My interest in graphics is probably due to my first exposure to a video game called Half-Life in my childhood. I remember there is a video option allowing player to change graphic rendering APIs such as OpenGL and Direct3D. I tackled with these options and found sharp contrast between video outputs (texture resolution, frame rate, etc.) of different APIs. I guess from then on I decided to have a graphic course to figure out how the low-level computer rendering works.
alexyen1000
Partially, it's because it's a field that's interested me forever but the introduction to it all felt too intimidating to cover on my own. Partially, it's that I want to broaden my interest to subjects that are closer to the front end than the back end of programming.
wangjim19
I've always been interested in learning more about how graphics in 3d video games and movies are processed. I am curious to learn about things like different ways 3d models of things can be efficiently represented, and also how realistic scenes are constructed/displayed with details like shadows and depth perception. I hope to learn the math and geometry behind things like this, and I'm hoping this class will shed some light (pun intended) on this topic.
StephenYangjz
I have been into photography all along, especially with drones and the computational side of it, like making animations and everything for my video footage. Also, in my summer internship last summer, I was exposed to ray tracing and many other computer vision and graphics stuff for autonomous driving. These all make me very interested in the course!
sagnibak
I have been very interested in photography from my early teens. In addition to the artistic parts, I was also obsessed with how cameras work and how images are processed. From there I went to study computer vision, and then realized that there are a lot of parallels between CV and graphics, so I am finally here! I used to think that graphics was all about writing C# in Unity, but I found out that there's much more to it! I am particularly interested in making efficient graphics pipelines and programming close to the metal to squeeze every bit of performance that we can at the moment.
JefferyYC
I am interested in this course for my curiosity of the inner algorithms of image synthesis and real world simulation in 3D and VR games. While it is made accessible to develop such games through engines nowadays, I want to dig down one level deeper and understand the basics of rendering. I have no prior knowledge in this area and I am looking forward to learning the basics from scratch!
AadithSrinivasan
I've heard very good things about this course which is primarily the reason I was interested in the course. Similar to the others above, I've also had many run ins with computer graphics from playing video games and I'm specifically interested in learning how ray tracing and VR works. It'd be cool to learn the math or theory behind how they work and it'll probably make me more appreciative about how everything fits together (especially given how computationally intensive those two thing seem). Specifically, always wondered why ray tracing is so graphically expensive to run and how graphic card work for more complex rendering (also stuff like bottlenecking, how it works with a multiple core processor, etc.)
adityaramkumar
With the direction the industry is headed in with the push towards VR by Meta, Microsoft, Google and Apple, it's clear that computer graphics plays an increasing role in the computing future. I'm interested in this course because it's likely my career, either directly or indirectly, will interface with graphics given current trends. Additionally, the course has a section on GPUs, which play an important role in the machine learning lifecycle. It would be useful to gain a better sense of how those work to accelerate various workloads (in the context of this class, graphics).
In terms of what I want to learn, I'm interested broadly in graphics in the context of VR and computing. To that end, I think most of the content of the class is apt - rendering, ray tracing, sections about GPUs etc.
lucywan
I'm interested in seeing whether I would be interested in pursuing computer graphics in as a career. Growing up I was always captivated by graphical effects in movies. I hope to learn how these effects are created as well as what it's like in terms of being a career.
Staffyirenng
Thanks for sharing, everyone!
@UncooleBen, we will talk about the antialiasing and texturing modes in class that are related to rendering quality in graphics APIs.
@wangjim19 - we will talk in detail about how shadows are rendered in photorealistic graphics based on ray-tracing, though we won't touch in lecture on shadow methods in rasterization graphics pipelines.
@StephenYangjz and @sagnibak -- I hope you enjoy the camera and lens portions of the class. I love photography too!
@JefferyYC -- we will cover the foundations of all the things you described.
@AadithSrinivasan -- many good topics that you raised about that we will study in lecture, though what makes ray-tracing slower than rasterization is something we can discuss in office hours when we get to that portion of the course.
@adithyaramkumar -- we touch on GPUs lightly, but not a major focus of this course.
kevinchai0
I think graphics is a really cool concept that you don't really get to experience outside of this class. Video games were a huge part of why I got into Computer Science in the first place so I've always wanted to see how some of my favorite games are made. Also, I took Computer Vision last semester which touched upon some topics in Graphics. I'm looking forward to learning more about some of the concepts I learned last semester!
joyyy26
I’m interested in computer graphics, because I previously knew its importance in the medical field. For instance, it contributes to imaging technology like computer tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, which allows 3d xrays, a technology that is often used. After watching this lecture, I also learned its importance in movies and games, as it is used to produce digital characters and animations. I realize that computer graphics really surrounds our daily life, and I’d like to explore more implications of graphics and imaging.
