Description | Schedule | Advisors | Team | FAQs
The Virtual Reality Lab is a 3-month (12 sessions) program that provides media creators and technologists with an opportunity to create VR/AR/MR prototypes, brainstorm and explore complex formats using immersive technology, and collaborate with like-minded members of the VR community.
Sponsored by Hearst Technology and hosted by the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) and the Media and Games Network (MAGNET) at NYU, the lab will take place from February 6 to May 15, 2016. Four-hour sessions will be held weekly on Saturdays from 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM. The lab is co-run by John Benton and J Dakota Powell.
We encourage teams to embrace the Hearst Challenge: ““Create a VR narrative/story or game in which the Hearst Tower is your storyworld in VR.”
The final Demo Night Splash will be covered by CUNY TV.
The lab progresses in 3 phases: Train, Design and Build.
Phase 1 Train: VR Bootcamp
The first three sessions (3 weeks) are dedicated to acquiring a foundation in VR development and training in Unity 3D. During Phase 1, Participants will develop a simple VR application using a game engine and Cardboard. Weekly assignments will help people to gain VR development skills on a step-by-step basis. Participants more knowledgeable in Unity will be encouraged to instruct others or craft their own path in the lab.
Phase 2 Design: Concept, Story & Interaction
The next few sessions (2 to 3 weeks) will cover designing VR concepts, stories or games and forming teams to implement a demo. During this phase, participants will address the various components of a VR application – e.g., narrative flow, art, interaction design and input devices. This phase tends to be the most fluid; teams and concepts may morph and change. Each session will also include mini-tutorials, such as Maya to Unity workflow, animation in Maya and Unity, live-action VR, and using motion capture data, Kinect, Arduino etc.
Similar to ITP Camp, participants can post their skills on a whiteboard and offer to teach mini-tutorials.
Phase 3 Build: Implementation & Demo
Six to seven sessions (6 to 7 weeks) will focus on building a VR application for Cardboard, Gear VR or the Oculus Rift. At the beginning of each session, participants will share their progress and any difficulties that emerge during development. Advisors will also be available to help address design and technical issues.
Please note: the second and third phases will bleed into each other. Concept and story will evolve as participants play with the technology.
For the lab finale, participants will present their VR applications to the public in a Demo Night Splash!
Who: Media Creators, Writers, Storytellers, Filmmakers, Designers, UX, Developers and Creative Coders
Dates: February 6 – May 15, 2016 (Saturdays)
Time: Noon to 4 PM.
Locations:
Weeks 1 - 6: Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP), NYU
721 Broadway, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10003
Weekly 7 - 12: Media and Games Network (MAGNET), NYU
2 MetroTech Center, 8th Floor, Brooklyn NY 11201
Cost $75. Teams of 3 or more will be given a 10% discount. Students 50% discount with proof of ID or university affiliation. Space limited to 35-40 people. Scholarships available for students in dire need, but you must indicate your need for financial assistance in the cover letter.
PLEASE NOTE: SPRING LAB FULL. TO BE PUT ON MAILING LIST FOR AUTUMN LAB, SEND MAIL TO [email protected].
To apply for the lab, send letter stating 1) your interest in VR or the VR project you intend to work on 2) your area of specialization – e.g., technologist, designer, artist, etc. – and 3) CV to: [email protected].
Virtual Reality Lab operates under the fiscal sponsorship of Fractured Atlas, a 501(c)(3) public charity. Contributions for the purposes of Virtual Reality Lab are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. Online profile of VRL on Fractured Atlas can be viewed here.
VR Lab NY Schedule*
| DATE | TIME | LOCATION |
| SAT, February 6 | 12:00 P.M. - 4:00 P.M. | ITP, NYU 721 Broadway, 4th Floor, NYC 10002 |
| SAT, February 13 | 12:00 P.M. - 4:00 P.M. | ITP, NYU 721 Broadway, 4th Floor, NYC 10002 |
| SAT, February 20 | 12:00 P.M. - 4:00 P.M. | ITP, NYU 721 Broadway, 4th Floor, NYC 10002 |
| SAT, February 27 | 12:00 P.M. - 4:00 P.M. | ITP, NYU 721 Broadway, 4th Floor, NYC 10002 |
| SAT, March 5 | 12:00 P.M. - 4:00 P.M. | ITP, NYU 721 Broadway, 4th Floor, NYC 10002 |
| SAT, March 19 | 12:00 P.M. - 4:00 P.M. | ITP, NYU 721 Broadway, 4th Floor, NYC 10002 |
| SAT, April 2 | 12:00 P.M. - 4:00 P.M. | MAGNET, NYU 2 MetroTech Center, 8th Floor, Brooklyn NY 11201 |
| SAT, April 9 | 12:00 P.M. - 4:00 P.M. | MAGNET, NYU 2 MetroTech Center, 8th Floor, Brooklyn NY 11201 |
| SAT, April 16 | 12:00 P.M. - 4:00 P.M. | MAGNET, NYU 2 MetroTech Center, 8th Floor, Brooklyn NY 11201 |
| SAT, April 23 | 12:00 P.M. - 4:00 P.M. | MAGNET, NYU 2 MetroTech Center, 8th Floor, Brooklyn NY 11201 |
| SAT, April 30 | 12:00 P.M. - 4:00 P.M. | MAGNET, NYU 2 MetroTech Center, 8th Floor, Brooklyn NY 11201 |
| SAT, May 7 | 12:00 P.M. - 4:00 P.M. | MAGNET, NYU 2 MetroTech Center, 8th Floor, Brooklyn NY 11201 |
* Please note: Virtual Reality Lab will not meet on March 12 (spring break) and March 26 (Easter holiday). The date and place for the final Demo Night will be announced shortly.
