VR Developer

VR Developer

Nanodegree key: nd017

Version: 3.0.0

Locale: en-us

Virtual Reality is the future of creative content. Job opportunities are skyrocketing, making this the perfect time to launch your career.

Content

Part 01 : Welcome to Term 1 Foundations

Part 02 : Introduction to Virtual Reality

Learn about the principles of VR technology including optics, displays, stereopsis, tracking, and major hardware platforms.

You will also get your development environment set up with the software and SDKs you need, learn some basics about Unity, and find out how to deploy your Unity project to iOS or Android.

By the end of this course, you will have created and deployed a fully functional VR app to your mobile device.

Part 03 : VR Scenes & Objects

Learn the fundamentals of using the Unity game engine to build beautiful and performant VR scenes.

Starting from basic game objects, you will learn about transforms and materials, so that you can position objects and make them look realistic.

Next, you will experiment with animations and cameras in order to make our scenes more engaging in VR. And finally, you will add some complex lighting to your scene to make your experience really stand out.

Part 04 : VR Software Development

Learn how to make your VR experience more dynamic and responsive to your users.

You will be exposed to C# programming and practice using it within the Unity interface.

Upon completing this course, you will have learned basic programming constructs such as methods, loops, variables, and events and how to apply them in a VR environment.

Part 05 : Welcome to Term 2 Essentials

Part 06 : VR Design

Learn the fundamentals of VR design including ergonomics, user testing, interface design, and more.

This course focuses heavily on testing, iteration, and documentation - the 'secret sauce' which has the power to make any VR project great.

By the end of this course, you will have a solid foundation and be able to approach any VR design task.

Part 07 : VR Platforms & Applications

Develop an understanding of what is happening in the VR industry and why it is so exciting to many people.

This will allow you to choose what hardware and platform you are interested in developing for when moving into the Specializations part of the Nanodegree.

By the end of this course, you will have a solid understanding of the impact potential of VR and be equipped to research any area of VR that interest you.

Part 08 : Welcome to Term 3 Mobile Perform. & 360 Media Specialization

Part 09 : Mobile Performance

Learn to quantify your mobile VR app performance, how to determine causes of poor performance, and how to fix the problems you find.

You will approach mobile performance from a detective’s perspective, looking for clues that indicate where optimizations are needed while developing the skills to optimize 3D scenes and scripts for optimal mobile VR performance.

By the end of this course, you will be able to approach all your future projects with optimization in mind from the start.

Part 10 : 360 Media Production

This course teaches all of the post-production aspects of 360 media. You will learn how to stitch your footage together using Autopano Video Pro and then how to use Autopano Giga to improve the quality of your stitch.

Next, you will learn advanced techniques in Adobe Premiere Pro, allowing you to edit both video and audio, stylize your footage, and add in VR titles.

Finally, the course will wrap up with interactivity, and how to use Unity to add compelling interactions, effects, and controls to your 360 videos.

Part 11 : Capstone

For the final part of the VR Developer Nanodegree, your challenge is to earn points by completing a series of VR achievements.

You can create any VR experience that targets a mobile platform, but you must complete a specific combination of achievements.

You will have a wide range of achievements to choose from, such as, for example, App Store achievement, Speech Recognition achievement, Mixed Reality Video achievement, etc. Each achievement wins you points, and you need to earn a certain amount of points for your project to meet specifications.

This is your chance to put all your VR skills to the test in a final challenge!

Part 12 : Welcome to Term 3 High-Immersion Unity Specialization

Part 13 : High Immersion

Learn the fundamentals of developing for the Vive and Rift, and their 6 degrees of freedom hand controllers.

First, you will learn about the benefits and constraints of these headsets, and explore design concepts with these strengths and weaknesses in mind.

Then you will learn how to use SteamVR to give your user locomotion, hand physics, and menu systems, and how to accomplish this functionality with the Oculus SDK.

Finally, you will learn about cross-platform development.

Part 14 : Performance & Publishing

Learn how to maximize your performance for desktop VR apps, and gain an overview of possible distribution channels.

First, you will learn how to use Unity’s performance tools to identify what your app’s processing bottlenecks are. This will include an overview of the most common bottlenecks and an in-depth look at how to avoid them.

Then you will explore Unity’s lighting system and learn tricks for achieving beautiful lighting at a minimized performance cost.

Finally, you will learn how to get your apps on Steam, Viveport, and the Oculus Store.

Part 15 : Capstone

For the final part of the VR Developer Nanodegree, your challenge is to earn points by completing a series of VR achievements.

You can create any VR project that targets the Vive and/or Rift platform, but you must complete a specific combination of achievements.

You will have a wide range of achievements to choose from, such as, for example, App Store achievement, Speech Recognition achievement, Mixed Reality Video achievement, etc. Each achievement wins you points, and you need to earn a certain amount of points for your project to meet specifications.

This is your chance to put all your VR skills to the test in a final challenge!

Part 16 (Elective): 360 Media Pre-Production

This course is designed to teach you everything you need to know to get started shooting your own 360 immersive films. You will learn about ways to direct attention in 360, and problems to avoid by analyzing some of the best 360 content out there. You will learn to write scripts for 360, and then how to break down those scripts into storyboards.

In the second half of the course, you will learn the right way to approach planning a 360 film shoot, how 360 cameras work, and which one is the best fit for your project and your budget. You will learn all about different microphones and audio capture options for 360, and how to put all of these elements together with fantastic lighting to shoot a great 360 video.

Part 17 (Career): Career: Networking

Networking is a very important component to a successful job search. In the following lesson, you will learn how tell your unique story to recruiters in a succinct and professional but relatable way.

Part 18 (Career): Career: Job Search Strategies

Opportunity can come when you least expect it, so when your dream job comes along, you want to be ready.

Part 19 (Career): Career: VR Interview Practice

This lesson introduces you to common types of questions you’ll encounter during an in-person interview. Develop a healthier, more confident mindset around your qualifications as a candidate, and learn how you can best represent your unique skills, knowledge, and interests--even if you don’t know the answer to every question.