MONASH UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
HONOURS YEAR

FIT4012 : Procedural modelling, animation
& artificial life in computer graphics

Assignment Notes


Title :

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon

Date Due: Refer to main page
Weight: 100% of your final mark for this unit
Submission: CD-ROM

 

Specifications:

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were originally part of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World (along with the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Colossus of Rhodes and the Lighthouse of Alexandria etc.). Did they exist? Where were they located? It is supposed by archaeologists that they were located somewhere in modern day Iraq.

"The Garden was 100 feet long by 100 feet wide and built up in tiers so that it resembled a theater. Vaults had been constructed under the ascending terraces which carried the entire weight of the planted garden; the uppermost vault, which was seventy-five feet high, was the highest part of the garden, which, at this point, was on the same level as the city walls. The roofs of the vaults which supported the garden were constructed of stone beams some sixteen feet long, and over these were laid first a layer of reeds set in thick tar, then two courses of baked brick bonded by cement, and finally a covering of lead to prevent the moisture in the soil penetrating the roof. On top of this roof enough topsoil was heaped to allow the biggest trees to take root. The earth was leveled off and thickly planted with every kind of tree. And since the galleries projected one beyond the other, where they were sunlit, they contained conduits for the water which was raised by pumps in great abundance from the river, though no one outside could see it being done." --- Diodorus Siculus (c. 50BC)

It is your task to reveal the rich beauty of the gardens in virtual form. You can take some liberties with the architecture, focus instead on making a rich, terraced or raised platform garden by employing the generative techniques discussed in lectures. The garden needs to be parameterised by (i) the number, width, height and arrangement of terraces or platforms (ii) the number of waterfalls. I.e. Different parameters specified at run-time (or read from a file) should produce different terrace formations with waterfalls of different heights and in different locations. The terraces need to be populated with randomly generated trees and plants.

An etching of the Hanging Gardens (origin)

Additional suggestions: Particle systems could be employed to generate dynamic spray from the waterfalls or a small fountain. Maybe procedural textures could be used to generate marble or brick surfaces. Your vision of the gardens will to some extent determine the most suitable modelling techniques.

All your code should be written in C or C++ and should run under a UNIX (or derivative) operating system. The models should be visualised in OpenGL. Either a camera path through your garden can be pre-programmed by you or under the control of a human user. Either of these possibilities is acceptable.

If you wish to get into the Hall-of-Fame here is something that might assist. Visualize your animated model by rendering a still image specified by a model file exported from your software. Use a stand-alone free/share-ware renderer such as POV-Ray to produce the rendering. It is worth scanning the POV-Ray gallery and Hall-of-Fame for ideas on how to use the modelling primitives the software can handle to generate landscapes containing buildings, plants, light sources etc. This rendering can be made after the project deadline if you desire as it will not be assessed.

Choose the features of the garden that most interest you and model them appropriately. You will need to research modelling techniques, especially those on generative architecture. This will involve reading papers and books, not just the WWW and the lecture notes. Prepare a bibliography document detailing the references you have consulted in the course of your research. Write a paragraph describing the contents of each reference you have consulted. The paragraph should be specific about what the reference contained that was of value (or not) for your assignment.

Marking breakdown:

Terraces & Waterfalls (static) [45]
Plants [45]
Bibliography: only published books, conference and journal papers count for marks. [10]

Bonus: the best images and extra features will receive some bonus marks as detailed below. Don't overdo it, your total mark is capped at 100.

Animated particle system waterfalls, spray or a fountain [7]
A bird or two flocking around the gardens [7]

<=10

Submission Details:

The assignment is due at the time specified on the main page.

Submit all of the files specified below on a CD-ROM clearly labelled with your name and ID number. Submissions will be accepted at the General Office in building 63 or presented in person to the lecturer prior to the deadline.

You will need to include the following in your submission:

Documentation is important. Marks are allocated within each section for the research you have done. Documentation submitted should include:

Each file of your source code must contain the follwing at the top:

 /* 
  * This software is the original work of <Your Full Name>. ID: <Your ID> 
  * This software is submitted in partial fulfillment of the 
  * requirements for the degree of <Your Degree>, 
  * Monash University
  */ 

You are encouraged to consult reference material as widely as possible, but remember the code you write MUST be your own work. Make sure you think about, and understand, the processes involved rather than blindly copying the work of others.

Please be realistic about what you can achieve given the time constraints. Students invariably spend far too much time on this assignment. As much fun as it is, any time above 50 hours would be better spent on other activities. (e.g. fishing in the Monash pond)

Late assignments will incur mark penalties according to the Fibonacci sequence multiplied by a lecturer-determined scaling factor (e.g. 0.5, 1 or 100). An assignment that is one day late will receive a one mark penalty multiplied by the scaling factor. Assignments two days late will receive a 2 mark penalty, three days late, 3 marks, each multiplied by the factor. The sequence is [1],1,2,3,5,8,13,21... (times the factor). This applies for all days including public holidays and weekends so please submit your assignments punctually!


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