Experiments in Augmented Reality

Catalog description

Is augmented reality technology about to enter the mainstream? AR platforms have finally become widely accessible to artists, designers, and technologists thanks to recent advances in mobile performance and a new collection of powerful computer vision techniques. As such, the medium offers rich possibilities for experimentation and a chance to rethink how we experience the intersection of the physical and digital. In this course, students will acquire an understanding of basic concepts and techniques necessary to prototype and build simple AR experiences - with a consideration of not just visual but also aural AR. We’ll supplement practical exercises with an overview of the history of AR, and discuss the ethical, legal, and societal considerations cropping up around this topic. Our tool of choice will be Unity, but we will go over prototyping techniques outside of the platform to speed up the design process. If there is interest, we will cover how to get started building projects in openFrameworks, mobile, or web AR - and discuss why or when you might want to work within other platforms. Even though code samples will be provided, students are highly encouraged to have a basic understanding of Unity or at least have taken an introductory programming course. A working knowledge of Unity can be gained through Unity tutorials (https://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials) or Lynda (https://www.nyu.edu/lynda).