3D rendering with C++ and openGL in undergraduate projects

Rendering and animation involve a number of very interesting programming problems that provide an excellent challenge for advanced undergraduate students. Furthermore, the topic itself has wide appeal among that group. Over the past three semesters independent study classes were conducted with three different undergraduate students. In these classes we used Microsoft's Visual C++ and OpenGL, a 3D graphics library. The educational focus was on learning Visual C++ and techniques of Object-Oriented Programming. This paper will present an outline of the basics of 3D rendering and animation, and a description of the classes we developed to formulate the problem in an object-oriented framework. Several programs produced by these students will be discussed to show their pedagogical value.