Events Archive: Spring 2013

Code Party 1

| 7:00 PM EDT | Comfy Lounge

Come out to the Code Party happening in the Comfy Lounge on July 26 at 7:00 PM! Why sleep when you could be hacking on $your\_favourite\_project or doing $something\_classy in great company? Join us for a night of coding, snacks, and camaraderie!

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Come out to the Code Party happening in the Comfy Lounge on July 26 at 7:00 PM! Why sleep when you could be hacking on $your_favourite_project or doing $something_classy in great company? Join us for a night of coding, snacks, and camaraderie!

The Future of 3D Graphics is in Software!

| 5:00 PM EDT | MC 4020

Convergence between CPU and GPU approaches to processing sets the stage for an exciting transition to 3D rendering that takes place entirely in software. TransGaming's Nicolas Capens and Gavriel State will speak about this convergence and how it will influence the future of graphics.

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For some time now, it has been clear that there is strong momentum for convergence between CPU and GPU technologies. Initially, each technology used radically different approaches to processing, but over time GPUs have evolved to support more general purpose use while CPUs have evolved to include advanced vector processing and multiple execution cores. At TransGaming, we believe that this convergence will continue to the point where typical systems have only one type of processing unit, with large numbers of cores and very wide vector execution units available for high performance parallel execution. In this kind of environment, all graphics processing will ultimately take place in software.

In this talk, we will explore the converging nature of CPU and GPU approaches to processing, how dynamic specialization allows CPUs to efficiently perform tasks usually done by GPUs, and why we believe that the increased flexibility of more programmable architectures will ultimately win out over fixed function hardware, even in areas such as texture sampling.

TransGaming Inc. works at the cutting edge of 3D graphics, building technologies that bridge the gap between platform boundaries to allow games to be played on a variety of devices and operating systems. TransGaming works with other industry leaders to update established APIs such as OpenGL, while also breaking new ground in software rendering technology, which we believe will become increasingly important as CPU and GPU technologies converge.

Nicolas Capens is the architect of SwiftShader, TransGaming's high performance software renderer, and is also deeply involved in the ANGLE project, which provides efficient translation from OpenGL ES to Direct3D APIs for implementing WebGL on Windows. Nicolas received his MSci.Eng. degree in computer science from Ghent University in 2007.

Gavriel State (Gav) is TransGaming's Founder and CTO, and has worked in graphics and portability for over 20 years on dozens of platforms and APIs. Gav wrote his first software renderer when taking CS488 at UW, where he later graduated with a B.A.Sc. in Systems Design Engineering.

CSC Goes Outside!

| 7:00 PM EDT | EV3 Fire Pit

Do you love the combination of s'mores, burgers, and fire? Are you brave enough to face the newly-grown geese? Do you want to play some Frisbee while listening to some chill tunes? If so, come hang out with the CSC at the EV3 Fire Pit this Friday! All are welcome for some outdoor food, games, and music.

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Do you love the combination of s'mores, burgers, and fire? Are you brave enough to face the newly-grown geese? Do you want to play some Frisbee while listening to some chill tunes? If so, come hang out with the CSC at the EV3 Fire Pit this Friday! All are welcome for some outdoor food, games, and music.

Path Tracing

| 5:00 PM EDT | MC 4041

As a follow on to last term's tutorial on building a ray-tracer from scratch, this talk will be presenting the basic mechanics of how a bidirectional path-tracer creates a globally illuminated scene, advantages and limitations of this approach over other offline global illumination techniques along with a simple example path-tracer written in C++, and opportunities for hardware acceleration on GPUs, time permitting.

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As a follow on to last term's tutorial on building a ray-tracer from scratch, this talk will be presenting the basic mechanics of how a bidirectional path-tracer creates a globally illuminated scene, advantages and limitations of this approach over other offline global illumination techniques along with a simple example path-tracer written in C++, and opportunities for hardware acceleration on GPUs, time permitting.

3D Movies and Computer Science

| 5:00 PM EDT | MC 4041

While humans started making 3D motion pictures in the 1800's, several technical and artistic challenges prevented widespread interest in the medium. By investing heavily in a computerized production pipeline, James Cameron's 2009 release of Avatar ushered in an era of mainstream interest in 3D film. However, many technical and artistic problems still find their way into otherwise-modern 3D movies. The talk explores some of these problems while introducing the fundamentals of 3D film-making from a CS perspective.

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While humans started making 3D motion pictures in the 1800's, several technical and artistic challenges prevented widespread interest in the medium. By investing heavily in a computerized production pipeline, James Cameron's 2009 release of Avatar ushered in an era of mainstream interest in 3D film. However, many technical and artistic problems still find their way into otherwise-modern 3D movies. The talk explores some of these problems while introducing the fundamentals of 3D film-making from a CS perspective.

Unix 101/ Code Party 0

| 6:00 PM EDT | Comfy Lounge

We are offering a Unix tutorial on Friday, June 7th, 2013! Following the tutorial a code party will take place. Bring your laptops and chargers for an awesome night of coding, hacking and learning. All are welcome to join in the comfy lounge!

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We are offering a Unix tutorial on Friday, June 7th, 2013 at 6:00pm! Following the tutorial a code party will take place. Bring your laptops and chargers for an awesome night of coding, hacking and learning. All are welcome to join in the comfy lounge!

If you have any questions about Unix101/ Code Party 0 please contact exec@csclub.uwaterloo.ca.

Hope to see you there!

Spring 2013 Elections

| 6:00 PM EDT | Comfy Lounge

Elections for Spring 2013 are being held! The Executive will be elected, and the Office Manager and Librarian will be appointed by the new executive.

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It's elections time again! On Wednesday, May 15 at 6:00PM, come to the Comfy Lounge on the 3rd floor of the MC to vote in this term's President, Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary. The Sysadmin, Librarian, and Office Manager will also be chosen at this time.

Nominations are open until 4:30PM on Tuesday, May 14, and can be written on the CSC office whiteboard (yes, you can nominate yourself). Full CSC members can vote and are invited to drop by. You may also send nominations to the Chief Returning Officer. A full list of candidates will be posted when nominations close, along with instructions for voting remotely.

Good luck to our candidates!