Prof. Dr. Bernd Fröhlich
Dr. rer. nat. Alexander Kulik
Dipl.-Mediensys.wiss. André Kunert
M.Sc. Ephraim Schott
In recent years, Virtual Reality (VR) has become increasingly popular in research, entertainment, and education. VR systems allow one or multiple users to interact with a computer-simulated environment presented by an immersive display medium. In this course, you will study the theoretical, technical, and applied foundations of modern Virtual Reality systems.
The course starts by teaching the essentials of computer graphics and stereoscopic viewing required to realize VR applications. After that, you will explore the fundamentals of 3D input devices and 3D interaction techniques, including selection, manipulation, and navigation in virtual environments. The final part of the course builds on the previously acquired knowledge and focuses on collaborative VR systems for multiple collocated and distributed users.
The lecture is accompanied by a lab class in which the core topics of the course are deepened and implemented in the game engine Unity3D. Unity applications will be scripted in C#.
Note that, due to the on-going Corona pandemic the lab class of the virtual reality course is going to be held fully online.
Please visit the course's Moodle page for further information and lab-class registration. The enrollment key for the lab-class is: weimar_vr_2020
News
- Lecture will start on 3 November 2020
- Lab class will start on 6 November 2020
Course Organization
Instructors
Prof. Dr. Bernd Fröhlich [e-mail]
Dr. rer. nat. Alexander Kulik [e-mail]
Teaching Assistants
Dipl.-Mediensys.wiss. André Kunert [e-mail]
M.Sc. Ephraim Schott [e-mail]
Lecture Schedule
Tuesdays, 3:15 PM - 4:45 PM online in Moodle
Introduction on 3 November 2020
Lab Class Schedule
Fridays, 9:30 AM - 11:30 AM online in Moodle
Introduction on 6 November 2020
Target Audience
M.Sc. Computer Science for Digital Media
M.Sc. Computer Science and Media
M.Sc. Human-Computer Interaction
ECTS
Lecture and Lab Class: 4.5 ECTS
Lecture, Lab Class and Final Project: 6 ECTS
Lecture Materials
The documents from the WS 2019/20 course serve as a basis and will be further developed. The files are only accessible within the university network using a password provided during the first lecture (Username if necessary: vr). Adobe Acrobat Reader works well with protected files. Please do not redistribute the materials.
| Date | Topic | Download |
|---|---|---|
| 3 November 2020 | Introduction | |
| 10 November 2020 | Graphics Basics and Scenegraphs |
Lab Class Materials
The lab class will be administered on Moodle. Please follow the link and find further information.
Grading
Your grade for this course is determined by the successful completion of the lab class (1/3) and a final oral examination (2/3).
During the lab class, you will be asked to complete both theory and practice assignments. You need to achieve at least half of the points over all graded assignment sheets to pass. The average grade across all assignments is your total grade for the lab class. Group work in pairs of two students is permitted.
The final examination is an oral discussion covering all topics of the lecture and lab class. Appointments for oral examinations will be made individually at the end of the course.
The following scheme is applied to convert percentages to grades:
| Grade | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 1.0 | >= 95.0 |
| 1.1 | [93.5 - 95.0) |
| 1.2 | [92.0 - 93.5) |
| 1.3 | [90.5 - 92.0) |
| 1.4 | [89.0 - 90.5) |
| 1.5 | [87.5 - 89.0) |
| 1.6 | [86.0 - 87.5) |
| 1.7 | [84.5 - 86.0) |
| 1.8 | [83.0 - 84.5) |
| 1.9 | [81.5 - 83.0) |
| 2.0 | [80.0 - 81.5) |
| 2.1 | [78.5 - 80.0) |
| 2.2 | [77.0 - 78.5) |
| 2.3 | [75.5 - 77.0) |
| 2.4 | [74.0 - 75.5) |
| 2.5 | [72.5 - 74.0) |
| [...] | |
| 3.0 | [65.0 - 66.5) |
| [...] | |
| 4.0 | [50.0 - 51.5) |
| 5.0 (fail) | [00.0 - 50.0) |
Final Project (optional)
The final project (graded separately and awarded additional 1.5 ECTS) requires the participants to apply the obtained theoretical and practical skills of the course in the design, implementation and presentation of an individual small research project. In particular, you will be asked to develop a concept, come up with an effective and efficient implementation and present your results in a concise talk. This is an invaluable opportunity to work on an interesting topic of your choice with the state-of-the-art VR-hardware available in our lab like head-mounted displays, multi-user projection systems and multi-touch tabletops. Group work in pairs of two students is permitted.