451-611 Environmental Visualisation

Semester 2, 2005

Ian Bishop Rm B305
ph 8344 7500
e-mail i.bishop@unimelb.edu.au

Web page: http://www.geom.unimelb.edu.au/envis/451611.htm

Objectives

This course should provide:

• an understanding of the principles and process of three dimensional modeling and rendering
• hands-on experience with practical aspects of environmental visualization using standard software tools
• awareness of recent and emerging applications of environmental visualization especially in relation to landscape and environmental planning

Schedule

Week	Monday 4.15-6.15 Thr 2, Alan Gilbert	Friday 10.00-12.00 pm Laboratory (B-313)	Work Submission
1 25-39/7	1. What is visualization 2. A history of environmental visualization 3. Range of Applications PPT file Case Studies: 1. Forestry	Seminar series organization Assignment 1 ArcScene (2 weeks)
2 1-5/8	“Visualisation and Public Participation: the advantages of real-time?”	Assignment 1 continued
3 8-12/8	Case Studies 2. Rural Landscapes 3. Use of games engine (in CRC-SI)	lecture/seminar- Building a 3D data set (a) inanimate and (b) animate components (in CRC seminar room)	Assignment 1 (8%)
4 15-19/8	lecture/seminar – Applications in natural resource management	Assignment 2 Terragen (1 week)
5 22-26/8	lecture/seminar –Applications in the built environment	Assignment 3 Forester (2 weeks)	Assignment 2 (6%)
6 29/8-2/9	Lecture/seminar Validity and ethical issues	Assignment 3 continued
7 5-9/9	·           Introduction, History, Hardware Colour, Colour Displays	Assignment 4 POV-Ray ·  4.A 3D object definition and transformations – POV Ray ·  4.B Shading, texture mapping – POV Ray (2 weeks)	Assignment 3 (12%)
8 12-16/9	Representing Terrain Representing Vegetation Application of Games Engines (Alice) Use of commercial software (Daniel) Agent Modelling/Visualisation (Lucy)R	No lab	Applications Research paper based on seminar material (12%)
Break
9 3-7/10	3D Data Structures and Data Operations. Perspective  Rendering: hidden surface algorithms	Assignment 4 continued
10 10-14/10	Illumination: shading options Texture mapping	Assignment 5 Integrated Animation (3 weeks)	Assignment 4 (13%)
11 17-21/10	Rendering: Shadows, Ray tracing, radiosity Animation	Assignment 5 continued
12 24-28/10	Computer graphics test (20%) 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 (40 minutes)	Assignment 5 continued	Assignment 5 (16%)

References:

Computer graphics

Foley J.D., van Dam A., Feiner S.K. and Hughes J.F. (1990) Computer Graphics: principles and practice (2nd ed), Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass.

Foley J.D., van Dam A., Feiner S.K., Hughes J.F. and Phillips, R.L. (1994) Introduction to computer graphics, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass.

These books will be on the Reserve Desk in the Engineering Branch Library. Many other potentially useful books can be found in the libraries. The Dewey code for Computer Graphics is 006.6.

Environmental Visualisation

Best on history, broad principles and applications is:

Bishop, I.D. and Lange, E. (eds) (2005) Visualization in landscape and environmental planning: technology and applications, London, Taylor and Francis.

Best on building 3D models of natural environments is

Ervin, S.M. and Hasbrouck, H. (2001). Landscape Modeling: digital techniques for landscape visualization. New York, McGraw-Hill.

Parts of this are available on-line here.

Best in terms of the principles of why and when to simulate is:

Sheppard, S. R. J. (1989) Visual simulation: a user's guide for architects, engineers and planners. New York: Van Norstrad Reinhold.

Many other sources exist on the web and in journals. Here is a partial reading list organised by seminar topic.

Assessment:

Assessment will be based on 5 laboratory assignments (55%), a test on computer graphics theory (20%), research and presentation of a seminar paper (25% - 12% for written component, 8% for oral presentation, 5% for overall seminar participation). Laboratory assignments are due as shown.

All assignments are to be submitted electronically using WEBRAFT. For assistance getting starting with webraft go to http://webraft.its.unimelb.edu.au/training/Module/ and in-particular http://webraft.its.unimelb.edu.au/training/Module/Publishing4_0.html#451

Seminar Papers:

You will be asked to choose a topic area – one of the four shown in the schedule. Within this topic areas you will:

·           present a summary of the material you have read and, in conjunction with others exploring the same topic, prepare a set of points for further discussion. Each presentation on the reading material should take about 20-30 minutes. A discussion on the topic involving the whole class will follow.

·           Prepare, as a group, a written report on the topic which includes a review of the papers and a discussion of the issues raised both in the papers and in the seminar series. This report should be about 3000 words.