CPS 296.1
Introduction to Computer Vision
Spring 2003


Course Mechanics


Textbook and Other Books

The required textbook is Forsyth and Ponce's Computer Vision: A Modern Approach, Prentice-Hall, 2003. Other books are listed in the course outline along with a tentative syllabus.


Exams, Project, Homework

There will be approximately four homework assignments, and a project. All homework is to be done individually under Duke's honor code. Projects can be done in groups, and all members in a group will get the same grade for the project they submit. The homework is worth 40% of the final grade, and the project is worth 60%. Project guidelines can be found here.

Homework is due at class-time on the day indicated; submitting homework later in the same day will be considered late. Late homework and project work gets a 5% penalty per calendar day of delay. This includes Sundays, holidays, etc.; so if an assignment is due on a Thursday and you hand it in on Monday, then the penalty is 20%. Please submit homework either in class or in-person to Bridgette (D211 LSRC. Please clearly indicate that the material is CPS296.1 homework to be delivered to me). Please do not rely on mailboxes or on sliding homework under office doors.


Reading, Required Material

If a topic covered in class is discussed in the textbook, that part of the book is automatically required reading. In addition, handouts may be provided occasionally. All handouts, including homework assignments, are required reading. Other books referred to are optional reading, unless pages from them are handed out.


Handouts and Course Information

Electronic access will be used as much as possible. Whenever possible, handouts will be in electronic form. To obtain them, use your favorite net browser to access the class home page. This page contains notes, pointers to software and images, and anything related to this course. Please put a bookmark to this page in your browser, so you can access it easily in the future.


Computer Vision Teaching Lab

A new computer vision teaching lab is under construction in North 018. Some of its facilities are already available. There is currently enough to take images and short image sequences. You are advised to take something to take images of if you use the lab. An appropriate usage schedule for the lab will be worked out once the project teams have been formed. Means for access authorization will be issued as needed.


Computers

If you are taking this class, you are entitled to an account on the computer science machines, and in North 018, for the duration of the semester. Please send me e-mail if you do not have an account on CS computers.


Software

Everybody's homework and most peoples' projects will be written either in Matlab, or in C++. Matlab will be used for simple, exploratory work. C++ will be used for more complex projects. Several software packages are available on the Software page of the CMU Computer Vision Page. One option is the VXL package, an open-source collection of computer vision and numerical algorithms, but others may be preferable, depending on your taste, operating system, and project scope. If you plan to use one of these packages for your project, please make sure that you download, install, and try to use it before committing to it, as installation is sometimes tricky. For your convenience, VXL has been built for you on the CS Unix file system at /usr/project/cwd/spring03/cps296.1/vxl . Please peruse the documentation on the VXL home page to see how to use this software. If you work on your own machine, you may want to download the code directly, and install it. For smaller projects, smaller software packages may be preferable.

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