Academics: Aim and objectives for the course Top-level syllabus - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

COMPGV07 / M076 - Virtual Environments - Module Logistics Simon Julier Will Steptoe Department of Computer Science, UCL S.Julier@cs.ucl.ac.uk http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/teaching/VE

Overview • Academics: – Aim and objectives for the course – Top-level syllabus • Logistics: – The web pages and the mailing list – Coursework 2

Aim and Objectives • Aim: – To gain an understanding of the core issues required to engineer effective virtual environments • Objectives: – Understand the concepts of immersion and presence – Understand the technology required – Understand the techniques used – Test these in your very own VE system 3

Conduct of the Course • Main lecturers: – Simon Julier, Will Steptoe • Lab Demonstrators: – Will Steptoe, Aitor Rovira • Supporting cast: – David Swapp, others ... • You will do another hour in the form of a group seminar each week. 4

Web Pages & Mailing List • Main web page for the course is – www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/teaching/VE – This has vital information – schedules, course notes, coursework, reading, etc. • Module mailing list – You must register for the mailing list • It is the definitive record of all module instructions – Send email to: • MSc CGVI: gv07-request@cs.ucl.ac.uk • 4th years: m076-request@cs.ucl.ac.uk – Use subject ‘join’ 5

Top-Level Structure 1. System Architecture (Simon) 2. Visual Feedback (External / Will) 3. Presence and Place Illusion (Mel Slater) 4. Tracking and Interaction (Will) 5. Networking (Simon) 6. Avatars (Will) 7. Haptics and Audio (Simon) 8. Mixed Reality (Simon) 9. Design of Experiments (Will) 6

Course Assessment • Coursework 30 % – Two parts to coursework • Your group seminar (30%) • Your group programming coursework (70%) – Groups for two parts need not be the same • Written Exam 70% – Answer 3 of 5 essay-type questions – Past papers up on the website for reference 7

Group Seminars • The seminars will be given in MPEB 1.04 on Fridays 11:00-12:00 • They will last for 35 minutes; 15 minutes for questions • Everybody is expected to attend • Marking: – 40% presentation – 40% slides – 20% extra resources (videos, contemporary examples) 8

Group Seminar Schedule • Weeks 7-9 and 11-15 • Week 7 – Physics systems • Week 8 – Stereo systems • Week 9 – Tracking Technologies • Week 11 – Network Scalability • Week 12 – Human Factors • Week 13 – Representing People • Week 14 – Auditory and Haptic Systems • Week 15 – Mixed and Augmented Reality • Form your groups TODAY • Topics in first-come, first-served order • Order may change but only after week 9. 9

Programming Coursework • In groups of 3 people, you will develop an immersive virtual environment experience – The purpose of the application will be to train users in a particular skill – The application will run in the CAVE – It will be assessed by demonstration and a write-up • Development platform: – XVR (http://vrmedia.it/) 10

Programming Coursework • http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/teaching/VE/Coursework/cw2.html • Video examples from last year: 11

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What’s Happening on Friday • You will experience several demonstrations in UCL’s virtual reality facility • For each demonstration note the reasons why feeling happened worked or didn’t. – How much did I feel as if I had been in that place depicted by the virtual environment? – How much did I act there as if I was visiting such a place for real? • Write an overall report • http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/teaching/VE/Coursework/cw2.html • Email it to Simon by the start of Week 7 • Groups will be allocated based on those subscribed to email lists – Should motivate you to sign up! 16

Labs • Labs will be run on Fridays 09:00-11:00 • Two venues: – 4.17 (PC lab; tutorials) – Ground floor (test with CAVE and trackers) • There will be tutorials in at least some weeks: – Week 7: Introduction to 3DS Max / Blender – Week 8: Introduction to XVR 17

Materials • Recommended text: Understanding Virtual Reality: Interface, Application, and Design, William R. Sherman, Alan B. Craig • Other materials: – Seminar presenters get copies of papers – All slides on web – Slides and your notes will suffice for revision 18

Summary www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/teaching/VE Sign up for the mailing list!!! 19

Programming Coursework • The project will be implemented in XVR • This is a high-level scripting environment (yet another language to learn) • However, code written on a laptop should “just work” in the CAVE – Check that it does! • (Unfortunately it only runs in Windows) 20