GMU:The Weird

Lecturer: Jörg Brinkmann
Credits: 6 ECTS, 4 SWS
Date: Thursdays, 15:15 – 18:30
Venue: Performance Platform, Digital Bauhaus Lab (Room 001)
First meeting: Thursday, 11.04.2019, 15:15

Description

“Okay, this world is getting weirder and weirder and I’m hearing simulation theory almost everywhere” (someone on reddit.com)

“The simulation hypothesis or simulation theory proposes that all of reality, including the Earth and the universe, is in fact an artificial simulation, most likely a computer simulation. Some versions rely on the development of a simulated reality, a proposed technology that would seem realistic enough to convince its inhabitants the simulation was real. The hypothesis has been a central plot device of many science fiction stories and films.” (Wikipedia on simulation hypothesis)

Nick Bostrom predicts in his book “Are you living in a computer simulation?” from 2003 that through enormous amounts of computing power that will be available in the future, later generations might run detailed simulations of their forebears or of people like their forebears.

With this information in mind, let’s turn it around and ask ourselves how a simulation of the far away future would look like. Since the world seems to get weirder and weirder how weird can it get? In the course we will create situations that can be experienced with VR-glasses or presented on video screens.

The course emphasises on artistic and opposing ways of working with Virtual Reality. Its aim is to establish individual approaches to VR, an increasingly widespread medium which offers artists new possibilities for expression and intercultural communication.

The practical part will be an Introduction to the game engine Unity 3D, an introduction to working with HTC Vive VR-glasses, the Oculus GO VR-glasses, as well as introductions to photogrammetry, immersive sound and 360 video, body interaction through tracking, 3D modeling and animation.

We will also look into contemporary and digital art related to recent socio-political and media-philosophical topics. We will create an artistic discourse on the topic of VR which will be presented in the form of individual projects at the end of the semester.

Registration

Send an e-mail until April 2nd to joerg.brinkmann@uni-weimar.de. Please include the following information:

Subject/title of your e-mail:
The Weird

Content:
– your full name
– program and semester
– matriculation number
– describe in a few sentences why you want to take the course
– If you have any material about your creative work online or digitally available, please send links or attach files to the email

Criteria for passing:
In order to successfully participate you will have to develop and document your own project on the GMU Wiki. Also, regularly attend to the sessions and participation is mandatory.

Please read carefully:
If you don’t apply on time or don’t get accepted, you can’t participate in the class

Criteria for passing

In order to successfully participate you will have to develop and document your own project on the GMU Wiki. Also, regularly attend to the sessions and participation is mandatory.

Student works

Syllabus

11.04.2019

Introduction

18.04.2019

working with Unity 3D

25.04.2019

working with Unity 3D

02.05.2019

working with Unity 3D

09.05.2019

present a FPE (First Person Experience)
working with the HTC VIVE

16.05.2019

-

23.05.2019

-

30.05.2019

no class

06.06.2019

-

13.06.2019

no class

20.06.2019

-

27.06.2019

-

04.07.2019

-

11.07.2019

presentation of your works

Dropbox folder with our class material
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/236vfumto2evj0m/AACs9st-ILFBvFU9bzexjqRVa?dl=0

VR TOOLBOX

Software

Unity 3D - cross-platform game engine (proprietary)
Blender - 3D modeller with many features (open source)
Autodesk FBX Converter – convert OBJ, DAE, and 3DS files to or from multiple versions of the FBX format (proprietary)
MeshLab - system for processing and editing 3D triangular meshes (open source)
Meshroom - Photogrammetric Computer Vision framework for 3D Reconstruction and Camera Tracking (open source)
MakeHuman tool for making 3D characters (open source)
Meshmixer - "Swiss Army Knife" for 3D meshes (proprietary)
Open Broadcaster Software - streaming and recording program (open source)

Online Tools

Adobe Mixamo - Rapidly create, rig and animate unique characters
NormalMap-Online - create a normalmaps directly inside your browser
Sources/Sounds - where to get audio recordings
Abstract/Technical/Synthetic Sounds (under Packs are several Free ones)

3D Models (for download and use)

Unity 3D Tutorials

Unity 3D Assets

Blender Tutorials

Blender Beginner Series(new) by Blender Guru
Interface and Navigation
Modeling - Creating a kitchen (ignore part 2)
Modeling - Modeling a simple character
Materials - Basic properties of materials
Texturing - Applying textures to an object
Rigging - Rigging a character
Animation - 12 Principles of Animation
Animation - Animating a bouncing ball
Different (aesthetically) interesting Tutorials for Blender (2.8)