HoloLens, HTC Vive, and Final Thoughts

Day 5: HoloLens, HTC Vive, and Final Thoughts

On our final class session, our professor brought in a pair of Microsoft HoloLens for us to try.  Before this class, I did not even know this type of technology existed!  When I first saw the promotion video for this device, I thought to myself, “There’s no way they could invent something like this.  I can only see the movies doing this!”  Once I tried it on, I thought differently.  Although the device was a little on bulky, it was really cool to be able to walk around an object that is not really there.  The HoloLens responded to my voice as well as my hand motions to select different options.  It did look a little funny when I watched my classmates use the devices as they moved their arms and tried to touch the empty space in front of them. 

We also tried the HTC Vive.  This was a headset with high quality PC-based VR and has much better quality and immersion than the Oculus DK2 that we tried earlier in the quarter.  The feel of the HTC Vive was similar to the HoloLens but was not as clear in terms of the quality of the picture.  I did enjoy the fact that this device included the two wireless controllers, one for each hand.  The controllers made it seem like it was more of a game while the HoloLens is more applicable for everyday life. 

Overall, I really enjoyed the Virtual Reality/ Augmented Reality class.  It was eye opening to see a lot of technology that I could never imagine.  I was also amused at the fact that VR/AR could be implemented in so many professions.   I was able to try a couple of the apps with my students and it definitely caught their attention instantly.  They were extremely excited that they could use their mobile devices in class and kept asking if I could show them more! 

Find out more about how to incorporate virtual reality and augmented reality in your classroom!

Unity3D

Day 4: Unity3D

Unity 3D was the last software that was introduced for this course.   This program was a game engine that allowed users to create their own game scenes. 

Click here for a quick example on unity.

This program was much more complicated to use and I had difficulty getting the three dimensional object created on SketchUp to import to Unity.  Since the house I created during the previous class session used specific materials for the walls and roof, it did not fully transfer all the materials that were used.  Therefore, most of the walls and roofing did not show properly on Unity3D.  I wished there was a way for SketchUp to save the 3D image into a file that is equivalent to PDF so that every component is not lost. 

Other than not being able to use the materials that I originally wanted, I had to think a scene that would be applicable in my own professional field.  Since my 6^th grade students were starting a short unit on geometric shapes, I thought it would be perfect to set up a scene that included three-dimensional shapes for my students to explore.  First, I set up a terrain and placed agriculture and hills all over to make the terrain look more lively.  Then I placed the house that was created from the SketchUp activity so that my first person perspective could walk out of.  Afterwards, I placed my geometric shapes all over my terrain to allow my students to walk around the terrain and explore the different shapes.  Finally, I added park ambience music to make the environment more realistic.  I also embed directions at the beginning of the scene as well as audio descriptions for each shape so that the user could hear what each geometric shape is as they walked closer to each object.  The following picture is a scene that I created for this lab. 

Unity 3D can be used as an educational resource as well as many other career paths.  I can see it being used for real estate or interior design to show customers what the houses look like on the inside.  It can also be used as a tour for students to be familiar with a new campus.

In my opinion, I do not think that I can fully utilize Unity3D to its full potential in my own classroom.  However, I believe that it is a great program for our computers class to provide an opportunity for our students to express themselves through a venue that is creative and interesting to today’s kids.

Here is what a scene might look like in first person perspective.