A Computer Graphics Course for a Computational Science Program

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A Computer Graphics Course for a Computational
Science Program

• Steve Cunningham
• California State University Stanislaus

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Computational Science

• Needs students to actively learn both science and
  computation, but especially how computation can
  lead to new and better science
• Must engage the whole range of tools for human
  learning and problem solving
• This includes not only symbolic learning but
  active, dynamic visual learning

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Computer Graphics

• Is a critically important tool in the latest
  scientific research because it allows the science
  student to literally see new, deeper, and subtler
  phenomena
• In order to do this, the problems must be modeled
  and presented correctly, and this requires
  considerable experience

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An ExampleVideo Study of a Numerically
Modeled Severe Storm, SIGGRAPH Video Review,
Issue 51, 1989
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The Example Shows

• Sophisticated use of color and shape
• Careful choice of point of view
• Well-designed animation and narration
• It is a polished presentation rather than an
  exploration, but it helps students understand
  what it means to communicate science

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To Do This Kind of Work

• Modeling
• get the geometry from the science
• organize the geometry for display
• simulate dynamic behavior
• Rendering
• understand color and lighting
• understand viewpoint importance
• use blending, texturing, and other techniques

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To Do This Kind of Work

• Animation
• implementing modeling and viewing that changes
  over time
• Visual communication
• meaning of color and shape
• effective use of 4D presentation space to convey
  information
• usual practice in appropriate area of science

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Where Will a Student Learn This?

• Watch how its done in the profession?
• Wait until student does research and learn the
  tools for the work then?
• Take a tool-focused course?
• Learn basic graphical concepts in a
  science-oriented computer graphics course?

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Where Will a Student Learn This?

• Watch how its done in the profession?
• Wait until the student does research and learn
  the tools for the work then?
• Take a tool-focused course?
• Learn basic graphical concepts in a
  science-oriented computer graphics course?
• I argue for the latter.

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An Example of Student Work
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By Engaging the Student

• In modeling, the student learns how
  visualizations are set up
• In rendering, the student learns how to create
  visualizations
• In interactions, the student learns how to
  provide exploration tools
• In creating effective presentations of science,
  the student learns about visual communication

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This Can Make the Computer Graphics Course a Key
Part of a Computational Science Program

• It must be an application-focused course with
  science-based examples and problems
• It must focus on visual communication rather than
  flashy images

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Details on Such a Course

• Described in my SIGCSE workshop last year and in
  a number of papers
• The workshop notes, papers, and a draft textbook
  manuscript are online at http//www.cs.csustan.
  edu/rsc/NSF/