for students with a suitable grounding in technical computing.

1. 3D ART APPRECIATION
Michael Heron

2. INTRODUCTION
 It’s important to be able to render a
judgement on images you see.
How are they created
What techniques are used
What kind of shading is applied
How you arrive at your judgement
 Today is going to be a tutorial in which
you do just that!
And also think about the theoretical content of
the module.

3. IMAGE 1

4. DISCUSSION
 Is this rendered using the global illumination
model or the local illumination?
 What techniques are likely to have been used?
 What are the tell-tale signs that give it away?
 How convincing is the effect?
 What are the benefits over the alternative methods?

5. IMAGE 2

6. IMAGE 3

7. IMAGE 4

8. IMAGE 5

9. REVIEW QUESTIONS
 Important to be able to relate the theory
together.
Feature of the exam.
 Available on My Dundee.
Under the module material link.
 Three sets of material.
Each with questions that reflect the range and
scope of material for the exam.
 Not all of them covered in this module.
Glenn covered different things last year.

10. REVIEW QUESTIONS
 Draw a diagram illustrating the difference
between specular and diffuse reflection.
 What type of surface gives rise to each type of
reflection?
 What is the impact of transparency on the
transmission of light?
 What about translucency?

11. REVIEW QUESTIONS
 Define the Z-Buffer
 Give diagrams where appropriate.
 What is its use in hidden surface removal?
 What are the benefits of z-buffering?
 What are the weaknesses?
 What are the alternatives?

12. REVIEW QUESTIONS
 What is the difference between local and global
illumination models?
 How does it relate to the difference between real time
and non-real time rendering.
 What is the cost of global illumination?
 What are the different flavours of global
illumination?

13. REVIEW QUESTIONS
 What is the difference between Gouraud shading
and flat shading?
 How do they work?
 What kind of images do they produce?
 What quality is the shading?
 How is the shading applied?
 How do they impact on the gradient of light
across a polygon?

14. REVIEW QUESTIONS
 What is the graphics pipeline, and in what order
do the operations get performed?
 All of the things we have discussed are handled as
part of the pipeline.
 Where do each of the operations get performed.
 And why do they get performed at the points they get
performed?

15. REVIEW QUESTIONS
 What is backface culling, and why is it used?
 What is the difference between backface culling
and contribution culling?
 How does it relate to viewport culling?

16. REVIEW QUESTIONS
 What are the different kind of light-sources
permitted in 3D modelling?
 And what is the difference between them?
 How do we model light in a 3D scene?
 In global illumination?
 In local illumination?
 What is the impact of light interaction on a
model?

17. REVIEW QUESTIONS
 What is the difference between Phong shading
and Gouraud shading?
 What is the benefit of using one over the other?
 How do they differ in terms of their algorithms?
 Where do they have similarities?
 What is the benefit of using one over the other?