Virtual and Augmented Reality

Catalog description

The course is a blend of theoretical and practical knowledge aimed at developing a well-rounded set of skills to ideate, design, implement, and evaluate sophisticated VR/AR projects. The course will proceed with 3 meta sections: 1) low-level real-time computer graphics, computer vision, and optics; 2) human perception, visual optics, and immersive user interface; 3) VR/AR application case studies. The theoretical part contains low-level optical and computational methods of how individual pixels are drawn on the screen, and how they are perceived by the human eyeball, the retina, and the brain. The practical part aims at teaching the skills needed to develop effective interactive VR/AR applications as a whole to assist real-world applications. The course also includes a series of small practical projects which enable students to gain experience with the development of fully-working interactive graphics and interface techniques. The final project, with the freedom to select among several topics, is organized in a way to simulate conditions happening in real-world (especially focusing on using VR/AR technologies to enhance daily human tasks) and includes activities to gain feedback from the instructor and the teaching assistants. Students are encouraged to have an understanding of linear algebra and programming prior to course. Please connect with instructor prior to enrollment if students have any questions.