Queenie-Lau
I’ve always been interested in video editing, motion graphics, visual effects, and film, so I’m looking forward to diving deeper into the technicalities of how we are able to mathematically create and render shapes and textures to represent real-world objects! I would love to gian further insight into how VR/AR elements are created and especially the shading/texturing element.
Staffrishiu
Nice! Thank you all for sharing - those are some really interesting parts and applications of Graphics.
@kevinchai0: Video games are a huge draw to graphics and are super interesting. We've actually had some students make video games for final projects before if you are interested in something like that.
@joyyy26: We don't really touch on medical imaging much as part of this class but you're absolutely right that some of the stuff we learn in this class (especially the optics/lenses stuff later) has a lot of applications in that space.
@Queenie-Lau: We will most likely have 1-2 VR/AR lectures near the end so look out for those!
LisaCheung
I'm interested in how graphics is used for the motion effects in movies and for augmented reality to create the 3d effect. I'm also interested in learning how we can use image processing and other graphics techniques to change and synthesize visual contents.I look forward to learning more about rasterization, using simulations, sensors, and virtual reality.
cchendyc
I‘m interested in film production, computer vision, and video games! I'm expecting computer graphics to be hard though...I don't know a lot about imaging and picture processing for now, but I heard Ren Ng is a legendary professor so hopefully I can learn the basics by the end of this semester haha.
NKJEW
Seems like I'm a bit late to the party, but what makes me interested in this course is the fact that, as a VR game developer, this course covers the exact kind of material that I hope is relevant to the tech that I have the pleasure of working with! And even outside of VR, there's a ton that I'm excited to learn more about - from meshes to animation to lighting and more.
I also used to watch a ton of this channel called "Corridor Crew" (a channel which specializes in VFX breakdowns), which also gave me a taste of just how fascinating the tools and techniques used in the industry can be.
maleny25
As a computer science and film major, I was first interested in animation and how my interests combined at animation. I want to learn how the technology works in animation especially after having used the technology to make an animated short. I am also interested in the visual side of technology since that is what users see and interact with. I just want to learn how the graphics in technology are created and be able to create them myself.
CarneAsadaFry
As a physics and computer science major, I'm very interested in learning how physically accurate models can be used to make realistic looking graphics. In general, I love the idea of using computer graphics to better visualize and understand physical processes, and I hope to see some of that this semester!
yfz3357
I am interested in this course because I believe computer graphics is almost everywhere. One example would be the screen on phones and laptops we use every day. Learning the basics of computer graphics in this class would for sure enhance my understanding of how said displays work and further my knowledge in the application of computer graphics. I do not have any specific topics in mind that I really want to learn about, but I would really love to learn as much breadth in computer graphics as possible.
christinemegan
Since freshman year, I have been in the 3D modeling and Animation community through the student run decal and course held on campus. There, I have been learning 3D modeling and texturing from an art perspective. Now wanting to pursue a career in animation or 3D modeling, I'm interested in the technical aspects of developing these programs and creating cg tools for artists.
This semester, I'm excited to learn how these 3D programs and artists' tools are created, and overall be able to supplement the art that I make as a 3D modeler, with a coding background.
GalliumCat
Computer graphics is used pretty ubiquitously for many purposes, but is still often overlooked. I'm interested in learning more about how scenes are rendered and, more particularly, how they're rendered quickly, especially in VR contexts
andersonkimlam
I am interested in this course as I always wondered how things were made and rendered, especially looking at video games and then learning about how all graphics are pretty much all smaller rectangles. I am interested in learning about how low level we can create visuals. In addition, after taking CS 194-26 with Prof. Efros, I learned a lot about computational photography and want to see better understand now how digital images work. I think this course is also one that is often overlooked, but I have heard many great things about.
LinyueSong
Honestly, the reason why I chose this class was that all the other classes were full. (I just got enrolled into this class btw). However, after watching the first few lectures, I found that I enjoyed the class quite a lot. The topics that we will cover seem pretty interesting. For example, I have always wondered how ray tracing is done in videos games that I play. Now I'll be able to get a rough idea after I finish this course. I think this is a super cool class that I will love
Waterstar1
I was interested in this course because I am an avid gamer. The problem is, when I look at the "video settings" for most games, I basically understand nothing. I always see terms like "anti-aliasing," "vsync" etc under the options, but never understand what they actually do. It's really cool to see them popping up through the lectures and seeing how much of a difference they make!
melodysifry
Before I was interested in computer science at all, I was most passionate about visual art and photography. As I got more into digital art, something that kept coming up for me was how digital art programs are able to replicate certain kinds of mediums so well (like the graininess of pencil sketching, or the way that ink flows and blots from different types of pen) and did such a poor job of replicating other types of mediums (like the blending of oil paint on canvas). As I gained a stronger technical background through my CS studies, I became more curious about the way that different types of mediums, materials, and textures are visually rendered, and the ways that they are modeled and represented under the hood. My reason for taking this class was to learn more about these underlying representations, and to hopefully combine my interests in CS and art to open up new avenues of interest and exploration.
