Virtual Reality

This course will introduce you to Virtual Reality (VR). The course will teach you everything from the basics of VR- the hardware and the history of VR- to different applications of VR, the psychology of Virtual Reality, and the challenges of the medium. The course is designed for people who are new to VR as a medium. You may have experienced some virtual reality before, and may have some hardware- but this course is suitable to individuals who have never experienced VR and those who do not have much hardware- we will explain Mobile VR as well as devices such as the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. Introduction to Virtual Reality is the first course in the Virtual Reality Specialisation. A learner with no previous experience in Virtual Reality and/or game programming will be able to evaluate existing VR applications, and design, test, and implement their own VR experiences/games using Unity by the end of the specialisation.

This course will begin your journey to creating Virtual Reality experiences. A Virtual Reality experience is a new world that you step into and are entirely immersed in. Creating a VR experience means creating that world and all the objects in it. In this course you will learn the basics of 3D graphics: how we create objects and how to lay them out to create an environment. You will learn techniques like materials and texturing that make your objects appear realistic. You will also learn about audio techniques to ensure that your experiences sound great as well as looking great. In all of these topics we will pay attention to the particular requirements of Virtual Reality, including pitfalls and performance issues: making sure your environment runs fast enough in VR. You will learn all of this using the professional game and VR engine, Unity3D. Unity is one of the most used game engine and is a relatively easy, but fully featured, introduction to 3D development. The course will culminate in a project in which you will create your own VR scene. VR development is something you can only learn by doing it yourself, so working on your project will be the best way to learn.

This course will teach you about one of the most important aspects of VR, how you interact with a VR world. Virtual Reality is completely different from an on screen app or game. You are completely immersed in a VR world, so it doesn't make sense to interact only through buttons or menus. You will get the most out of VR if you can interact with the world just as you would with the real world: with your natural body movements. You will learn about the basic concepts and technologies of VR Interaction. You will then get hands on, learning about how to move around in VR and how to interact with the objects in your world. The course will finish with some advice from experts on VR interaction design and you will do a project where you will get real experience of developing VR Interaction.

Virtual Reality is one of the most exciting experiences that technology can give us. The immersion and presence you can have in VR is quite unlike any other medium. Like many others, you are excited about the possibilities of this new medium and want to get started developing your own VR experiences. This course will take you through all of the steps you need to create a VR game or other project. This is the final course in our Specialisation: Virtual Reality. The previous courses teach you the skills you need to make a VR game. This course brings them all together to create a project of your own. We will guide you through all the steps of a VR project: coming up with an idea, storyboarding, prototyping, testing and implementation. By the end of this course you will have a complete VR project that demonstrates your skills and could be the first step in creating a professional game. We hope this course can be your entry into professional VR development. To help you get started, some good advice always helps. That is why we have interviewed VR experts from all over the world, ranging from technology pioneers with over 30 years experience in VR to the latest cutting edge VR creators. We have asked all of them to give you their advice and we hope it inspires you to become part of the future of VR.