tutorials

Course Overview

This video provides an overview of RTA 995/MP 8995 - Embodied Digital Media: Research Design. In it, Synlab Director Ali Mazalek presents the course outline and answers general questions. This video is an excerpt taken from the first day of the course on Jan. 21, 2020.

T00 - Introduction to TEI

This tutorial covers the theoretical foundations of tangible and embodied interaction, illustrated with some seminal examples from the field. It then connects the ideas to real-time 3D environments, as well as tangible augment reality and tangible virtual reality.

T01 - Introduction to Unreal

This tutorial covers the following areas:

Intro to Unreal - Become familiar with the Unreal Engine UI.
Basic Programming - Learn introductory programming concepts.
Real-Time 3D - Design concepts for real-time 3D contexts.

T02 - Interaction Design

This tutorial covers the following skills:

Intro to Interaction Design - Emphasis on user interaction.
Human-Centred Design - Designing for people and real contexts.
Design Thinking - Understanding human needs and challenges.

T03 - Academic Paper Reviewing

This tutorial covers the following skills:

Academic Paper Reviewing - How to critically review a paper.
Literature Review - Knowing the gaps and limitations in the literature.
Peer Review - How the peer review process works.

T04a - Unreal Programming

This tutorial covers the following:

Blueprints - Overview of programming with the Blueprints system.
Procedural Generation - Basic introduction to procedural generation.
Data-Driven Design - Importing data to build 3D assets.

T04b - Programming Basics

This tutorial covers the following:

Languages - Different programming languages.
Tips - Practices for developing good programming habits.
Examples - Basic sketches to work through.

T05 - 3D Design for Unreal

This tutorial covers the following:

3D Design Concepts - Basic 3D design concepts in Tinkercad.
Repositories - Where to find free 3D assets.
Intermediate Concepts - Using Blender for more advanced work.

T05b - HoloLens Setup for Unreal

This tutorial covers the following:

HoloLens Setup - Configuring Unreal for developing HoloLens VEs.
UI Config - Adding and configuring Hololens 2 UI elements with the MRTK and UX Tools plugin.
HoloLens 2 Demo - Demoing user interactions with the HoloLens.

T05c - Lighting in Unreal

This tutorial covers the following:

Configuring Basic Lights - Setting up direction, point, and spot lights for your scene.
Graphics Tools - Adding the Graphics Tools plugin for HoloLens-specific lighting options.

T06 - Intro to Electronics

This tutorial covers the following:

Electronics Concepts - Electronics theory, concepts, and terms.
Prototyping - Prototyping electronic circuits with Tinkercad.
Arduino Interactions - Working with sensors and the Arduino platform.

T07 - Digital Fabrication

This tutorial covers the following:

Fabrication - Basics of 3D printing and laser cutting.
3D Printing Demo - Loading a model, slicing in Cura, and printing on an Ultimaker S3.
Laser Cutting Demo - Prepping a vector file and cutting/engraving with a Glowforge laser printer.

T08 - Demo Video Production

This tutorial covers the following:

Affordances - Affordances of text vs affordances of video.
Structure - Research to design to production.
Planning - Storyboarding to recording to editing to exporting.

T09 - Academic Paper Writing

This tutorial covers the following:

Structure - Determining an appropriate structure for your papers.
Outlines - Top-down vs bottom-up outlines for writing.
Reviewing - Paper writing and paper reviewing as two sides of the same coin.