Procedural Generation and Simulation

Prof. Dr. Lena Gieseke | l.gieseke@filmuniversitaet.de
Teaching Assistant: Sylvia Rybak | sylvia.rybak@filmuniversitaet.de

Session 01 - Introduction (20 points)

This session is due on Monday, April 24 and we will discuss the results on Wednesday, April 26.

This assignment should take < 6h (probably much less). If you need longer, please comment on that in your submission.

Syllabus

Task 01.01

  • Which of the chapter topics given in the syllabus are of most interest to you? Why?
  • Are there any further topics in regard to procedural generation and simulation that would interest you?
  • Which tool would you personally prefer to use for the practical tasks (e.g. Houdini, Unreal, Unity, Maya, Blender, JavaScript, p5, GLSL, …)?
  • How would you rate your level of experience with Unreal Engine?
    • Novice
    • Intermediate
    • Advanced
    • God-like

Introduction

Task 01.02 - Procedural Generation

Briefly in your own words: how would you explain your nanny what procedural generation means?

Patterns

Task 01.03 - Seeing Patterns

Take at least three pictures of natural patterns and at least three pictures of man-made ones (patterns can be two or three dimensional). Try to include at least one pattern with self-similarity. Taking the pictures with your smart phone is just fine. Link all images in this markdown file.

Task 01.04 - Understanding and Implementing Patterns

Write for one of your pattern images a generating algorithm in pseudo-code or code. Submit the code below.

Task 01.05 - Seeing Faces

As an exercise to see and understand the environment around you (and to have some fun 😊), try to find at least two faces. Link all images in this file.

faces_around_us

[Image sources left to right, top to bottom: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]

Abstraction

Task 01.06 - Abstraction in Art

Chose one “traditional” painting, which is inspirational to you. The image can come from the script or you can refer to any artists or image you like.

Explain briefly what you like about the painting and how it might inspire you for your own work.

Task 01.07 - Abstracted Artistic Expression in CGI

Chose one CG image, which you like and of which you think that it has an artistic quality to it. The image doesn’t need to be from the script, again you can chose any CGI image you like (it should use 3D graphics). You can find more examples in the Summary of Artists section.

Explain briefly what you like about the image and why you consider it to be somewhat a pice of art.

Unreal Engine

Task 01.07 - First Steps

This task is about installing and getting to know Unreal Engine. The goal of this task is that you get to know Unreal and are somewhat knowledgeable about the basic functionalities. If you already know Unreal, learn something new about it and summarize it briefly.

You have to submit at least one preview image of the scene that you worked on. This can be a really simple scene, e.g. just a couple elements. Even though the scene can be simple, also try to design the scene a bit in which ever visual direction you want.

For archiving this goal, you could for example start with the official Unreal tutorial Your First Hour in Unreal Engine 5.0: Introduction (which also guides you through the installation steps). Ultimately, it is up to you how, e.g. with which tutorial, you want to get into Unreal.

On a Side Note: The sample project that the tutorial is referring to, is now called Unreal Learning Kit.

We started a collection of tutorials and resources for you in the Unreal script.

Hint: Make sure to plan in a bit of time for the installation of Unreal as it takes a while.

Learnings

Task 01.08

Please summarize your personal learnings (text or bullet points - whatever you prefer). What was challenging for you in this session? How did you challenge yourself?

Answer all questions directly in a copy of this file and also link and display all of your images in that file. Submit your copy as pgs_ss23_XX_lastname.md in your assignments folder (replace the XX with the number of the session).

For example: assignments/gieseke/01/pgs_ss23_01_gieseke.md

Happy Abstracing!