One Week ISTE Workshop on “Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and 3D Modeling”

The Department of Computer Engineering organised a One Week ISTE approved workshop on “Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and 3D Modeling” from 4^th to 8^th November 2019; in association with Forum for Innovation Incubation Research & Entrepreneurship (FiiRE).

The workshop was attended by 27 participants from various disciplines of engineering, both faculty and industry representatives. The workshop was based on the current trending technologies of Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and 3D Modeling. The workshop inaugural function was held on 4^th November 2019 in the presence of the Chief Guest, Dr. Gopal Mugeraya, Director of National Institute of Technology, Goa (NITG). Also present was Rev. Fr. Kinley D’Cruz, Director and Dr. Neena Panandikar, Principal, Don Bosco College of Engineering along with Asst. Prof. Guarang Patkar, HOD and Asst. Prof. Christina Barretto, Asst. Prof. Norman Dias and Asst. Prof. Sweta Morajkar, coordinators of the workshop, faculty and students.

The participants also witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Don Bosco College of Engineering and National Institute of Technology, Goa. Guests and faculty from both institutes witnessed the signing of the MoU which was based on the terms of encouraging joint research projects and publications, academic projects, seminars and lectures on topics of mutual interest and relevance, as well as placements and internships.

Eminent speakers with expertise in Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and 3D Modeling were invited to deliver sessions during the course of the entire week.

Day 1:

Mr. Kishore Shah, Managing Director at Ideaz Unlimited spoke on why there is a need for VR and AR. He stressed upon the point that success for such products depends heavily on human nature as the whole essence of having AR/VR/3D technology is to create comfort level that bridges the digital and physical world.

The participants were introduced to the making of VR games, by Mr. Jay Kamat, an accomplished game developer at June Gaming, Pune. He explained the difference between Augmented and Mixed reality with examples. He also gave a listing of the different VR devices available in the market.  Participants were given a quick walkthrough to the Unity game engine; a powerful gaming platform. The quick takeaways from this session were: VR/AR/MR differences, components of VR setup, Game engines, working of VR Devices, and introduction to Unity game engine. Mr.Kamat also spoke about VR Tracking and introduced the Unity VR SDK. Participants were given quick hands on session on VR Tracking and networking plugin. Overall impact of both these sessions was great. Gaming being an interesting subject, the level of curiosity among the participants was really high

Day 2:

Dr. B. Santhi, from National Institute of Technology, Goa formally introduced the concept of Virtual Reality on Day 2. She explained that Virtual Reality has the potential, if used correctly, to become a great technological advancement that will aid society in many ways.

She enlightened the participants on the types of VR, hardware devices used in VR and architecture of a VR setup. She also spoke about Ergonomics based technique for assembly assessment; a project which uses body tracking technology to detect position and orientation to create an automated method for assembly assessment.

Also present on the day two, was Mr. Jay Kamat, Game Developer at June Gaming, Pune. He involved the participants in understanding Unity; a cross platform 3D, 2D VR AR game developing tool.  The purpose of this session was to help participants develop a 3D game that can be used for fun and as an efficient way of teaching. Lastly, the participants had an amazing experience of the VR headsets which was done using the Oculus Quest the all-in-one VR gaming headset to interact with the virtual world.

Day 3

Session speaker, Mr. Gohar Chanekar, an accomplished graphics designer and 3d artist and director at his own venture, “Visuaal Vibes” introduced his topic on Content Development for 3d Mapping. He spoke about mapping software, Resolume Arena, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Illustrator, Madmapper and Watchout. His talk involved the key points Surface Mapping and projection. He outlined the features of Resolume: Audio Visual Playback, Projection Mapping with Arena, Real Time Rendering and integration with other apps. He demonstrated the above with video tutorials. In the later half of his session, Mr. Chanekar gave participants first-hand experience in creating 3d mapping content using Resolume. The participants got to try different effects, along with projecting images using web cams. The session was a very enjoyable experience.

The next speaker for the day was Mr. Akhilesh Bhise, founder at Innovent, spoke about his passion for 3D modelling.  He spoke about the various tools involved in 3D designing namely Extrude and Revolve Sweep Loft. Key elements in design involved editing meshes, polygons, edges and vertices. He also spoke about the process of rendering, an image synthesis procedure to generate realistic images. Also present was Mr. Fred Noronha, founder of SNCE, who gave a very interesting demonstration of architectural designs using VR and AR. He touched upon the benefits of using VR/AR technology in construction.

Day 4

On 7^th November 2019, the workshop started with a talk on Probabilistic Modeling and Analysis by Dr. Suraj Rane from Goa Engineering College, Ponda.  He spoke about the importance of the design phase of 3d Modeling. He introduced the concept of Product Design by using appropriate diagrams. He explained the terms of Robustness, Design for Reliability, Factors involved in Safety and Reliability. He also demonstrated Probability Plotting using Normal Distribution.

He introduced the participants to ANSYS Software. He illustrated and shared a tutorial with the participants on the use of ANSYS in a Probabilistic Design System to solve a problem involving a simple plate with a single force load.

Mr. Tushar Naik from IMS CAD Center introduced the participants to the software called CATIA. An acronym for Computer Aided Three Dimensional Interactive Application, CATIA is a multi-program software suite for computer aided design, computer aided manufacturing, and computer aided engineering and 3D. He went on to instruct the participants in creating a simple project in CATIA which explained basic principles of drawing 2D objects and 3D objects.

The next session was delivered by Ms. Kshitija Gaude from the IMS CAD Center, Ponda. 3ds Max is a powerful 3D modeling and animation solution used by game developers, visual effects artists, and graphic designers to create massive worlds, stunning scenes, and engaging virtual reality (VR) experiences.

She gave a quick demonstration on creating a pillow using a simple rectangular box using 3DsMAX. She also went on to demonstrate the use of textures by creating an animation of a tablecloth using a simple rectangular plane.

Day 5

Mrs. Aarti Kamat started the session on Day 5 of the ISTE workshop. She is managing partner at Edutek Solutions, a leading design boutique, consulting, authorized training and certification firm. Key elements of her session were importance of 3D modeling and prototyping, AR versus VR, components of a VR system and basic operation principle. She highlighted several examples involving leading brands which use these technologies to gain successful market and user recognition.

The next speaker was Mr. Ryan Vaz, Director of Infinyt3D, Verna – Goa. As an expert at 3D modeling and prototyping he explained and demonstrated the use of SketchUp –  a 3D design software that makes 3D modeling extremely easy for everyone to use. Using the software, Mr. Ryan Vaz, instructed the participants in creating a very simple 3D model of a keychain, involving the participants name. He later instructed participants on the usage of CURA, an open source 3D printer slicing application, thereby allowing participants to print their created design.

He also demonstrated the use of a 3D scanner. He explained the 3D scanning is a way of capturing a physical object’s exact size and shape into a digital representation. The collected data can then be used to create digital 3d models. These devices are used extensively by the entertainment industry in the production of movies and video games, including virtual reality. He ended the session with a live demonstration of a 3D scanner.

The one week ISTE workshop ended with a feedback session from external participants and distribution of certificates to all participants.