My interest in graphics is probably due to my first exposure to a video game called Half-Life in my childhood. I remember there is a video option allowing player to change graphic rendering APIs such as OpenGL and Direct3D. I tackled with these options and found sharp contrast between video outputs (texture resolution, frame rate, etc.) of different APIs. I guess from then on I decided to have a graphic course to figure out how the low-level computer rendering works.
Partially, it's because it's a field that's interested me forever but the introduction to it all felt too intimidating to cover on my own. Partially, it's that I want to broaden my interest to subjects that are closer to the front end than the back end of programming.
I've always been interested in learning more about how graphics in 3d video games and movies are processed. I am curious to learn about things like different ways 3d models of things can be efficiently represented, and also how realistic scenes are constructed/displayed with details like shadows and depth perception. I hope to learn the math and geometry behind things like this, and I'm hoping this class will shed some light (pun intended) on this topic.
I have been into photography all along, especially with drones and the computational side of it, like making animations and everything for my video footage. Also, in my summer internship last summer, I was exposed to ray tracing and many other computer vision and graphics stuff for autonomous driving. These all make me very interested in the course!
I have been very interested in photography from my early teens. In addition to the artistic parts, I was also obsessed with how cameras work and how images are processed. From there I went to study computer vision, and then realized that there are a lot of parallels between CV and graphics, so I am finally here! I used to think that graphics was all about writing C# in Unity, but I found out that there's much more to it! I am particularly interested in making efficient graphics pipelines and programming close to the metal to squeeze every bit of performance that we can at the moment.
I am interested in this course for my curiosity of the inner algorithms of image synthesis and real world simulation in 3D and VR games. While it is made accessible to develop such games through engines nowadays, I want to dig down one level deeper and understand the basics of rendering. I have no prior knowledge in this area and I am looking forward to learning the basics from scratch!
I've heard very good things about this course which is primarily the reason I was interested in the course. Similar to the others above, I've also had many run ins with computer graphics from playing video games and I'm specifically interested in learning how ray tracing and VR works. It'd be cool to learn the math or theory behind how they work and it'll probably make me more appreciative about how everything fits together (especially given how computationally intensive those two thing seem). Specifically, always wondered why ray tracing is so graphically expensive to run and how graphic card work for more complex rendering (also stuff like bottlenecking, how it works with a multiple core processor, etc.)
With the direction the industry is headed in with the push towards VR by Meta, Microsoft, Google and Apple, it's clear that computer graphics plays an increasing role in the computing future. I'm interested in this course because it's likely my career, either directly or indirectly, will interface with graphics given current trends. Additionally, the course has a section on GPUs, which play an important role in the machine learning lifecycle. It would be useful to gain a better sense of how those work to accelerate various workloads (in the context of this class, graphics).
In terms of what I want to learn, I'm interested broadly in graphics in the context of VR and computing. To that end, I think most of the content of the class is apt - rendering, ray tracing, sections about GPUs etc.
I'm interested in seeing whether I would be interested in pursuing computer graphics in as a career. Growing up I was always captivated by graphical effects in movies. I hope to learn how these effects are created as well as what it's like in terms of being a career.
Thanks for sharing, everyone!
@UncooleBen, we will talk about the antialiasing and texturing modes in class that are related to rendering quality in graphics APIs.
@wangjim19 - we will talk in detail about how shadows are rendered in photorealistic graphics based on ray-tracing, though we won't touch in lecture on shadow methods in rasterization graphics pipelines.
@StephenYangjz and @sagnibak -- I hope you enjoy the camera and lens portions of the class. I love photography too!
@JefferyYC -- we will cover the foundations of all the things you described.
@AadithSrinivasan -- many good topics that you raised about that we will study in lecture, though what makes ray-tracing slower than rasterization is something we can discuss in office hours when we get to that portion of the course.
@adithyaramkumar -- we touch on GPUs lightly, but not a major focus of this course.
I think graphics is a really cool concept that you don't really get to experience outside of this class. Video games were a huge part of why I got into Computer Science in the first place so I've always wanted to see how some of my favorite games are made. Also, I took Computer Vision last semester which touched upon some topics in Graphics. I'm looking forward to learning more about some of the concepts I learned last semester!
I’m interested in computer graphics, because I previously knew its importance in the medical field. For instance, it contributes to imaging technology like computer tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, which allows 3d xrays, a technology that is often used. After watching this lecture, I also learned its importance in movies and games, as it is used to produce digital characters and animations. I realize that computer graphics really surrounds our daily life, and I’d like to explore more implications of graphics and imaging.
