This course will focus on
learning about current research topics in virtual reality and
augmented reality including hardware, applications, middleware,
user experiences, and societal issues and how these topic's put
into VR and AR's historical context.
Goals:
understand the strengths
of different VR and AR platforms
understand the tools and
the trade offs for creating effective VR experiences and
gain experience in using them
understand effective
user interaction in virtual worlds
understand the important
human factors issues, in particular safety, in virtual
environments
effectively critique VR and
AR research
understand the history of VR
and AR
understand what are the
current VR and AR research topics
Activities:
present, discuss, and
critique VR and AR research papers
develop an interactive
virtual reality application that runs in evl's CAVE2 hybrid
reality environment and present that application to the
class
COURSE MATERIALS:
There is no official textbook
but there will be a number of assigned paper readings and two
optional textbooks
Understanding
Virtual Reality: Interface, Application, and Design, 2nd
Edition
William Sherman and Alan Craig
Morgan Kaufmann
ISBN-13: 978-0128009659
ISBN-10: 012800965
VR Developer Gems
CRC Press
William Sherman
ISBN-13: 978-1138030121
ISBN-10: 1138030120
PREREQUISITES:
You
should have a solid grasp of programming in a language like C /
C++ / Java / Python, basic data structures, experience
writing code in groups, testing, version control, and patterns.
Standard departmental disclaimer:
If you do not have the prerequisites for this course make sure
that you drop this course right away. The department will verify
the prerequisites for all students registered in this course
during the first few weeks of the term and if you do not have
the prerequisites, you will be notified and dropped from the
course after the normal drop/add period. By that time, you will
not be able to enroll in any new course. If you want to add the course
during week 2 you will need to send me an email.
REQUIRED TECHNOLOGY:
You will need access to a
reasonably modern laptop computer with a modern graphics card.
You will need root / admin access on this machine to be able to
install free software. During class time you will use SAGE3 on
your laptop to interact with the classroom wall to present and
comment on research papers. You will also need to run the
Unity3D game engine to develop a virtual reality application to
run on evl's CAVE2 hybrid reality environment. You will likely
need to be able to run other free software packages such as
audacity for audio and blender for 3D model creation. You will
need a 3 button mouse to effectively interact with Unity.
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE OF
TOPICS TO BE COVERED:
(the
relative amount of time given to the different presentations
may change depending on the number of students in the class at
the end of week 2)
Week
Projects
Topics
1
1/9
& 1/11
Intro
to the Course, Demos, Tools
2
1/16
& 1/18
Project
out
Overview
of VR and AR
3
1/23
& 1/25
Overview
continued
4
1/30
& 2/1
🎤Classic Paper Discussions
5
2/6
& 2/8
🎤Classic Paper
Discussions
6
2/13
& 2/15
Project
phase 1 due
🎤Classic Paper Discussions
7
2/20
& 2/22
paper choice due
🎤Classic Paper Discussions
8
2/27
& 2/29
🎤Recent Paper
Presentations
9
3/5
& 3/7
🎤Recent Paper
Presentations
10
3/12
& 3/14
🎤Recent Paper
Presentations
🌴
3/19
& 3/21
🌴 Spring Break 🌴
🌴 Spring Break 🌴
11
3/26
& 3/28
🎤Recent Paper
Presentations & Project
testing (4/9 & 4/11)
"so much
time, so little to see ... wait a minute, strike that, reverse
it" -- Willy Wonka
ATTENDANCE:
Attendance
is very important, but not mandatory. Part of your grade will be
based on your in-class participation (i.e. asking good
questions, making good comments) so please take that into
account.
I
will occasionally send out emails to the class using your UIC
email address so please make sure that you are checking for
email from that account every day or two.
I
will be putting all of my notes on the web, however these notes
should not be considered official until the day of class. If I
make any major changes to a page afterwards, then I will
announce it in class, but note that at the bottom of each page
is a modification date so you should be able to tell when the
notes were last modified. I try to ensure that the notes on the
web accurately reflect the lecture, but its what is discussed in
class that counts, not what's written in the notes.
"Those who are absent
are always wrong." - African proverb
ASSIGNMENTS: The best way to learn
about VR is to make VR applications. There will be one project,
discussions on classic VR and AR papers, a presentation on a
recent research paper about VR or AR, and points for class
participation.
You will be
making a short presentation about each of your projects to the
class. If the project is not done then you can't present it, so
late assignments lose 50% per day - if something is turned in
within 24 hours after the deadline then the max score is 50
points out of 100; after that its a 0. Assignment deadlines will
not be extended for any reason other than a headline in the
Tribune or Sun Times describing an army of undead ghouls walking
the streets of Chicago eating people. In order to get an A a
student must get a passing grade on all the projects.
