A note on software
Whenever and wherever possible, I shall be recommending—and we shall be using in workshops—open source software. There are at least the following four reasons for doing so:
- using open source, together with occasional downloads of trial versions of commercial software, gives you the opportunity to try out a range of different packages for accomplishing the same tasks, thereby allowing you to learn general underlying principles of VR design and production rather than simply the superficial features of specific GUIs.
- the quality of the most well-known open source applications (Blender, Hugin, AoI, etc) is outstanding, with functionality and performance that are more than a match for most commercial packages.
- open source software very often allows you a more ‘hands-on’ approach to VR creation (e.g. the optional manual insertion of control points in Hugin) than does commercial software (especially commercial software at the ‘hobbyist’ end of the market), and therefore you are more likely to learn something of the underlying principles and techniques of construction that you will using only commercial software.
- open source software is almost invariably free. This means that you are not constrained to working solely within the Sopwith labs. You can download and install your own copies, and work as easily at home as you do in the university.
- open source software is less likely to be platform-specific than commercial software, so you’ll always be able to use it irrespective of whether your personal computer is running Windows, Mac, or Linux.
Build your own island:
» http://www.esnips.com/doc/4555f0a7-18a7-4bdd-a74e-5772dd929bde/OpenSim-from-Rob
