Building Interactive 3D Characters and Social VR

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Building Interactive 3D Characters and Social VR

This course is part of Virtual Reality Specialization

Instructors: Prof Sylvia Xueni Pan

16,556 already enrolled

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4 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

Intermediate level

Some related experience required

1 week to complete

at 10 hours a week

Flexible schedule

Learn at your own pace

4 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

Intermediate level

Some related experience required

1 week to complete

at 10 hours a week

Flexible schedule

Learn at your own pace

Skills you'll gain

Tools you'll learn

Unity Engine

Details to know

Shareable certificate

Add to your LinkedIn profile

Assessments

4 assignments

Taught in English

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This course is part of the Virtual Reality Specialization

When you enroll in this course, you'll also be enrolled in this Specialization.

Learn new concepts from industry experts
Gain a foundational understanding of a subject or tool
Develop job-relevant skills with hands-on projects
Earn a shareable career certificate

There are 4 modules in this course

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.

In this module you will start to learn about the role of human-like characters in VR. Characters can represent other real people: avatars, or they can be computer controlled: agents. Either way they are the very foundation of social interaction in VR.

What's included

11 videos6 readings2 assignments4 discussion prompts

11 videosTotal 96 minutes

Introduction to Social VR and Virtual Characters5 minutes
Virtual Characters | Realism6 minutes
Agents and Avatars5 minutes
Applications of Virtual Characters12 minutes
Introduction to Character Animation3 minutes
Cristina5 minutes
Designing Virtual Characters8 minutes
Importing a virtual character to Unity (part 1)18 minutes
Importing a virtual character to Unity (part 2)16 minutes
Embodiment in Unity using Mobile VR15 minutes
Project Briefing3 minutes

6 readingsTotal 60 minutes

Uncanny Valley10 minutes
Course Blog10 minutes
Getting Started in Unity10 minutes
Where to Download Virtual Characters10 minutes
Unity Mecanim Tutorial10 minutes
Virtual Character Project Brief10 minutes

2 assignmentsTotal 60 minutes

Planning your project30 minutes
Virtual Characters Quiz30 minutes

4 discussion promptsTotal 40 minutes

Introduction to Virtual Characters10 minutes
Virtual Character Realism10 minutes
Agents and Avatars10 minutes
Virtual Character Application10 minutes

In this module you will learn about the role of the body in social interaction and also about how to animate and control virtual characters' body movements.

What's included

12 videos4 readings1 assignment1 peer review4 discussion prompts

12 videosTotal 67 minutes

Introduction to Body Language2 minutes
Introduction to Skeletal Animation5 minutes
Introduction to Motion Capture4 minutes
Speech7 minutes
Posture and Gesture4 minutes
Backchannel4 minutes
Sensing the User’s Body Language2 minutes
Proxemics3 minutes
Body Language for Avatars6 minutes
Applying Motion Capture Data onto a Virtual Character11 minutes
Speech Interaction11 minutes
Gesture Interaction8 minutes

4 readingsTotal 40 minutes

Markerless mocap10 minutes
Bodily Communication10 minutes
Where can you find Mocap data10 minutes
The Virtual Character Interaction Scripts10 minutes

1 assignmentTotal 30 minutes

Body Movement30 minutes

1 peer reviewTotal 60 minutes

Virtual Character60 minutes

4 discussion promptsTotal 40 minutes

Observe other's body language.10 minutes
Motion Capture10 minutes
Gestures10 minutes
A great example of body animation10 minutes

The face is one of the most important social and emotional signals. In this module you will learn about the role of the face and eyes in social interactions and how to recreate them in VR.

What's included

9 videos3 readings1 assignment4 discussion prompts

9 videosTotal 70 minutes

Introduction to Facial Expressions | The Psychology5 minutes
Introduction to Facial Expressions4 minutes
Introduction to facial expressions in Unity (Part 1)13 minutes
Introduction to facial expressions in Unity (Part 2)8 minutes
Blinking and Lip Sync Animation5 minutes
The Importance of Gaze in Social Interaction4 minutes
Gaze interaction (Part 1)14 minutes
Gaze interaction (Part 2)11 minutes
Other Facial Features and Their Psychological Effect4 minutes

3 readingsTotal 30 minutes

Interaction Scripts10 minutes
Facial Animation: find out more10 minutes
Gaze Animation10 minutes

1 assignmentTotal 30 minutes

Facial Expressions30 minutes

4 discussion promptsTotal 40 minutes

Facial Motion Capture10 minutes
A great example of facial animation10 minutes
A great example of gaze animation10 minutes
Body language around the world10 minutes

This module brings together everything you have learned about virtual characters to talk about how you can build truly social experiences in VR.

What's included

7 videos6 readings1 peer review2 discussion prompts

7 videosTotal 23 minutes

Introduction to Social VR1 minute
The Psychology Behind Social Interaction4 minutes
Challenges in Human-Avatar Interaction5 minutes
Challenges in Human-Agent Interaction4 minutes
Evaluation of Social Interaction in VR3 minutes
Self-Avatar | Implementation and Applications4 minutes
Summary of Social VR1 minute

6 readingsTotal 60 minutes

Automatic Imitation10 minutes
Extended reading: applications using Virtual Characters10 minutes
Human-avatar: Social VR apps10 minutes
Human-agent interaction10 minutes
Embodiment - implementation and psychological effect10 minutes
Thank you10 minutes

1 peer reviewTotal 60 minutes

Interactive Virtual Character60 minutes

2 discussion promptsTotal 20 minutes

How does social interaction work?10 minutes
Challenges in Human-avatar interaction in VR10 minutes

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Instructors

Prof Sylvia Xueni Pan

University of London

5 Courses136,943 learners

Offered by

University of London

Goldsmiths, University of London

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Frequently asked questions

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