"VR works because reality is virtual" - Larry Stark
434/534 Creating a VR Art project
Description
This course is designed for Media Study with graphics programming experience
and those with experience with 3D modeling packages (specifically Maya).
Teams of modelers and programmers will collaborate to build immersive virtual
reality art experiences. The course introduces students to Ygdrasil, an
high-level VR authoring toolkit and Performer a graphics library. The Ygdrasil
system has been specifically designed for large scale art projects. Successful
projects have been built with this framework and are currently on exhibit
at the Ars Electronica Center in Austria and the Foundation for the Hellenic
World in Greece. Ygdrasil handles a number of activities common to
VR environments, such as assembling 3D models into a world, collision detection,
navigation, and detecting events and passing messages in response to them.
Those without programming experience can use a textfile to build VR worlds
using their own models and a variety of modules designed to provide interactivity
and assign behaviors to objects. Programmers can extend the system, building
their own customized modules as this production demands. Ygdrasil
is a networked system, so at both the development and exhibition stages,
participants can enter the virtual environment from remote locations.
The course started as an initiative between CCR and Media Study using the
immersive VR display systems and computer work stations in each facility.
Prerequisites are DMS 420 Programming Graphics II or equivalent, or
experience with 3D modeling packages.
Instructor: Josephine Anstey, jranstey@buffalo.edu
http://www.ccr.buffalo.edu/anstey/TEACHING
Office Hours: Thursday 9:00 - 10:00, 2:30 - 3:30
Where and When
CFA 265/66, W 9:00 - 12:50
Assignments: Expect to spend at least 10 hours per week outside
of class working on assignments and reading. There will be production assignments,
2 presentations, and a final project of scope and substance. One presentation
will be on a VR researcher, the other is on a research topic of your choice
(within the VR field), and can be technical or conceptual. The major project
will be a VR art environment. Collaboration is encouraged. The project
can continue into the second semester, but a well defined subsection of
the whole must be delivered at the end of this semester along with a schedule
for the second semester completion of the project.
Attendance: If you are sick or unable to attend a class, email
me before the class. More than 3 absences without explanation will impact
your grade.
Grading:
Assignments 40%, attendance and participation 10%, project 50%.
Plagiarism will result in a failing grade for that assignment or project.
Presentations
General Information
Syllabus
This course outline may be taken as a guideline only. It is subject
to revision and may include digressions and student driven subject matter.
Lab info & rules