Archive for February, 2010

This lab was created to introduce the student to practical uses of design patterns in game situations. The student is tasked with creating a template factory object. The factory is the created with <Sphere> or <Cube> or <Explosion>. The factory creates 10 objects of each and then uses and recycles the objects as they are returned to the factory.

Developed:

• 3D viewer for lab using OpenGL
• Game play mechanics and 3D collisions of objects
• Lab concept and framework

Full lab and demo as distributed to students can be downloaded here.

This lab was created to build upon the dynamic memory reinforcement that was covered in the string lab. It also gets the student to investigate binary file formats that aren’t their own and understand how the data is stored. To complete the lab the student is tasked with reading in a .bmp file, strip the headers and utilize the information to read in the pixel data. Each pixel’s information is assigned to a separate quad that is created and stored in a 2 dimensional array.

Developed:

• 3D viewer for lab using OpenGL
• Lab format, structure and lesson

Full lab and demo as distributed to students can be downloaded here.

This lab was created to help reinforce the student’s knowledge of dynamic memory and its proper usage. The student is tasked with creating a dynamic string class that mimics the std::string class. Assignment overloading, string concatenation, and array element removal are required for complete implementation. The string class is then tested using an interface provided to them that uses the Microsoft Speech API (SAPI).

Developed:

• Interface using MFC
• SAPI integration
• Dynamic String class

Lab and Demo as distributed to students can be found here.

The XML lab was an introduction for students to proper XML formatting and reading in of XML files utilizing the TinyXML API. The student is given a framework and an XML file. Their task is to finish the LoadFile function. When properly loaded a 3D representation of the word “SUCCESS!” will appear on the screen. The XML file contains the assets, positions, and material information for each letter.

Developed:

• Simple 3D asset and scene management
• 3D Renderer utilizing OpenGL
• 3D assets created in Maya and exported using a Maya Static Mesh Exporter

Full Lab, Demo, and Source Code as distributed to students can be found here.

The lab was created to further the student’s understanding of the Maya C++ API. Utilization of key Maya functionality is taught to the student and they are then required to create a File Translator plug-in that will export static geometry and any animation information such as a skeletal hierarchy, weights and influences, and key frame data. The information is then written out in an XML and binary format.

Developed:

• Static Mesh Exporter using the Maya C++ API
• Animation Exporter using the Maya C++ API
• XML and Binary format for static meshes
• XML format for Scene information
• Simple Viewer using OpenGL
• Cel Shader and Outline Shader in GLSL

Demo and Lab as distributed to students can be downloaded here