The concept of virtual reality (VR) has been around for many years, recent commercial availability of hardware and software is spurring renewed interest. This course introduces the basic principles of Virtual Reality and its applications. The necessary hardware and software components of interactive 3D systems as well as human factors are discussed. Students will be exposed to a wide range of interesting and exciting cross-disciplinary research in the broadly-defined fields of virtual and augmented reality, 3D user interaction and spatial user interfaces. Virtual reality emphasizes on the construction of interactive 3D virtual/mixed environments, and how to interact within such environments through different sensory channels, such as audio, vision and gesture. Virtual Reality has many applications including 3D computer games and virtual walkthrough, which have attracted a lot of attention.

This course aims at introducing both basic and advanced virtual reality techniques and their applications. This course will cover the state of the art in the design and implementation of Virtual Reality, Augment Reality, and Mixed Reality. Topics covered include: head-tracked and head-mounted displays, stereoscopic display, position tracking, 3D user interface design, applications of VR, evaluation of VR and other topics. Students will have the opportunity to gain programming experience with the homework assignments as well as conduct a semester-long term project, while working hands-on with leading edge virtual reality hardware such as the Oculus Rift / HTC Vive if desired.

This term we will be using Piazza for homework submissions and questions, so make sure to sign up! The system is highly catered to getting you help fast and efficiently from the TAs and classmates. Rather than emailing questions to the teaching staff, it is encouraged to post the questions on Piazza. Please e-mail the TAs when your problems cannot be resolved via Piazza.

Grading Policy:

Homework: 40%
Project: 60%

Presentation: 20%
Code: 20%
Report: 20%

Bonus: 10%

Topics:

Introduction to computer graphics
The graphics pipeline
OpenGL, WebGL, and GLSL shader programming
JavaScript with Three.js
Stereoscopic perception and rendering
Head mounted display optics and electronics
Inertial measurement units: gyros, accelerators, magnetometers
Sensor fusion: complementary filter, Kalman filter
Human perception: visual, audio, vestibular, tactile, ...
... and many interesting topics.

Goals:

Ability to develop 3D interaction techniques.
Ability to develop 3D virtual environments.
Ability to develop immersive virtual reality applications.
Ability to conduct literature reviews.
Ability to present research ideas and results.
Identify the important characteristics of different virtual reality techniques.
Evaluate and critique different types of virtual reality hardware systems.
Evaluate and critique different types of virtual reality applications.
Design and apply virtual reality techniques to address real-world problems.

Details about the final project:

📖 🙋❗ 📦

Task	Date
Implementation	Week 2-7
Function test using assigned cases	Week 8-9
Online Q&A meeting	Apr 28th 2019
VR Devices Adaptation	Week 10-12
Presentation	Week 12
Code/Report Submit Deadline	June 9th 2019

Details about the bonus project:

📖

Data Visualization and Collaboration in Virtual Spaces

Submission Deadline: June 9th 2019, 22:00

Lecture	Date	Description	Materials
1	27 February 2019	Introduction to VR and AR Course overview and logistics History of VR and AR	📚
2	6 March 2019	The Graphics Pipeline and OpenGL I: Overview and Transformations Rotation, translation, scaling, modelview matrix, projection matrix	📚
3	13 March 2019	The Graphics Pipeline and OpenGL II: Lighting and Shading	📚
4	13 March 2019	The Graphics Pipeline and OpenGL III: OpenGL Shading Language (GLSL) GLSL vertex and fragment shaders	📚
5	20 March 2019	Human Visual System, Depth of Field Rendering, Head Mounted Display Optics (VR & AR)	📚 🎞️ 🎞️ 🎞️
6	27 March 2019	Rotations, Vertex Blending, Morphing Extra Content: Pose Tracking	📚 🎞️ 🎞️ 🎞️ 🎞️ 🎞️ EC: 📚 🎞️
7	03 April 2019	Texturing	📚 🎞️ 🎞️ 🎞️ 🎞️ 🎞️ 🎞️ 🌐 🌐 🌐
8	10 April 2019	Raytracing and Shadows	📚 🎞️

Submit your homeworks to our Piazza panel.

Homework	Given	Due	Description	Materials
1	6 March 2019	15 March 2019	Getting Started with OpenGL, SDL, GLM, and Transformations	📝 📖 📦 🎞️
2	13 March 2019	22 March 2019	Lighting and Shading with GLSL	📝 📖 📦 🌐
3	20 March 2019	05 April 2019	Unity and VR Basics	📝 📦
4	10 April 2019	2 June 2019 Re-Re-Extended	VR Flight Simulator	📝 📦