Homework 0 - OpenGL Primer

(just for practice / catching up, no need to submit)

The goal of this assignment is to make sure everyone is on the same page with respect to a background knowledge of OpenGL. If you have experience programming OpenGL applications, this assignment should be very easy for you. If you've never done any OpenGL programming, this assignment will cover the basics of standard real-time graphics, and show you what you need to be able to do as a base for the rest of this quarter. We will not be asking you to turn in this assignment, and you will not be given a grade for it - it is optional. If you don't need the practice, don't worry about it, but if you're rusty or you're looking to sit down with the OpenGL Reference Guide and learn, it's a good introduction. Use this assignment to request help from us. If you have no idea how to get started with this, please contact the reader/instructor and we will point you to some starting demos of OpenGL code.

Details

The assignment is to create an interactive robot arm application. The user should be presented with an 'arm' consisting of a series of joints and links (rendered as boxes or cylinders is fine). Interaction will consist of manipulating the joint angles with the keyboard, and moving a light source around the scene with a mouse. Use GLUT for the window and event management. The steps for the rendering are:

• Begin with a basic teapot geometry (glutSolidTeapot).
• Use a perspective camera. Choose a reasonable field of view.
• Add a point light to the scene and render with lighting.
• Apply a non-default material to the model (e.g. gold, ruby, wood).
• Replace the teapot with a robot arm, rendered as a base, an elbow joint, and a wrist with a 'hand', as shown in the picture.

The interaction you should implement is:

• With the key events, increment or decrement the various joint angles in the arm. For example, 'a' increments the base angle, while 'z' decrements it. 's' and 'x' modify the elbow. 'd' and 'c' rotate the wrist, and 'f' and 'v' open and close the claw. 'q' or 'esc' should quit the application.
• With the mouse drag events, move the light source in the scene. For example, when the mouse is dragged, take the delta x and y values and translate the light source accordingly. The user doesn't need to click on the light itself - that's much more difficult.

Implementation

A few notes for OpenGL programming on CSIL.

• Use GLUT for window and event management.
• The only header to include is <GL/glut.h> which will pull in all necessary OpenGL headers.
• All headers are in /usr/include/GL/
• You will need to pass the following link flags to gcc to get all the necessary OpenGL symbols: -lglut -lGLU -lGL, and, depending on your platform, maybe -L/usr/X11R6/lib/ -lXmu -lXi -lXext -lX11 -lXt

An example GLUT application that sets up a basic OpenGL window, registers event handlers, and draws a very simple scene, is available for reference.

Submitting Your Homework

You do not need to submit this homework assignment.