Building Interactive 3D Characters and Social VR

Building Interactive 3D Characters and Social VR

This course is part of Virtual Reality Specialization

Instructors: Prof Sylvia Xueni Pan

16,314 already enrolled

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4 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

86 reviews

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.

86 reviews

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.

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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 videos Total 96 minutes

Introduction to Social VR and Virtual Characters 5 minutes
Virtual Characters | Realism 6 minutes
Agents and Avatars 5 minutes
Applications of Virtual Characters 12 minutes
Introduction to Character Animation 3 minutes
Cristina 5 minutes
Designing Virtual Characters 8 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 VR 15 minutes
Project Briefing 3 minutes

6 readings Total 60 minutes

Uncanny Valley 10 minutes
Course Blog 10 minutes
Getting Started in Unity 10 minutes
Where to Download Virtual Characters 10 minutes
Unity Mecanim Tutorial 10 minutes
Virtual Character Project Brief 10 minutes

2 assignments Total 60 minutes

Virtual Characters Quiz 30 minutes
Planning your project 30 minutes

4 discussion prompts Total 40 minutes

Introduction to Virtual Characters 10 minutes
Virtual Character Realism 10 minutes
Agents and Avatars 10 minutes
Virtual Character Application 10 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 videos Total 67 minutes

Introduction to Body Language 2 minutes
Introduction to Skeletal Animation 5 minutes
Introduction to Motion Capture 4 minutes
Speech 7 minutes
Posture and Gesture 4 minutes
Backchannel 4 minutes
Sensing the User’s Body Language 2 minutes
Proxemics 3 minutes
Body Language for Avatars 6 minutes
Applying Motion Capture Data onto a Virtual Character 11 minutes
Speech Interaction 11 minutes
Gesture Interaction 8 minutes

4 readings Total 40 minutes

Markerless mocap 10 minutes
Bodily Communication 10 minutes
Where can you find Mocap data 10 minutes
The Virtual Character Interaction Scripts 10 minutes

1 assignment Total 30 minutes

Body Movement 30 minutes

1 peer review Total 60 minutes

Virtual Character 60 minutes

4 discussion prompts Total 40 minutes

Observe other's body language. 10 minutes
Motion Capture 10 minutes
Gestures 10 minutes
A great example of body animation 10 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 videos Total 70 minutes

Introduction to Facial Expressions | The Psychology 5 minutes
Introduction to Facial Expressions 4 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 Animation 5 minutes
The Importance of Gaze in Social Interaction 4 minutes
Gaze interaction (Part 1) 14 minutes
Gaze interaction (Part 2) 11 minutes
Other Facial Features and Their Psychological Effect 4 minutes

3 readings Total 30 minutes

Interaction Scripts 10 minutes
Facial Animation: find out more 10 minutes
Gaze Animation 10 minutes

1 assignment Total 30 minutes

Facial Expressions 30 minutes

4 discussion prompts Total 40 minutes

Facial Motion Capture 10 minutes
A great example of facial animation 10 minutes
A great example of gaze animation 10 minutes
Body language around the world 10 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 videos Total 23 minutes

Introduction to Social VR 1 minute
The Psychology Behind Social Interaction 4 minutes
Challenges in Human-Avatar Interaction 5 minutes
Challenges in Human-Agent Interaction 4 minutes
Evaluation of Social Interaction in VR 3 minutes
Self-Avatar | Implementation and Applications 4 minutes
Summary of Social VR 1 minute

6 readings Total 60 minutes

Automatic Imitation 10 minutes
Extended reading: applications using Virtual Characters 10 minutes
Human-avatar: Social VR apps 10 minutes
Human-agent interaction 10 minutes
Embodiment - implementation and psychological effect 10 minutes
Thank you 10 minutes

1 peer review Total 60 minutes

Interactive Virtual Character 60 minutes

2 discussion prompts Total 20 minutes

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

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Instructors

Instructor ratings

(11 ratings)

Prof Sylvia Xueni Pan

University of London

5 Courses 136,180 learners

Offered by

University of London

Goldsmiths, University of London

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Reviewed on Jun 6, 2020

This course is great and really recommended if you have some experience using Unity

Reviewed on Mar 4, 2018

This was a fun course. Needed much more time than expected.

Reviewed on Apr 28, 2019

Lots to be learned about animation and all the parts that go with it.Great teachers and a bit of a learning curve.

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Frequently asked questions

To access the course materials, assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience when you enroll in a course. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid. The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.

When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile.

Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.