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GAMES202

Course Introduction

  • University: University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB)
  • Prerequisites: Linear Algebra, Advanced Mathematics, C++, GAMES101
  • Programming Language: C++
  • Course Difficulty: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
  • Estimated Study Time: 60 hours

Official Introduction:

This course comprehensively introduces the key issues and solutions in modern real-time rendering. Since real-time rendering (>30 FPS) demands high speed, the focus of this course is on how to break the trade-off between speed and quality under strict time constraints, ensuring both high-speed real-time performance and photorealism.

The course will be presented in a thematic manner, covering cutting-edge content from both academia and industry, including: (1) real-time soft shadow rendering; (2) ambient lighting; (3) global illumination with or without precomputation; (4) physically-based shading models and methods; (5) real-time ray tracing; (6) anti-aliasing and supersampling; as well as various common acceleration methods.

In addition to the latest and most comprehensive content, an important distinction of this course from other real-time rendering tutorials is that it does not teach the use of game engines or emphasize specific shader implementation techniques. Instead, it focuses on the science and knowledge behind real-time rendering. The goal of this course is to provide you with a solid foundation to develop your own real-time rendering engine upon completion.

As an advanced course following GAMES101, GAMES202 offers a slightly increased level of difficulty, but it's manageable for students who have completed GAMES101. Each project requires a moderate amount of coding but involves significant thought.

Course Resources

  • Course Website: GAMES202
  • Course Videos: Bilibili
  • Course Textbook: Real-Time Rendering, 4th edition.
  • Course Assignments: 5 Projects