Online resources and tutorials for the elective Desktop Virtual Reality module of the BSc Computer Information Systems Design in the Faculty of Computing, Information Systems, and Mathematics, Kingston University, UK.
Because the course will be in large part based around Second Life, you are advised to read these pages in tandem with the course wiki at:
» http://vorticism.wetpaint.com
and with my faculty Second Life blog at:
» http://vorticism.wordpress.com
About this course
This course is an introduction to ‘desktop virtual reality’. By this we mean something quite specific: the creation and display, on the screen of a desktop or laptop computer, of illusions of 3-dimensional objects that may be animated, and of 3-dimensional scenes that may be navigated, in response to manipulation of an input device (e.g. mouse or keyboard) by the computer user. Other forms of ‘virtual reality’, ‘augmented reality’, ‘3D-modeling’, as well as 3D computer games and console games, cab simulators and immersive VR, will be referenced in the course, but will not be the focus of the course.
The course will focus on the applications and uses of desktop VR rather than on the authoring and rendering technologies per se. The course will be critically addressing questions such as “What is VR being used for? why use VR at all? what is the added value of using desktop VR within broader non-VR contexts?” You will be expected, however, to acquire and demonstrate some basic competence in the use of at least two of the authoring tools to which you will be introduced in the course.
We’ll be looking at desktop VR from three orthogonal perspectives: [i] application areas (virtual history, telecollaboration, retailing, etc), [ii] technologies and technical design skills (3D modelling, photographic VR, etc), and [iii] theoretical issues (human factors).
Now read the pages on the sub-menu.
