Visual Thinking/Visual Computing

The Human Dimension

Week 1
	Thursday, January 27	lecture	Course Overview Welcome, genesis of course and goals, course structure, nature of assignments and grading. Images Slideshow (to be linked in soon) The Power of Images: An Overview of Visual History and Theory, part1 >> Historical attitudes toward the visual, the visual canon, suspicion of the visual, the role of computer graphics, the need for visual digital literacy.
		questionnaire	for course admittance
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.Week 2
	Tuesday, February 1	lecture	The Power of Images: An Overview of Visual History and Theory, part 2 >> continued
		in-class projects	The Reality of Photographs >> Visual Memory Exercise (Be sure to run the flash software via link on this page. You'll need a blank piece of paper to write your answers on.) >>
	. Thursday, February 3	. lecture	. Overview of Visual Research Methods >> A brief overview of methods from the Visual Methodologies book, and more, including Connoisseurship, Art History, Content Analysis, Semiotics, Discourse Analysis, and Perception and Computer Vision Research.
		readings due	[Rose 2001] Introduction and Chapter 1: Researching Visual Materials, pp.1-32. Web readings on iconoclasm >>
		discussion	The Destruction and Reconstruction of the Buddhas at Bamiyan description >> .
Week 3
	Tuesday, February 8	lecture	Theory: Looking at and "Reading" Visual Materials The main tenets and concepts/terminology in Semiology, with examples. >>
		readings due	[Rose 2001] Chapter 4: Semiology, pp.69-99.
		in-class and take-home project	Make Your Own Car Ad (due Tues. Feb 15) >> .
	Thursday, February 10	guest lecture	The Making of Shrek 2 Guest Lecturer: Jeff Beall, Brown ScB and MA, Lead Technical Director for Shrek 2, currently in charge of production pipeline for Dreamworks. short bio
. The Technical Dimension
Week 4
	Tuesday, February 15	lecture	Introduction to Vision Science and Perception >> The mystery of vision, historical theories, ecological approaches, high-level perception concepts (figure-ground, frame of reference, and more), lower-level rules for image "construction" (interpreting shading, T- and Y-junctions, depth cues, etc.).
		reading due	[Hoffman 1998] Chapter 1: A Creative Genius for Vision and Chapter 2: Inflating an Artist's Sketch [rules 1-10], pp. 1-46.

		in-class projects	Pop-outs (parallel visual processing) >> Disassembling a face (invariance) >> The depth of realism (depth cues) >> .
	Thursday, February 17	lecture	Introduction to Vision Science and Perception Part 2 >>
		reading due	[Hoffman 1998] Chapter 3: The Invisible Surface that Glows [rules 11-13], pp. 47-77.
		discussion/critique	Critique of car ads. See ads >>
		in-class projects	Automatic birds (invariance and surface types) >> .
Week 5
	Tuesday, February 22 .	no class	Long weekend for President's Day
	Thursday, February 24	lecture	Introduction to Vision Science and Perception Part 3 >> Design Concepts >> History of design and basic design concepts for 2D work and the Web.
		reading due	[Williams 2003] All Chapters
		in-class projects	Pre-instruction drawing of hand >> Line styles >> Upside-down drawing >> Non-dominant hand drawing >> Rapid drawing >> Blind contour drawing >> Negative space drawing >> Post-instruction drawing of hand >>
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Week 6
	Tuesday, March 1	lecture	2D Computer Graphics Concepts (Part 1, Raster Graphics) >> Overview of types of data representation and the distinction between model and image, i.e., geometric vs. raster graphics. Introduction to raster graphics (analog (continuous) vs. digital (discrete, sampled)) representations, pixels, bit-depth, "paint" tools, antialiasing and filters, use in photoediting, and image-processing.
		reading due	C.V.A.: Chapter 2: Digital Painting and Photoediting, and 2D Raster Graphics, Sections 2.1 and 2.2. pp. 38-83,
		in-class project	GTT Brush "Lab" >> Exploratories Sampling applet >> GTT Filter exploration >> Exploratories Filter Shape applet >>
	Thursday, March 3	lecture	2D Computer Graphics Concepts (Part 2, Geometric Graphics) >> Introduction to 2D geometric graphics (geometric object description - vertices, paths, and fill , coordinate geometry, transformations, typography, use in graphic design and 2D CAD).
		Reading due	Chapter 4: Digital Design and Layout-2D Geometric Graphics, pp.120-155
		in-class project	GTT 2D Geometric Inspection >> Exploratories Spline applet >> Exploratories Nyquist applet >> Exploratories Transformation Game >>
		take-home project	Business card self-portrait (due March 10) >> .
Week 7
	Tuesday, March 8	lecture	3D Computer Graphics Concepts, Part 1 >> Introduction to 3D geometric graphics (3D models, Platonic solids and sweeps, hierarchy, rendering, modeling of nature, use in simulation, special effects, and 3D design).
		reading due	[Spalter 1999]. Chapter 7: Building 3D Worlds, pp. 212-256


