I just completed an amazing opportunity to train some very accomplished developers out in Oak Ridge. For almost two months at the beginning of 2019, I’ve been engaged in technical training with Oak Ridge Associated Universities, also known as ORAU. One of the developer managers reached out to me through a technical trainer named Joe Storch with Patriot Talent about offering Virtual Reality training for their developers, many of whom had already started trying to build VR software but had run into some snags.
With my experience with AT&T in 2017 and my Udemy Course experience under my belt, I built three separate courses, aimed at different types of employees at ORAU. The first was a VR 101 course, where I walked the teams through the basics of VR and established a common language for the group to use when talking about projects.
Next, I did an intensive 4-hour workshop of hands on projects, including 4 different modules, 360 Photography, 360 Video Production, 3D Modeling, and Unity3D development.
360 Photography and Video
We walked through the basic of choosing a camera, framing shots, and how to get those shots to useful places. We ended with creating a virtual tour using the photography we had captured and embedding it online. The next hour long module was about producing 360 degree video, how to storyboard shots, using lighting, and producing a video with the latest graphical effects.
3D Modeling and Unity
Finally we ended with the most technical part of the workshop, creating 3D models and working with Unity3D. This was a lot of fun and I enjoyed getting to create with the group. We also had a three day hackathon where we created a robot assembly and arena challenge, all to be done in VR for STEM education. This was one of the coolest projects I’ve gotten to participate in and I’m thankful for the opportunity to help guide some of the brightest developers I’ve had the chance to work with. I hope I’ll be able to work with that team again soon!
Leave a Reply