Synthetic 3D Imaging - Project #1

[1] Project 1 Description
Create a project description (one per team), including or built upon your proposal. Three or four pages should be enough (including illustrations). If you must put in more, then do. Include visuals to complement your presentation (via our big projected Web browser). This document should be (at least partially) in your Project 1 WWWeb page. (Hard-to-WWW graphics and illustrations can be handed in in hard-copy form.)

[2] Project 1 Presentation
Prepare a 5-10-minute presentation, including a demo (if applicable). (We can walk over to labs to facilitate demos, if necessary.) Concentrate on the issues raised below. The presentation should flow quickly, so have your visuals and/or demos ready. For teams of two or three, divide the presentation time among team members (e.g., one does the first half, one does the second).

Remember, the audience will retain at most 3 key points. Decide on these points and emphasize them.
Elements that many teams will include: introduction, what we did, how we did it, how it works, what we demonstrated, what we learned, what to do next time.
If you don't know or understand something, then don't dwell on it.
If you get stage fright, remember that you are among friends and are not graded or judged on how nervous or cool you are. (Exercises to combat stage fright may precede the presentations.)
It's better to prepare mentally more than verbally. Think it through. Pretend a techie friend stopped you during lunch and said "tell me about your project" and you just happen to have a nice visual or two and a demo. What would you say?
One more thing: brevity, brevity, brevity.

Things to do before class, Monday March 18

By this time, each of you ought to have a plan for your first project. This project represents two weeks of work. It can be done in groups of two or three. Individual projects are OK, but will be less fun. See the list of potential projects to get ideas. Buy, borrow, and secure necessary equipment, tools, and computer support now before it's too late.

Project 1 Proposals: You must make significant progress before Monday, March 18. To demonstrate your progress, each "team" (be it one, two, or three students) shall prepare a project description. Each team should create a "Project 1" WWWeb page - before the March 18 class meeting - containing the team's proposal. (If you feel that drawings and diagrams necessitate hardcopy, then hand this in to me at the March 18 class.) Each of you, make a link from your personal page to your team's project page. (This way you don't have to make duplicate pages for a single team.)

The project 1 proposal should include the following:

• Name of project
• Names of team members
• A brief description of the project (about two pages, including drawings, or more if you need it) that deals with the following issues:
  • What are you creating, testing, or demonstrating?
  • Are you creating a display device? or testing human perception (e.g., depth cues, depth acuity)? or comparing 3D imaging techniques? or creating a demonstration of a concept discussed in class or in the literature?
  • How much of it is hardware and how much software?
• What is your goal? What steps must you take to achieve your goal?
• What tools and materials are you using?
  What reference material is helpful?
• Anything else you want to write.

Do as much of your project as you can. This way you will have the final week (before March 25) to prepare a nice 5-10-minute presentation, including a demo (if applicable).

Things to keep in mind:

• Emphasis is on the science behind the 3D, and the human in front of the 3D. Process is important - why did you choose to do various aspects of your project. Keep track of steps that you take, including failures, dead-ends, revelations, and radical revisions.
• One-person projects should be simple; two-person projects roughly twice as complex; etc. Try to do even amounts of work, dividing tasks. If you do a specialized portion of the project, great, but do try to understand the overall project.
• These projects may lead to later projects - by the same group or by others. Tools and techniques from this first project may be shared for future projects.
• I am happy to discuss all issues. Don't be shy.