1. BPC: Art and Computation – Summer 2008 Building VR Worlds Erik Brisson ebrisson@bu.edu

2. BPC: Art and Computation – Summer 20082 What's in a virtual world?

3. BPC: Art and Computation – Summer 20083 What's in a virtual world? An environment Representations of physical objects –Visual models –Auditory elements Interactions with objects Representations of people - avatars Communication –Gesturing –Telephony –Video

4. BPC: Art and Computation – Summer 20084 Overview Building a virtual world –Design decisions (theme, look and feel, continuity) –Content (images, models, sound files, scripts) –Systems (machines, software) –Project management (division of labor, time management)

5. BPC: Art and Computation – Summer 20085 Classroom context Adaptation of general project –Incorporate Native culture and ideology with NM collaborators and guest artists –Leverage on BU’s existing software and experience building VE’s –Have students work on what will maximize their education –Regular back-and-forth communication –Collaborative iteration

6. BPC: Art and Computation – Summer 20086 Planning the Virtual Environment Identifying a theme –Review class discussions –Based on trips to Chaco Canyon, MIAC, visiting artists, personal experience –What message do we want to convey? –What look-and-feel do we want to present? –List ideas for elements to include

7. BPC: Art and Computation – Summer 20087 Designing the Virtual Environment How to implement the theme –How to convey the message (symbols, etc) –Overall scale –Color schemes –List of objects, sounds, etc. –What is reasonable given time frame?

8. BPC: Art and Computation – Summer 20088 Implementing the Virtual Environment Tools used –Corel Painter –Autodesk Maya –Audacity –DAFFIE run-time system –DAFFIE world layout preprocessor

9. BPC: Art and Computation – Summer 20089 Building the Virtual Environment Division of labor –Students express their personal vision –What tools student enjoys –What skills does each student bring –What method is used to assign tasks?

10. BPC: Art and Computation – Summer 200810 The End