An introduction to coaster

Abstract

coaster is a project that teaches a semester-long introductory computer graphics class by means often programming assignments. The assignments are incremental - each one building on the previous ones - and ultimately require implementation of most of the course content in the final one: a first-person rollercoaster simulation. Briefly described, the assignments (and their course contents) are: circles (2D graphics, applying trigonometry), wire track (3D graphics, parametric curves), wire car (meshes), hedgehog car (face and vertex normals), shaded car (lighting models and vertex shaders), shaded track (extrusion, model transforms), surfaces (Bezier surfaces, height maps), first person (viewing transforms, animation, splines), dynamics (physics-based modeling), and textures (textures, pixel shaders). Figure 1 shows the result of the last of these assignments.