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Building Interactive 3D Characters and Social VR

Approx. 13 hours to complete

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Course Summary

Learn to create interactive 3D characters for social virtual reality environments in this hands-on course. Gain skills in character design, animation, and programming for VR platforms.

Key Learning Points

Create 3D characters with personality and interactivity
Animate characters for use in social VR environments
Program character interactions and behaviors

Learning Outcomes

Create 3D characters with unique personalities and interactive behaviors
Design and implement animations for use in social VR environments
Program character interactions and behaviors using Unity and VR platforms

Prerequisites or good to have knowledge before taking this course

Basic knowledge of Unity and C# programming
Access to a VR headset and controllers

Course Difficulty Level

Intermediate

Course Format

Online
Self-paced
Hands-on
Project-based

Similar Courses

Creating VR Environments
Interactive Storytelling for VR

Related Education Paths

Notable People in This Field

Tony Parisi
Cathy Hackl

Related Books

Description

Meeting another person is one of the most amazing experiences you can have in Virtual Reality. It is quite unlike communicating through any other medium except a real life face-to-face conversation. Because the other person is life size and shares a virtual space with you, body language works in a way that cannot be done on a flat screen. This course will enable you to create realistic social interactions in VR.

You will learn about both the psychology of social interaction and the practical skills to implement it in Unity3D. We will take you through the basics of 3D character animation and how to create body language. You will learn about how to make characters that can respond to players’ speech and body language. You will also learn about avatars: the virtual representation of other players, and agents: computer controlled NPC characters and how to implement both of them. As many people have said before us, social is the future of VR. This course will help you become part of the future of Virtual Reality social experiences.

Outline

Introduction to Virtual Characters
Introduction to Social VR and Virtual Characters
Virtual Characters | Realism
Agents and Avatars
Applications of Virtual Characters
Introduction to Character Animation
Cristina
Designing Virtual Characters
Importing a Virtual Character to Unity
Embodiment in Unity using Mobile VR
Project Briefing
Uncanny Valley
Course Blog
Getting Started in Unity
Where to Download Virtual Characters
Unity Mecanim Tutorial
Virtual Character Project Brief
Virtual Characters Quiz
Planning your project

Body Animation in VR
Introduction to Body Language
Introduction to Skeletal Animation
Introduction to Motion Capture
Speech
Posture and Gesture
Backchannel
Sensing the User’s Body Language
Proxemics
Body Language for Avatars
Applying Motion Capture Data onto a Virtual Character
Speech Interaction
Gesture Interaction
Markerless mocap
Bodily Communication
Where can you find Mocap data
The Virtual Character Interaction Scripts
Body Movement

Facial Animation
Introduction to Facial Expressions | The Psychology
Introduction to Facial Expressions
Introduction to Facial Expression in Unity
Blinking and Lip Sync Animation
The Importance of Gaze in Social Interaction
Gaze Interaction
Other Facial Features and Their Psychological Effect
Interaction Scripts
Facial Animation: find out more
Gaze Animation
Facial Expressions

Social VR
Introduction to Social VR
The Psychology Behind Social Interaction
Challenges in Human-Avatar Interaction
Challenges in Human-Agent Interaction
Evaluation of Social Interaction in VR
Self-Avatar | Implementation and Applications
Summary of Social VR
Automatic Imitation
Extended reading: applications using Virtual Characters
Human-avatar: Social VR apps
Human-agent interaction
Embodiment - implementation and psychological effect
Thank you

Summary of User Reviews

Discover how to create interactive 3D characters for social virtual reality in this comprehensive course. Users have rated this course highly, praising its engaging content and practical exercises. One key aspect that many users thought was good is the depth of the course material which covers a wide range of topics.

Pros from User Reviews

Engaging and interactive course material
Practical exercises and hands-on learning
Covers a wide range of topics and techniques
Great for beginners and experienced users alike
Excellent instructor with a wealth of knowledge

Cons from User Reviews

Some users found the pacing of the course to be too slow
Requires a significant time commitment to complete
The course may be too technical for some users
Some users found the course material to be outdated
Limited interaction with other students or the instructor

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