An object-oriented approach for teaching visibility computation algorithms

In this paper we present an approach for teaching visibility computation algorithms. Its suitability for undergraduate and graduate courses is discussed. The approach is based on the abstraction, during the rst stages of the teaching process, of the order of the surfaces (planes, quadrics.. .) of the scene as well as of the model (B-rep, CSG.. .). Speciic algorithmic aspects may also be treated at an abstract level at rst stages. We develop two examples: scan-line and ray-casting.