Game Oriented Advanced Graphics Projects
Richard P. Simpson
Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Midwestern State University
Abstract
Although the standard graphics class is often taught from a theoretical standpoint, a student’s education is inevitably enhanced by carefully designed programming projects. Many of the projects found in textbooks are artificial and as a result are not very interesting to serious students of graphics, particularly budding game programmers. In an attempt to spice up the projects while making them relevant to students interested in game programming, a number of real-world 3D programming projects have been developed. In addition to stimulating students these projects seriously exercise and teach important graphics structures and techniques. Three shareware tools selected to support the projects include MilkShape 3D, UVMapper and Terragen. Emphasis will be given to the MilkShape 3D and Terragen file formats together with associated texture mapping. This presentation will discuss these tools, their native file formats and their application within OpenGL programs. A tutorial on the use of these programs has been written and will be available for download.