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Introduction to Virtual Reality

Free Course

Learn about the basics of VR

Related Nanodegree Program

Introduction to Programming

In collaboration with
  • Google VR

About this course

This course is designed for students who are new to virtual reality and want to learn about the principles of VR technology including optics, displays, stereopsis, tracking, and major hardware platforms. You don’t need any programming experience to get started.

By the end of this course, you will have created and deployed a VR application. You will understand the physical principles of VR and you will use that knowledge to create a comfortable, high-performance VR application using Unity.

What you will learn

  1. What is VR?
    • Learn the basic history of VR development
    • Learn the physical principles of VR including display, optics and orientation tracking
    • Understand how comfort & presence play a role in VR development
  2. Platforms & Paradigms
    • Learn the difference between native, game engines, and web platforms
    • Learn how tracking in VR works
    • Learn about the different platforms currently available for VR development
  3. Hello World
    • Learn about to install and open a project in the Unity platform
    • Learn how to view, inspect, and gain a basic understanding of the Unity platform interface
    • Install and open an app in Google cardboard

Prerequisites and requirements

No programming experience is required. If you are new to virtual reality, and ready to start learning about this amazing technology, then this is the perfect place to begin! We will teach and use the Unity platform to edit a VR app, so you should have access to a computer running Mac OS X (10.8+) or Windows (7, 8, or 10).

See the Technology Requirements for using Udacity.

Why take this course?

The journey to becoming a VR developer starts with mastering the underlying hardware and software principles. This course covers the foundational skills needed to produce professional VR experiences that are comfortable, polished, and performant.

VR development is an amazing career, with both demand and salaries rising. Every innovative VR professional relies on a core set of tools and principles. If you’re going to succeed, then you need to master them, too.

Learn with the best.

  • Matt Sonic
    Matt Sonic

    Instructor

  • Vasanth Mohan
    Vasanth Mohan

    Content Developer