Week 1

Week 1:

• Course introduction:
  • Review syllabus
  • Historical overview (see History of the Medium)
• Graphics systems overview:
  • Basic computer anatomy (see Technical Context: Basic Anatomy)
  • CPU vs. GPU (see Technical Context: CPU & GPU)
  • The OpenGL state machine
• Getting started in C++, Cinder and XCode:
  • Overview of the tools used in this course
  • Conventions of spatial organization in OpenGL and Cinder
  • Drawing polygons with Cinder’s high-level API
  • In-class exercise (see below)

In-class Exercise:

• To make sure everyone is up and running with their development platform, please build a few of the Cinder sample projects as well as create a new one from scratch using the Tinderbox tool. There will be time for basic troubleshooting questions.

Homework:

• Read/watch Dan Shiffman’s introduction to vectors:

  • http://vimeo.com/58734251
  • http://natureofcode.com/book/chapter-1-vectors

• Read André Bazin’s essay, “The Myth of Total Cinema,” which is available online as well as in a collection of Bazin’s writing called, What is Cinema? Volume I. Please be prepared to discuss this reading in class next week.

• Create a geometric composition using only the high-level draw methods available within Cinder’s gl namespace (http://libcinder.org/docs/v0.8.6/namespacecinder_1_1gl.html). Please do not make use of any persistent global or member variables in your application. The goal is to make as captivating a composition as possible using the simplest and most readily available tools.