Professor
Asish Law
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2020 - I thought this course provided a good introduction to computer graphics, though it was quite heavy on the conceptual side and less "practical" (don't expect to be working with modern graphical frameworks -- for the projects in the course, we had to use a simplified version of WebGL called tiny graphics for learning purposes). The projects were also cool but I ultimately didn't feel like I got a realistic sense of modern graphical programming. For course content, the first half involves reviewing basic linear algebra matrix transformations and an introduction to each step of the graphics rendering pipeline (how a 3D scene gets rendered to a 2D image). The early projects are really simple and can be done in a few hours, especially if you attend the discussion sections where the TAs basically give a mini walkthrough of each assignment. The second half covers a wide array of topics like object lighting, texture mapping, and ray tracing, which made me really appreciate the complexity of the work involved in this field. The professor is quite good at explaining the concepts in an easy to understand manner, and I was able to follow along his mathematical derivations without trouble even though I do not consider myself a math person by any means. It's clear he has had years of experience teaching this material because concepts are made intuitive through his explanations. Sometimes though he would go a bit fast (especially when we would start to fall behind) so the lecture recordings were great for those times. What's strange about this class is that the exams involve a lot of math computations (they're simple, but still there's a lot to remember) but there's little to no practice material made available. So you should definitely try to get a copy of the older exams to practice as the professor likes to reuse questions. Also, a large part of your grade and the work in the class is your group project, which is graded based on features and creativity, so make sure to choose teams wisely and spend time on it. Overall, not a bad class to take if you have any interest/curiosity in computer graphics. I can't speak for other professors in this course, but I definitely would recommend you taking it with Professor Law.
Fall 2020 - I thought this course provided a good introduction to computer graphics, though it was quite heavy on the conceptual side and less "practical" (don't expect to be working with modern graphical frameworks -- for the projects in the course, we had to use a simplified version of WebGL called tiny graphics for learning purposes). The projects were also cool but I ultimately didn't feel like I got a realistic sense of modern graphical programming. For course content, the first half involves reviewing basic linear algebra matrix transformations and an introduction to each step of the graphics rendering pipeline (how a 3D scene gets rendered to a 2D image). The early projects are really simple and can be done in a few hours, especially if you attend the discussion sections where the TAs basically give a mini walkthrough of each assignment. The second half covers a wide array of topics like object lighting, texture mapping, and ray tracing, which made me really appreciate the complexity of the work involved in this field. The professor is quite good at explaining the concepts in an easy to understand manner, and I was able to follow along his mathematical derivations without trouble even though I do not consider myself a math person by any means. It's clear he has had years of experience teaching this material because concepts are made intuitive through his explanations. Sometimes though he would go a bit fast (especially when we would start to fall behind) so the lecture recordings were great for those times. What's strange about this class is that the exams involve a lot of math computations (they're simple, but still there's a lot to remember) but there's little to no practice material made available. So you should definitely try to get a copy of the older exams to practice as the professor likes to reuse questions. Also, a large part of your grade and the work in the class is your group project, which is graded based on features and creativity, so make sure to choose teams wisely and spend time on it. Overall, not a bad class to take if you have any interest/curiosity in computer graphics. I can't speak for other professors in this course, but I definitely would recommend you taking it with Professor Law.
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