AR Design
CS 6770: Mixed Reality Experience Design
Blair MacIntyre
GTL 314
03 87 20 3927
blair@cc.gatech.edu
Office hours: TBA, my office
Announcements:
- sept 4: Director is installed and working on one machine in the lab. More will follow.
Class Summary
Syllabus Fall 2006
Course Readings Fall 2006
Who's Who Fall 2006
Assignments Fall 2006
Projects Spring 2006 (Project Groups, Project Brainstorming)
Grading Spring 2006
DART Resources (Downloads, DART Homepage, DART Swiki, DART Mailing lists)
Technical Resources (CoC accounts, Computer equipment, etc.)
AR Resources (More AR resources, AR forums, etc.)
Historical Resources (Atlanta history, Oakland Cemetery, etc.)
Previous Semester Course Materials
Class Summary
This course gives students an opportunity to learn about "Mixed Reality" (MR) (and a specific subset of MR referred to as "Augmented Reality" (AR)) as a technology, a human-computer interaction paradigm, and a new electronic medium. MR refers to computer systems that combine virtual content with the physical environment, allowing users to interact with these combined physical/virtual worlds in situ. Students will use various technologies (developed both here at Georgia Tech and elsewhere) to experiment with MR and AR, with a particular emphasis on the creation of dramatic and narrative AR experiences.Students will work in teams (with some combination of handheld devices, laptop computers, head-mounted displays, tracking devices, and sensors) to explore the potential of MR and AR as technologies, HCI paradigms and new media. Students with backgrounds in visual design, industrial design, architecture, video production, and visual storytelling are welcome, as are students with significant programming, HCI or computer graphics backgrounds. Knowledge of Director (especially 8.5 or later) will be an advantage. Above all, creative thinking with and through technology is the most important asset that students can bring to this course.
Students will work individually and in teams to create particular designs of MR/AR experiences, in which they will have to confront technical issues, user interface and usability issues, and cultural issues. Although much of the course time will be occupied with project work, we will also have discussions based on background reading, which will include literature on AR and VR technology as well as literature on the historical, aesthetic and cultural questions raised by these technologies.
This semester we will have two major projects. Since the class is small, we will come up with these projects together, once I am more familiar with the interests and abilities of the students in the class. In the past, we have tended to have groups design and prototype AR tours of historic site. Most recently, the experiences were based in Oakland Cemetery in downtown Atlanta. Each small team designed and prototyped an outdoor AR experience that unveiled some aspect of the history of the US, the South and/or Atlanta for participants as they walk around the cemetery. (Take a look at the existing tours, and the official Tour scripts).
The first half of the class will focus on lecture- and discussion-style presentations of various foundational material, mixed with some project pitches and assignments, followed by the midterm project. After fall break, class time will be divided among the following activities: project progress presentations of the final project (at multiple stages), and discussions of the course readings.
There will be no exams.