Mixed Reality Headsets (using Microsoft HoloLens 2)

Course description

In this course, we’ll explore how Mixed Reality headsets can help enhance productivity, reduce downtime, improve safety and enhance sustainability. As digital natives, current generations are highly familiarised with interacting with technology. They have been brought up with computers, tablets, and smartphones—so it makes sense that the next generation of builders and architects will be those who grew up using AR and Virtual Reality (VR) devices.

That’s why now is the time to enhance the ways we visualise our built environment. We are at an exciting point in history where we can imagine anything, build anything, and visualise anything—we literally have the power to shape our world and our future as we wish—and mixed reality devices like HoloLens are helping to make this potential a reality.

Course outline

We learn how to configure the Unreal Engine so that it’s ready for developing HoloLens applications. You will install and set up all of the tools an application needs before it can be built—the prerequisites for compiling code are a compiler, standard libraries, and any other items necessary.

You’ll learn more about The Basics of Models, Built-In 3D Objects and Importing Models. We’ll also explore Materials and Textures and how they can be applied to your models. You’ll learn about the different types of materials that are available, the difference between them and how they affect the look of your models.

We will show how to capture and render a 3D representation of the world around you that can be accessed directly in your applications—using spatial mapping and room scan visualisation. You’ll learn how to set up Hololens for development and how to start building your application.

We will walk through how to use HoloLens eye-tracking to let users interact with your software using their gaze. In this module, we will discuss best practices and common pitfalls when designing hand interactions for HoloLens.

Module V: Building HoloLens apps that use AR-specific features

In this session, we will walk you through the process of preparing your HoloLens app for distribution on the Microsoft Store—including how to build and bundle an application for remote rendering. We will also discuss how to use the HoloToolkit’s AR-specific features.

In this module, we will learn about the differences between immersive mixed reality (IMR), augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). We will then walk through some best practices for designing your application for IMR experiences.

We will learn how to expand on the world-mapping techniques learned in the Mapping the Real World course to include multi-device experiences where different people can experience a shared mixed reality in the same physical space.


Format

Hybrid, cohort-based and facilitator guided.

Duration

7 weeks


Language

English

Process

This course will be delivered via slides, videos, quizzes, discussions and interactive assignments. There will be a start and end date and one cohort taking the course.