	Thursday, March 10	lecture	3D Computer Graphics Concepts, Part 2 >>
		reading due	[Spalter 1999]Chapter 8: Rendering 3D Worlds, pp. 257-296
		in-class project	GTT 3D Projects .
Week 8
	Tuesday, March 15	critique	Business card self-portraits >>


	Thursday, March 17	guest lecture	Technology and Art in Hollywood Jaron Lanier, inventor of modern virtual reality, and futurist. Short bio .
. Synthesis and Applications
Week 9
	Tuesday, March 22	lecture/discussion	The Computer in the Fine Arts >> Overview of computer art history and examples from personal collection of art works and catalogs, books, etc. Catch up on critiques, 3D
		readings due	[Rose 2001] Chapter two: The Good Eye and Chapter three: Content Analysis, pp. 54-99 [Spalter 1999]Chapter one: A Brief History pp. 1-36

		take-home	Consider questions posed by Bill Seaman--to be discussed next class (Th. March 24) Fine art project >>
	Thursday, March 24	guest lecture	The RISD Digital Media Program guest lecturer Bill Seaman From biological research to operating systems, Seaman will lecture and lead discussion on provocative topics in cutting edge digital art work and environments. Short bio
	March 26-April 3	no classes	SPRING BREAK .
Week 10
	Tuesday, April 5	guest lecture	The Floating Window James Faure Walker, UK artistic, critic, writer. Short bio .
		take-home	Fine art project
	Thursday, April 7	field trip and lecture	Medical Scientific Visualization at Brown David Laidlaw (Brown CS Department) short bio Laidlaw will lead a lecture and discussion on the past, present, and future of scientific visualization. Examples of visualization by Laidlaw and others will be seen in Brown's fully immersive VR Cave. .
Week 11
	Tuesday, April 12	lecture	Motion from Optical Flow Fulvio Domini, Brown University
		take-home	Field Integration project >>

		take-home project due	Fine Art project
	Thursday, April 14	critique	Fine art modern landscape projects .

Week 12
	Tuesday, April 19 .		Final project overview >> Color: A Multidisciplinary Visual Field >> Color theory draws on results from all the fields considered in this course. This lecture covers color as a perceptual phenomenon, color mixing, color matching, color specification, and finally, some color usage strategies.
		take-home project due	Field Integration project
	Thursday, April 21	guest lecture	The Role of Visual Communication in Math, Science, and Engineering Includes the shift from geometric to symbolic mathematics, scientific and information visualization enabled by the computer, visual analytics Philip J. Davis, Professor Emeritus, Brown University Department of Applied Mathematics. Short bio
Week 13
	Tuesday, April 26	lecture:	Dana Tenneson (PhD student) and Sascha Backer (Graphics Group staff) will present a lecture on User Interface Design We will also do feedback forms.
	Thursday, April 28 .	guest lecture	The Image Economy: the creation, marketing, storage, distribution, and archiving, of visual "goods" and the roles they play. James Joaquin, Brown '87. Founder of when.com and ofoto.com. Short bio
Week 14
	April 29-May 10 .	reading period	Work on final projects
Week 15
	Friday, May 13 9am-12pm	final critiques	Final critiques (see final pieces) Possible Show (location tbd) Note: Additional critiques will take place during selected evening sessions.