Project 1

CS 493, Dr. Lawlor

The idea for this first project is for you to write a complete end-to-end simulator of something you're interested in: similar to the homeworks, but in more depth, and on a topic of your choice.

Describe what you want to build in-class on Tuesday, February 12.

Describe exactly what you're planning to build: what the method is, what it's useful for, and generally how it works.
Describe your user interface for it.

Give me rough draft code (working, but not complete) on Thursday, February 28.
Present your progress in-class on Tuesday, March 5th.
Turn in a final draft after spring break on Thursday, March 21. This version should work completely, and look good--carefully prepared textures, a nice user interface, etc.

Possible Topics (or pick your own!)

Choose any one of these topics, or pick your own topic. Remember you have about a month to finish everything, so keep it simple! If these seem too big, feel free to simplify them in your "topic" discussion.

Extend any of your homeworks, from this class or another class.
Pick a technical paper you're interested in, and implement something related.
Many independent agents, like people fleeing a fire or a freeway traffic jam.
Plant growth, such as L systems.
Waves, such as wave particles or FFT ocean synthesis.
Rigid bodies rotating and colliding in space. There are lots of good libraries for this, including Newton and ODE.
Non-rigid bodies, such as cloth, clay, or rubber.
Hair simulation, like mass-spring models.
2D fluid dynamics, usually on a regular 2D or 3D grid.
Simple cellular automata (e.g., Conway's Game of Life). These are especially fun to write on the graphics card using a pixel shader!
Reaction-diffusion textures (of any type), on the graphics card or off.
Or pick some other simulation you're interested in, and can find useful data on!

Note that the above links are chosen purely on the basis of visual coolness; better links explaining the above techniques undoubtably exist!