This course introduces students to the field of Virtual Reality and focuses on creating immersive, interactive virtual experiences. Topics include:
- Historical Perspectives on Virtual Reality Technology
- Computer Graphics and 3-D Modeling
- Human Perception and Psychology
- Human Computer Interaction
- User Interface Design
The course focuses on designing projects and scenarios for virtual environments, such as as the C6 CAVE at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery. While there are no academic prerequisites, the course is designed for students with backgrounds in Computer Science, Engineering, Art, Architecture, and Design. Students will be working in interdisciplinary teams on multiple projects, culminating in a final project that will be showcased at a public event.
Schedule
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM
We will meet at Hellen C. White 4281 unless noted otherwise
Office Hours
Thursdays 4:00-5:00 PM
3130 Nancy Nicholas Hall
Readings
Reading material for the course will be listed the class website. There will be no textbook for the course.
Grading
Attendance and Participation 20%
Students will be expected to be at all classes. As issues may arise, one miss is allowed. All additional misses will deduct 5% per occurrence. Students are also expected to be active in in-class discussions (i.e. participation). Students who are not engaged will see a reduction this portion of their grade as well.
Reading 20%
We will have weekly readings that will be posted on the website. These reading will also include some questions. These questions should be answer by making a comment on the posting by 11:59 on Sunday. On Monday morning the comments will be made public. On the Tuesday class, we will discuss the readings in class.
Assignments 20%
We will have four assignments as a means to build up into the project. These assignments will be done individually at first, but will later be done in small groups. While the specifics of the assignment will be determined at a later date, the first assignment will be a warm-up exercise, the second assignment will be to build an environment, the third assignment will be to build in some basic programming.
Projects 40%
The final projects will be large part of the grade. Students will be expected to come up with a project idea and description that will be posted online. Students will update the status of the project both online and in in-class discussion on a weekly basis. The final projects will be shown in a public event. Grades will be based on the quality of the final product and the documentation of the work.
Schedule Outline
Weeks 1 -4
The course will introduce students to the field of VR. Readings will cover ideas of presence, history, and basic technology challenges for VR. Assignments will work to build fundamentals for design in the class.
This section will dive into design considerations for Virtual Reality. Readings will focus on methods, goals, critiques of VR. Students will build a virtual environment for their second assignment. Students will develop project ideas.
This section will cover technology and applications in with Virtual Reality. Readings will focus on use cases, experiments and applications of virtual environments. Students will form and begin the development of their final projects.
This section will cover the future for Virtual Reality technology. Readings will focus on Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality, Brain Computer Interfaces, and experimental technologies. Students will be expected to complete their final projects during this time. Final presentations will occur before finals.
-
-
- Students are responsible to be aware of announcements on the course web. This will be the primary way for making announcements.
- Class attendance is mandatory, and participation is an essential component.
- Late assignments (and work) are strongly discouraged and will result in a reduction in your grade. Deadlines are there for a reason. Please consult the instructor if a circumstance arises that requires a deadline extension.
- Students are to use the course web (Wiki) in a responsible manner. You should not exploit the lack of security. For example, do not damage another person’s work, or look at someone else’s writing before you complete your own. Do not do anything that prevents the instructor from being able to read or edit anything.
- Students must give proper attribution for any pieces used as part of their work.
- Students will be expected to contribute during class discussions.
- Students taking this course will be expected to work with teams of individuals who may or may not be associated with their major.
- Students will be granted access to work with higher end technology. Therefore any abuse of these privileges will have severe repercussions.
-