Class Description
Ever wanted to fly a drone, step inside virtual reality, or design your own video game? Now’s your chance. In this workshop you’ll get hands-on time with some of the most exciting technology out there – drones, VR headsets, and game design tools used by real developers. You’ll learn how these technologies work and how people are building careers around them. Come ready to play, explore, and think about the future.
Learning Objectives: in this class, students will learn about:
- Designing 3D objects in virtual reality using primitive shapes, symmetry tools, and layered design workflows
- Understanding the difference between VR, AR, and mixed reality, and toggling fluidly between modes in a single workflow
- Capturing 2D portfolio screenshots from 3D VR environments
- Designing and scanning hand-drawn game concepts into a playable digital format using Pixicade
- Applying the Game Design Cycle (design, make, test, improve, repeat) through iterative playtesting and targeted revisions
- Building game balance through hazard placement, goal accessibility, and speed adjustment
- Designing characters using bone rigging and animation concepts including loops, one-shots, and tweens
- Completing the FAA TRUST certification as a required legal prerequisite to recreational drone flight
- Executing controlled drone takeoffs, hovers, and landings using palm control, gesture control, and RC remote methods
- Applying the 180-degree shutter rule and manual camera settings to capture intentional cinematic footage
- Assembling, wiring, calibrating, and flying a quadrotor drone from a DIY kit (Expert)
- Troubleshooting hardware and software problems across VR, game design, and drone systems as a core engineering skill
Equipment
- VR/AR
- Meta Quest 3S VR/AR headset with controllers
- XPPen Artist Pro 22 Gen2 drawing tablet (motion sickness accommodation)
- CloroxPro Screen Sanitizing Wipes
- Game Design
- iPads
- Pixicade Special Animation Edition
- Plain white printer paper
- Drones
- DJI Neo 2 drone
- DJI RC-N3 Remote Controller
- DJI Goggles N3
- DJI RC Motion 3 Controller
- DJI Two-Way Charging Hub
- LiPo batteries (multiple)
- Propeller guards
Software
- VR/AR
- Gravity Sketch
- Open Brush
- Game Design
- Pixicade Game Creator App
- Drones
- DJI Fly App (iPad)
- B4UFLY (iOS/Android)
Deliverables
- VR
- VR Beginner: completed 3D headphone design in Gravity Sketch with multi-angle portfolio screenshots and color/material pass
- VR Experienced: custom shoe design built from a personal paper reference sketch, scaled to real foot size, with a final multi-angle portfolio capture
- VR Expert: full-scale original object design (vehicle, architectural space, wearable, or environmental scene) with a portfolio of screenshots and a written reflection connecting the process to professional practice
- Game Design
- Pixicade Beginner: at least one scanned, playtested, and revised playable game with documented iterations
- Pixicade Experienced: a two-level connected game sequence with consistent art style, documented design brief, and peer-reviewed design logic
- Pixicade Expert: rapid prototype documentation (hypothesis, observation, next question) plus a fully rigged and animated character saved as a reusable asset
- Drones
- Drone Beginner: FAA TRUST completion certificate; three gesture-captured photos with written framing reflection
- Drone Experienced: shot footage for a chosen client brief (aerial cinematographer, real estate photographer, or social media creator) plus the accompanying written deliverable (shot list, client pitch, or platform strategy)
