Building Virtual Worlds [53-831]

Building Virtual Worlds (BVW) is a project course, where interdisciplinary teams build immersive (helmet-based) interactive virtual worlds, as well as a variety of other interactive content. The course uses Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) platforms, such as the Jam-O-Drum, camera-based audience interaction techniques, Quasi the robot, and others. The goal of the course is to take students with varying talents, backgrounds, and perspectives and put them together to do what they couldn't do alone. The key thing is that there are no "idea people" in the course; everyone must share in the mechanical creation of the worlds. Students use 3D modeling software (Maya), painting software (Photoshop), and sound editing software (Adobe Audition & Pro Tools). We use the ETC's Panda3D engine, originally
developed by Walt Disney Imagineering's Virtual Reality studio, to display our virtual reality worlds.

Note that we don't try to teach artists to program, or engineers to paint; we form teams where everyone does what they're already skilled at to attack a joint project.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating – here you can find many samples of student work: each of these projects was done by a team of 4 or 5 students, who had 2 or 3 weeks (maximum) to create the work you see. The course culminates in a raucous stage show, where a juried selection of the best work is shared with the campus community. These videos show the students "performing" their worlds in front of a live, 500-person audience in McConomy Auditorium on Carnegie Mellon's campus.