Ken Perlin
Ken Perlin is a professor in the Department of Computer Science at New York University and directs the NYU Games For Learning Institute. He is a participating faculty member in the NYU Media and Games Network (MAGNET). Perlin was also founding director of the Media Research Laboratory and director of the NYU Center for Advanced Technology. His research interests include graphics, animation, augmented and mixed reality, user interfaces, science education and multimedia. He received an Academy Award for Technical Achievement from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his noise and turbulence procedural texturing techniques, which are widely used in feature films and television, as well as the 2008 ACM/SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics Achievement Award, the TrapCode award for achievement in computer graphics research, the NYC Mayor’s award for excellence in Science and Technology and the Sokol award for outstanding Science faculty at NYU, and a Presidential Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation. Dr. Perlin received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from New York University, and a B.A. in theoretical mathematics from Harvard University.
Clara Fernández-Vara
Clara Fernández-Vara is a game scholar, designer and writer. She is an Associate Arts Professor at the NYU Game Center. Her area of expertise is narrative in games and how it can integrate with game design, focusing on adventure games. She is particularly interested in applying methods from textual analysis and performance studies to the study of video games and transmedia artifacts. Clara’s videogame work is grounded in the humanities, informed by her background in literature, film and theatre. Before joining the NYU Game Center, Clara was a a researcher and game developer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She holds a Ph.D. in Digital Media from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Masters in Comparative Media Studies from MIT. Clara has presented her work at various international academic and industry conferences, such as DiGRA (Digital Games Research Association), and Foundations of Digital Games and the Game Developer’s Conference (GDC). She has worked both in games for research as well as in the commercial sphere. Her first book, “Introduction to Game Analysis” has been published by Routledge.
Omer Shapira
Omer Shapira is the head of Virtual Reality at Fake Love. His practice combines live action elements with procedural graphics, using custom-built software and hardware. Previously, Omer was a VR Developer at Framestore, The NYU Media Research Lab and the MIT Media Lab, and a Filmmaker and VFX Artist in Israeli TV. His work was presented at Tribeca Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival and The Barbican. His commercial VR work won an Art Director’s Club Award and was a Webby Awards Honoree. Omer has a B.Sc in Mathematics from Tel Aviv University and a Master’s from the NYU Interactive Telecommunications Program.
John Benton
Co-Director, Virtual Reality Lab NY.
John Benton is a writer and director of emerging experiences working at the intersection of Film and Code.
His work has been shown at festivals and museums around the world; He is a professor @ NYU and the International Center of Photography, where he teaches everything from film production to game design.
J Dakota Powell
Co-Director, Virtual Reality Lab NY
Producing Artistic Director J Dakota Powell gathered the American theatre to respond in 911 in Brave New World on Broadway. Plays include: Bliss Moon, The Impostor, Savage Light, Blackwater, Harry Black. Harry Black was produced in the Ensemble Studio Theatre’s New Works Series. Blackwater was selected for the National Playwrights Conference, O’Neill Theatre Center and by John Guare for the Lincoln Center Reading Series. The Impostor was twice nominated for the Susan Smith Blackburn Award and received an Honourable Mention for the Jane Chambers Playwrighting Award. Powell has been produced by the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, the Philadephia Theater Company’s New Works Series, Circle Repertory Theatre Lab, the Ensemble Studio Theatre and Duke University’s New Works Series; she has been commissioned by South Coast Repertory Theatre, Talking Wall Pictures, PBS Great Performances. Powell is a winner of the Writers Guild of America, East screenwriting fellowship (NYC) and won the Scriptapalooza (LA) competition. Graduate of Yale, ITP/NYU and the Ensemble Studio Theater (NYC) 2-year program in acting, writing and directing.
Bracey Smith
Bracey Smith, Mentor of Virtual Reality Lab NY
Bracey Smith is CEO of Potential Synergy, and a tech savvy producer/animator turned VR entrepreneur.
Bracey is an award-winning filmmaker that worked with BitTorrent to help pioneer the future of TV on the web.
Braceysmith.com
- What kind of lab is it?
- What equipment will I have access to?
- What software can I use?
- How do I join a team?
- Do we get API decks to work with?
1. What kind of lab is it?
Created in response to the need for longer-term development vehicles, VR Lab is a hands-on maker space. While a hackathon can be an effective sprint, the VR Lab offers creators more time to develop VR applications and experiences.
2. What equipment do I have access to?
We expect most lab participants to bring their own gear. We aim to have a variety of headsets (3 Rifts and 5 Gear VR) and other VR tools (e.g. Leap Motion kits) on hand. You will need a laptop.
3. What software do I use?
We recommend that you download Unity 5 personal edition. It’s free. To learn the software, Unity has provided tutorials, documentation and live training. Visit Learn with Unity.
4. How do I join a team?
We expect teams to form during the first 3 weeks of lab… buddying up in bootcamp!
5. Do we get API decks to work with?
Currently, we have the Leap Motion API deck to distribute.
If you have other questions, shoot us a mail at [email protected].