RECENT ASSIGNMENT

Term paper and term paper proposal
The term paper Your term paper should be about computer graphics, but otherwise the choice of topic is not constrained. The topic can be in the area of computer graphics for information managers, graphics-based applications, graphical user interfaces, basic methods in raster graphics, techniques in 3D graphics, or any other area of computer graphics.
Here is a list of possible paper topics:
• Discuss principles used in the design of Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs).
• Present the history of GUIs.
• Discuss applications of virtual reality (VR).
• Discuss the technology used in VR.
• Discuss the evolution of VRML, and its implications for the future of computing.
• Forecast the impact that computer graphics, or a specific graphics-based technology, will have on work and play in 20 years (or 50 or 100 or 200 years).
• Discuss methods for presenting quantitative data.
• Describe how graphics can be used to lie or misrepresent.
• Describe how graphics-based application programs of a particular type work (e.g., graphical browsers, desktop publishing programs, paint programs, spreadsheets).
• Present the specifications for a particular graphics file format (such as JPEG, MPEG, GIF, or PostScript), discuss its advantages and disadvantages, and describe the kinds of graphics for which it is best suited.
• Describe one or two of the compression schemes used by various graphics file formats (e.g., run length encoding, Huffman coding, area coding, transform coding).
• Describe some graphics language, such as PHIGS or OpenGL. Include code fragments in your discussion.
• Describe in detail a particular 3D modeling scheme (e.g., constructive solid geometry, boundary representations, Bezier surfaces).
• Describe in detail a particular hidden surface removal method other than z-buffering (e.g. list priority sort, area subdivision).
• Describe how ray tracing works, and how it achieves such effects as reflection, refraction, texture mapping, and shadows.
• Describe three or four different color models, and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using each.
• Discuss the physiology of human vision.
• Survey computer animation languages.
• Describe in detail how a particular computer graphics effect is achieved, such as morphing, textures, fractal terrain generation, or particle systems.

This list is intended to provide suggestions. You can choose to write about any topic on the list, or a modified version of some topic, or a combination of topics, or some topic not mentioned here at all.
The paper should be between 14 and 16 pages in length, not including figures. Here I am assuming double-spaced pages in 12-point font. Be sure to include at least three references at the end of your paper which get cited in the body of the text. Proofread your paper carefully before submitting it.
The paper should be your own work and in your own words. Excerpts taken from other sources should be fully credited. See the course syllabus for policy on academic integrity. Also keep in mind that it is necessary to write the paper for this course; you will not receive credit if you submit a paper you wrote or submitted for a different previous or concurrent course.
The proposal Your paper proposal should consist of two elements:
• A paper title.
• A paragraph describing the topic of your proposed paper. The paragraph should have length of between 200 and 300 words.

Within a week following the proposal due date, I will respond only if there is something wrong with your proposal or with the paper it proposes. If you do not hear from me regarding your proposal, you will have received full credit for the proposal as well as implicit approval to proceed with writing the proposed paper.