MCIS 625: Computer Graphics
Winter 2004

WEEK 6

Instructor: Dr. Michael Laszlo
Due date: VRML Project 2 is due March 23 via ESET category VRML Project 2

Assignment

1. Begin work on VRML Project 2, the second and final VRML programming assignment for this course.
   
2. Optional reading assignment: Chapter 8 of Foley et al.

• Your project should include at least one geometry based on the IndexedFaceSet node and at least one geometry based on the Extrusion node.
• Include several Viewpoint nodes with nonempty description fields, so that the user has access to interesting named viewpoints through the VRML plugin's interface.
• Your world should include either a carousel or a roller coaster (or both if you so choose):
  • A carousel, composed of a thin cylindrical base of large radius, along whose perimeter are attached eight (or more) poles—tall, thin cylinders—spaced at even intervals. The base-poles complex rotates on the base's central axis. Your carousel need not be modeled like the one pictured below, but it should have moving elements typical of real carousels. Also note that other behaviors are possible. For instance, while the carousel rotates, its poles may scale up and down; the colors and/or orientation of the objects atop the poles may change; or the objects on the poles may contain images of horses. The carousel pictured below is rather abstract; you may wish to make yours more closely resemble real-world carousels.

• A roller coaster, whose track would most likely be formed by one or more extrusion nodes. Your rollercoaster should include a car that drives along the track when its position and orientation are animated. Include a Viewpoint that belongs to the car's animated transform group, so that when the viewpoint is active during the animation, the user experiences the rollercoaster ride firsthand.

You are also encouraged to include other elements in your world, beyond those required. As you experiment with features of VRML, you may want to add elements that include those features. You may also want to implement both the carousel and the roller coaster (even though the assignment requires you to implement just one of the two), or other rides and structures common to circuses.

Do not use a world builder or modeller for this project. You should write your VRML code by hand. However, you are welcome to use a tool, such as a spreadsheet or programs in written C or other languages, to generate numeric values for nodes.

If your project contains all of the required elements listed above, your grade for the project will be no lower than the numeric equivalent of B. Grades between B and A will be determined according to the degree of creativity exhibited by your project, and its use of VRML features beyond those noted above.

Submit your code via ESET category VRML Project 2. Although your world may be spread over two or more .wrl files, please concatenate these files into a single Word doc or text file for submission. In addition, set up your world on your web site and include the URL in your ESET submission.

If you wish to share your world with your classmates, post its URL to our course forum after the due date (I will create a VRML Project 2 thread on our forum for this purpose).

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