I’ve always been interested in video editing, motion graphics, visual effects, and film, so I’m looking forward to diving deeper into the technicalities of how we are able to mathematically create and render shapes and textures to represent real-world objects! I would love to gian further insight into how VR/AR elements are created and especially the shading/texturing element.
Nice! Thank you all for sharing - those are some really interesting parts and applications of Graphics.
@kevinchai0: Video games are a huge draw to graphics and are super interesting. We've actually had some students make video games for final projects before if you are interested in something like that.
@joyyy26: We don't really touch on medical imaging much as part of this class but you're absolutely right that some of the stuff we learn in this class (especially the optics/lenses stuff later) has a lot of applications in that space.
@Queenie-Lau: We will most likely have 1-2 VR/AR lectures near the end so look out for those!
I'm interested in how graphics is used for the motion effects in movies and for augmented reality to create the 3d effect. I'm also interested in learning how we can use image processing and other graphics techniques to change and synthesize visual contents.I look forward to learning more about rasterization, using simulations, sensors, and virtual reality.
I‘m interested in film production, computer vision, and video games! I'm expecting computer graphics to be hard though...I don't know a lot about imaging and picture processing for now, but I heard Ren Ng is a legendary professor so hopefully I can learn the basics by the end of this semester haha.
Seems like I'm a bit late to the party, but what makes me interested in this course is the fact that, as a VR game developer, this course covers the exact kind of material that I hope is relevant to the tech that I have the pleasure of working with! And even outside of VR, there's a ton that I'm excited to learn more about - from meshes to animation to lighting and more.
I also used to watch a ton of this channel called "Corridor Crew" (a channel which specializes in VFX breakdowns), which also gave me a taste of just how fascinating the tools and techniques used in the industry can be.
As a computer science and film major, I was first interested in animation and how my interests combined at animation. I want to learn how the technology works in animation especially after having used the technology to make an animated short. I am also interested in the visual side of technology since that is what users see and interact with. I just want to learn how the graphics in technology are created and be able to create them myself.
As a physics and computer science major, I'm very interested in learning how physically accurate models can be used to make realistic looking graphics. In general, I love the idea of using computer graphics to better visualize and understand physical processes, and I hope to see some of that this semester!
I am interested in this course because I believe computer graphics is almost everywhere. One example would be the screen on phones and laptops we use every day. Learning the basics of computer graphics in this class would for sure enhance my understanding of how said displays work and further my knowledge in the application of computer graphics. I do not have any specific topics in mind that I really want to learn about, but I would really love to learn as much breadth in computer graphics as possible.
Since freshman year, I have been in the 3D modeling and Animation community through the student run decal and course held on campus. There, I have been learning 3D modeling and texturing from an art perspective. Now wanting to pursue a career in animation or 3D modeling, I'm interested in the technical aspects of developing these programs and creating cg tools for artists.
This semester, I'm excited to learn how these 3D programs and artists' tools are created, and overall be able to supplement the art that I make as a 3D modeler, with a coding background.
Computer graphics is used pretty ubiquitously for many purposes, but is still often overlooked. I'm interested in learning more about how scenes are rendered and, more particularly, how they're rendered quickly, especially in VR contexts
I am interested in this course as I always wondered how things were made and rendered, especially looking at video games and then learning about how all graphics are pretty much all smaller rectangles. I am interested in learning about how low level we can create visuals. In addition, after taking CS 194-26 with Prof. Efros, I learned a lot about computational photography and want to see better understand now how digital images work. I think this course is also one that is often overlooked, but I have heard many great things about.
Honestly, the reason why I chose this class was that all the other classes were full. (I just got enrolled into this class btw). However, after watching the first few lectures, I found that I enjoyed the class quite a lot. The topics that we will cover seem pretty interesting. For example, I have always wondered how ray tracing is done in videos games that I play. Now I'll be able to get a rough idea after I finish this course. I think this is a super cool class that I will love
I was interested in this course because I am an avid gamer. The problem is, when I look at the "video settings" for most games, I basically understand nothing. I always see terms like "anti-aliasing," "vsync" etc under the options, but never understand what they actually do. It's really cool to see them popping up through the lectures and seeing how much of a difference they make!
Before I was interested in computer science at all, I was most passionate about visual art and photography. As I got more into digital art, something that kept coming up for me was how digital art programs are able to replicate certain kinds of mediums so well (like the graininess of pencil sketching, or the way that ink flows and blots from different types of pen) and did such a poor job of replicating other types of mediums (like the blending of oil paint on canvas). As I gained a stronger technical background through my CS studies, I became more curious about the way that different types of mediums, materials, and textures are visually rendered, and the ways that they are modeled and represented under the hood. My reason for taking this class was to learn more about these underlying representations, and to hopefully combine my interests in CS and art to open up new avenues of interest and exploration.