Teaching a Modern Graphics Pipeline Using a Shader-based Software Renderer

Abstract

Shaders are a fundamental pattern of the modern graphics pipeline. This paper presents a syllabus for an introductory computer graphics course that emphasizes the use of programmable shaders while teaching raster-level algorithms at the same time. We describe a Java-based framework that is used for programming assignments in this course. This framework implements a shader-enabled software renderer and an interactive 3D editor. We also show how to create attractive course materials by using COLLADA, an open standard for 3D content exchange.