3D Models for Virtual Reality

This course is part of Virtual Reality Specialization

Instructor: Prof Sylvia Xueni Pan

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Assessments

8 assignments

Taught in English

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This course is part of the Virtual Reality Specialization

When you enroll in this course, you'll also be enrolled in this Specialization.

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There are 4 modules in this course

This course will begin your journey to creating Virtual Reality experiences. A Virtual Reality experience is a new world that you step into and are entirely immersed in. Creating a VR experience means creating that world and all the objects in it.

In this course you will learn the basics of 3D graphics: how we create objects and how to lay them out to create an environment. You will learn techniques like materials and texturing that make your objects appear realistic. You will also learn about audio techniques to ensure that your experiences sound great as well as looking great. In all of these topics we will pay attention to the particular requirements of Virtual Reality, including pitfalls and performance issues: making sure your environment runs fast enough in VR. You will learn all of this using the professional game and VR engine, Unity3D. Unity is one of the most used game engine and is a relatively easy, but fully featured, introduction to 3D development. The course will culminate in a project in which you will create your own VR scene. VR development is something you can only learn by doing it yourself, so working on your project will be the best way to learn.

This week you will begin developing 3D Virtual Reality Environments. We will cover the basics of 3D graphics, including a number of 3D engines and development environments that you can use. We will particularly focus on the Unity3D engine.

What's included

16 videos7 readings4 assignments5 discussion prompts

16 videosTotal 73 minutes

Welcome to 3D Models for Virtual Reality!1 minutePreview module
What are 3D Graphics?1 minute
Introduction to Integrated Development Environments (IDE)1 minute
Why Use A-Frame?3 minutes
Open VR with Lance Putman5 minutes
Unreal Engine3 minutes
Introduction to Unity2 minutes
3D Space3 minutes
Unity User Interface6 minutes
Navigating in Unity4 minutes
Objects and Meshes2 minutes
Creating Objects in Unity | Primitives5 minutes
Creating 3D Assets2 minutes
The Asset Store8 minutes
Importing Assets From Unity and Other Places6 minutes
VR Environment Project13 minutes

7 readingsTotal 100 minutes

Course Blog10 minutes
Learning To Use A-Frame5 minutes
Learning Unity5 minutes
Setting Up Unity60 minutes
Unity Basics5 minutes
Importing Assets5 minutes
VR Project Brief10 minutes

4 assignmentsTotal 120 minutes

3D Graphics30 minutes
Reflection on Your Skills for VR Work30 minutes
Choosing Game Engines30 minutes
Planning your project30 minutes

5 discussion promptsTotal 60 minutes

Content Creation in VR10 minutes
Your Favourite VR Environment10 minutes
Which Engine Will You Use?15 minutes
How Was Setting Up Unity?15 minutes
Share Your Work10 minutes

In this module you will carry on learning about 3D graphics, including how to use transforms to lay out a 3D scene and how to use materials to give your objects a distinctive appearance. You will also submit the first draft of your project.

What's included

16 videos4 readings1 assignment1 peer review1 discussion prompt

16 videosTotal 59 minutes

Introduction to Week 21 minutePreview module
Transforms4 minutes
Compound Objects1 minute
Positioning, Scaling, and Transforming Primitives in Unity5 minutes
Cameras in VR2 minutes
Unity VR Mode | Setting Up Cameras | Standard and VR2 minutes
Keyframe Animation3 minutes
Keyframe Animation in Unity7 minutes
Introduction to Materials1 minute
Lights in VR2 minutes
Lights in Unity4 minutes
Materials2 minutes
Materials in Unity4 minutes
Textures2 minutes
Textures in Unity4 minutes
Working on Your Project7 minutes

4 readingsTotal 35 minutes

Transforms and Cameras5 minutes
Setting up VR mode10 minutes
Unity Animation10 minutes
Graphics in Unity10 minutes

1 assignmentTotal 14 minutes

VR Graphics Quiz14 minutes

1 peer reviewTotal 60 minutes

Content Creation Work in Progress60 minutes

1 discussion promptTotal 10 minutes

Setting up Unity for VR10 minutes

In this week you will learn about using sound in Virtual Reality and how you can use advanced 3D Audio techniques to enhance your experience.

What's included

14 videos2 readings1 assignment2 discussion prompts

14 videosTotal 66 minutes

Introduction to Audio in VR1 minutePreview module
What is Sound?8 minutes
How Do Humans Perceive Sound?8 minutes
What is Digital Audio?8 minutes
How is Sound Useful?3 minutes
How Do We Use Sound in VR?6 minutes
General Guidance for Using Sound2 minutes
How Do We Use Filters in VR?3 minutes
Audio Formats, Sources and Listeners in Unity6 minutes
Audio Effects in Unity4 minutes
Unity Audio Clips and Files3 minutes
Audio Mixers in Unity7 minutes
Audio in Unity | Additional Resources1 minute
Summary1 minute

2 readingsTotal 45 minutes

Learning More About Audio in Unity15 minutes
Now It's Your Turn!30 minutes

1 assignmentTotal 30 minutes

Audio and Revision Quiz30 minutes

2 discussion promptsTotal 20 minutes

Examples of the Use of Sound10 minutes
Using Audio in your Project10 minutes

In this final week of the course, we will put together everything we have learned to think about how to create compelling VR worlds. We will start by looking behind the scenes at how 3D graphics hardware works and why VR can be so demanding of computing power. Then we will think about the particular requirements of content creation for VR. You will finish by submitting the final version of your project for a peer review.

What's included

11 videos5 readings2 assignments1 peer review2 discussion prompts

11 videosTotal 67 minutes

Introduction to Week 41 minutePreview module
Polygons to Pixels4 minutes
Motion to Photon2 minutes
Global Illumination4 minutes
Why Do We Need Different Graphics Techniques for VR?6 minutes
Further Learning1 minute
Unity Resources5 minutes
Unity Examples11 minutes
Learning VR Content Creation16 minutes
Summary| Creating VR Worlds6 minutes
Project Advice6 minutes

5 readingsTotal 50 minutes

Unity Shaders10 minutes
Techniques for Optimising a VR Experience10 minutes
Further Learning in Unity10 minutes
Final Project Requirements10 minutes
Thank you10 minutes

2 assignmentsTotal 60 minutes

What Works in VR?30 minutes
How is VR Content Creation Different?30 minutes

1 peer reviewTotal 60 minutes

Creating VR Environments Project 60 minutes

2 discussion promptsTotal 20 minutes

How is VR Content Creation Different?10 minutes
Share a Useful Resource10 minutes

Instructor

Instructor ratings

4.6 (82 ratings)

Prof Sylvia Xueni Pan

University of London

5 Courses131,525 learners

Offered by

University of London

Goldsmiths, University of London

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4.6

383 reviews

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Reviewed on Jul 9, 2020

It really couldn't have been better. Everything was right up to the mark; right from theoretical knowledge to practical hands-on lectures. It was just a perfect experience.

Reviewed on Sep 19, 2020

ONLY PROBLEMS I HAVE NOT COMPLETE PEER BECAUSE IT IS VERY DIFFCULT

Reviewed on Jan 15, 2018

This course refreshed my skills of developing 3D models and environments in Unity3D software. Some new learnings were interesting and useful - viz. how and where to to get 3D models.

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