"I hear and I forget. I see
and I remember. I do and I understand" - Chinese proverb
GENERAL
POLICIES:
UIC values
diversity and inclusion. Regardless of age, disability,
ethnicity, race, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation,
socioeconomic status, geographic background, religion, political
ideology, language, or culture, we expect all members of this
class to contribute to a respectful, welcoming, and inclusive
environment for every other member of our class. If there are
aspects of the instruction or design of this course that result
in barriers to your inclusion, engagement,accurate assessment or
achievement, please notify me as soon as possible
UIC is committed to full
inclusion and participation of people with disabilities in all
aspects of university life. If you face or anticipate
disability-related barriers while at UIC, please connect with
the Disability Resource Center (DRC) at drc.uic.edu, via email
at drc@uic.edu, or call (312) 413-2183 to create a plan for
reasonable accommodations. In order to receive accommodations,
you will need to disclose the disability to the DRC, complete an
interactive registration process with the DRC, and provide me
with a Letter of Accommodation (LOA). Upon receipt of an LOA, I
will gladly work with you and the DRC to implement approved
accommodations. The University Holidays and
Religious Observances calendar can be found online at
http://oae.uic.edu/religious-calendar/ I will make every effort
to avoid requiring student projects be submitted on religious
holidays. If you wish to observe your religious holidays, please
notify me by the tenth day of the semester of the date when you
will be absent unless the religious holiday is observed on or
before the tenth day of the semester. In such cases, please
notify me at least five days in advance of the date when you
will be absent. I will make every reasonable effort to honor
your request and not penalize you for missing the class. If an
examination or project is due during your absence, you will be
given an exam or assignment equivalent to the one completed by
those students in attendance. Students may appeal through campus
grievance procedures for religious accommodations
UIC is an academic community committed to providing
an environment in which research, learning, and scholarship
can flourish and in which all endeavors are guided by academic
and professional integrity. In this community, all members
including faculty, administrators, staff, and students alike
share the responsibility to uphold the highest standards of
academic honesty and quality of academic work so that such a
collegial and productive environment exists. As a student and
member of the UIC community, you are expected to adhere to the
Community Standards of integrity, accountability, and respect
in all of your academic endeavors. When accusations of
academic dishonesty occur, the Office of the Dean of Students
investigates and adjudicates suspected violations of this
student code. Unacceptable behavior includes cheating,
unauthorized collaboration, fabrication or falsification,
plagiarism, multiple submissions without instructor
permission, using unauthorized study aids, coercion regarding
grading or evaluation of coursework, and facilitating academic
misconduct. Please review the UIC Student Disciplinary Policy
for additional information about the process by which
instances of academic misconduct are handled towards the goal
of developing responsible student behavior. By submitting your
assignments for grading you acknowledge these terms, you
declare that your work is solely your own, and you promise
that, unless authorized by the instructor or proctor, you have
not communicated with anyone in any way during an exam or
other online assessment. Let’s embrace what it means to be a
UIC community member and together be committed to the values
of integrity. Cheating is bad; if you are caught cheating at
minimum the punishment will be that you will get a failing
grade for the entire course.
A comprehensive list of
student resources is available through the Provost’s Office, the
Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs and
Academic Program, the UIC Library, the Office of the Dean of
Students, and Technology Solutions.
• Current
Student Resources (a one-stop shop for links to
resources in the following categories: General, Academic,
Student Support, Student Life, Technology, Health and Safety,
and Getting Around Campus) • UIC Tutoring Resources • Offices, Programs, and
Initiatives Supporting the UIC Undergraduate Experience and
Academic Programs with particular attention to the Student
Success Units • For students who are
dealing with personal hardships and need resources and
assistance, please direct them to the U&I
Care Program supported by UIC’s Office of the Dean of
Students. • Student
Guide for Information Technology (a comprehensive
resource for UIC students describing the most commonly used IT
services and tools supporting their success).
Importantly, if you are in
immediate distress, please call the UIC Counseling Center at
(312) 996-3490 to speak directly with a counselor or to schedule
an appointment with a counselor. If calling after business hours
(which at UIC are typically from 9 am - 5 pm, M-F), press 2 to
be connected to a crisis counselor. You can find additional
online mental health resources on the Counseling Center
Resources page.
As a UIC student, you've
chosen to live in one of the nation's largest cities. But, as at
any university, crime is a reality. At UIC, we are strongly
committed to our public safety programs, and we encourage
students to be proactive in learning what programs and services
are available in case of an emergency. You are DISCOURAGED from
staying in university buildings alone, including lab rooms,
after hours and are ENCOURAGED to use the WALKING SAFETY ESCORT
and/or NIGHT RIDE if you are uncomfortable traveling anywhere on
campus. Navigate to
https://police.uic.edu/rides-and-escorts/student-patrol/ and
https://transportation.uic.edu/night-ride/ for more information.
Also, you can download the UIC
SAFE app, a free personal security tool for students, faculty,
and staff. It allows you easy contact with dispatchers and first
responders in case of emergency. Navigate to the UIC SAFE
Toolkit to download the app:
https://ready.uic.edu/toolkit/uic-safe-app/
Finally, by dialing 5-5555
from a campus phone, you can summon Police or Fire for any
on-campus emergency. You may also set up the complete number,
(312)355-5555, on speed-dial on your cell phone.
ASSESSMENT:
The current grade sheet will be found on these web pages.
The final grade will be
Letter grades will be calculated as follows:
Please note that all grades (A,
B, C, D, F) are available to all students. Being a graduate
student does not limit the potential grade that you can receive.
This syllabus is intended to give the student guidance in what
may be covered during the semester and will be followed as
closely as possible. However, as the instructor, I reserve the
right to modify, supplement, and make changes as course needs
arise. I will communicate such changes in advance as in-class
announcements and via email.