Story

Elise Xue, EECS, '17

"I am very glad that I took on this internship, because learned a lot from my project. On the surface, the project sounded very computer graphics oriented, which was fine because I wanted to learn a bit CG since I did not have any experience in graphics. But I am glad that the project was not only graphics."

 

My project was to code an exporter using building data to create photorealistic computer graphic renderings from different security camera angles, with a focus on accurate lighting simulation.The exporter was coded in C++, which I had to learn on my own, but knowledge of Java and coding etiquette from 6.005 helped me a lot in coding the exporter. I was able to code the skeleton ahead of schedule, and skills that I’ve learned from MIT’s algorithm classes let me speed up and refine the exporter.Aside from coding the exporter I had to work with other programs such as LuxRender,Blender, and Autodesk Revit. Learning Revit was very time consuming, not only because everything was in Japanese but also the user interface took a very long time to figure out.

I am very glad that I took on this internship, because learned a lot from my project. On the surface, the project sounded very computer graphics oriented, which was fine because I wanted to learn a bit CG since I did not have any experience in graphics. But I am glad that the project was not only graphics; I had to use realistic lighting models, so I learned a lot of light physics and how to set up sun/sky models. The data I had to export was building data, so I learned about how building information is stored and created. A lot of people in my division were architecture majors as well, so I learned a lot about what I was supposed to be looking for by talking to them. I also got to play around with Blender, an open source computer graphics platform.