Slides from lecture 1 of the Virtual Reality for Science & Education 2015 course at Leiden University

1. VIRTUAL REALITY FOR SCIENCE & EDUCATION
LECTURE 1: 11 SEP 2015
Virtual Reality
History & State of the Art

2. HELLO WORLD

3. Robin de Lange - CV
Bachelor
Physics
Philosophy
Artificial Intelligence
MSc. MediaTechnology
EDUCATION

4. Robin de Lange - Education
Extended cognition Augmented Reality
Andy Clark Doug Engelbart Paul Smart

5. Unity3D: Projects

6. Unity3D: Projects
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20732302/ARBieb.wmv

7. Robin de Lange - CV
Bachelor
Physics
Philosophy
Artificial Intelligence
MSc. MediaTechnology
EDUCATION WORK
Owner tutoring company
Video production MOOC & SPOC
Initiator Lyceo CodeWeken

8. Graduation project
• Augmented Reality
prototype
• Raise discussion
• PhD proposal
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20732302/Demo
%20ARMath.wmv

9. March 2013: Oculus Rift

10. Hack the Brain: Project Brainstorm
• Live EEG data visualization for Oculus Rift
• Together with Eva Delincakova & Bert Spaan @ Hack the Brain
hackathon

11. Focus of research
• In what ways can we useVR to explain
complex problems?
• What are the obstacles and opportunities of
VR in the field of education?

12. Virtual Reality for Science & Education
• Elective course as part of research project
• Received LUF – Gratama grant for this
project

13. #introduceyourself

14. A Brief History ofVR
Sensorama
• 1955 by Morton Heilig
• ExperienceTheater
• Multi-sensory
• No financial support

15. A Brief History ofVR
Headsight
• 1961 by Philco Corp.
• First Head Mounted
Display
• Magnetic tracking system
• Live stream from camera
system

16. A Brief History ofVR
The Ultimate Display
• Paper by Ivan Sutherland
• 1965
• Concept of a virtual world,
created by a computer
• Note: before any GUI
“A display connected to a digital
computer gives us a chance to
gain familiarity with concepts not
realizable in the physical world. It
is a looking glass into a
mathematical wonderland. “

17. A Brief History ofVR
LEEP Cyberface
• 1989
• By Eric Howlett
• First commercial HMD
• Very wide angle stereoscopic
optics

18. A Brief History ofVR
NintendoVirtual Boy
• 1995
• Monochromatic display
• No head-tracking, fixed position
• Commercial failure
• FromVR hype to disappointment

19. A Brief History ofVR
https://youtu.be/tdAaU0CRHng?t=1m51s

20. A Brief History ofVR
Oculus Rift
• 2012: Kickstarter campaign
• Much wider FOV
• Low latency tracking
• Aimed at consumer market
• Benefits from developments in
computer hardware
• Acquired by Facebook in 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhcOMOWRMnA

21. A Brief History ofVR
Google Cardboard
• Gift at 2014 Google I/O
• Open source design
• Starting from $2
• Start of mobileVR
• Magnet as input button

23. A Brief History of VR
State of the Art
• VR Ecosystem emerged
• By 2018 > $5bln. market
• Dozens of headsets
• All sorts of input devices
• Content developers
• 360 / spherical video cameras
• Video stitching software
• Blogs, consultants, business
analysts, etc
http://greenlightvr.com/vr-ecosystem-map

24. Hardware for the course
Oculus Rift DK1 & DK2 GearVR Google Cardboard
+ MORE?

25. Hardware for the course
Razer HydraLeap MotionControllers
+ MORE?

26. DEMO

27. VR: Next generation gaming?
• Oculus Rift started as a gaming
device
• Interactive
• Navigate through virtual world
• Non-linear story-telling

28. VR: Immersive Cinema?
Development of spherical cameras
 Enormous increase in content
• EmbodiedVision 2015: relation between cinema andVR
• How is editing different in spherical video?
• How to draw focus to certain parts of the scene?
• Where to hide the crew?
• Experiments with cinematic effects inVR: green screens, stop-motion,
split-screens, the dolly zoom and timelapses
• Interactive cinema with gaze detection

29. VR: Future of Theatre?

30. VR: Interactive story-telling?

31. VR: A new medium
• A new medium with different rules and characteristics
• ‘The last medium’ suggested by some
• A reproduction of our perceptual experience of the world
• Other media can be simulated inVR
• A new language will emerge in the following years
• Strongly influenced by existing media
• Different rules for different experiences

32. Course objectives
• Explore the potential of this new medium for science &
education;
• Obtain skills to create interactiveVR content using e.g.
Unity3D and 360˚ film technology;
• Create aVR prototype that has potential value for education,
science communication and/or research.

33. Course work
Final project (50%)
• Groups of 1-3 people
• CreateVR prototype with e.g. Unity3D or RicohTheta
• Possibility to present on symposium on 22 January
• Collaboration with teacher or researcher is encouraged
Essay assignment (30%)
• Related to project
• Precise instructions will follow
Course contribution (20%)
• Few small assignments with feedback
• Activity in class and on Slack

34. Slack
• Channel overview
• Posts and comments
• Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.
• Liking posts
• Direct messaging & Private channels
• Mobile app

35. Lecture 1: Homework assignment
• Join Slack and the different channels.
• Upload a photo
• Write a short introduction of yourself in #introduceyourself
• Study (and experience) the projects in #inspiration
• Do some research on your own and post if you find
something interesting

36. HARDWARE USE