The benefit of learning together with your friend is that you keep each other accountable and have meaningful discussions about what you're learning.
Courtlyn
Promotion and Events Specialist
Learn to build XR experiences in Unity in 7 months, online
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March 29, 2023
7 months, online
15-20 hours per week
Our participants tell us that taking this program together with their colleagues helps to share common language and accelerate impact.
We hope you find the same. Special pricing is available for groups.
The benefit of learning together with your friend is that you keep each other accountable and have meaningful discussions about what you're learning.
Courtlyn
Promotion and Events SpecialistBased on the information you provided, your team is eligible for a special discount, for Professional Certificate in AR/VR Development and 3D Graphics starting on March 29, 2023 .
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Have questions? Email us at group-enrollments@emeritus.org.
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The rapid growth in the development of commercial applications for extended reality (XR) has led companies from every industry to seek out experienced or trained developers and engineers with AR/VR experience and skills that they can bring into XR development.
Developed by a team of XR professionals associated with NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering, the seven-month Professional Certificate in AR/VR Development and 3D Graphics provides the skills and knowledge that companies such as Apple, Wayfair, Google, and Verizon value as they make the shift to XR development.
Traditional software engineers and developers (or those with computer science-related degrees) can learn the XR essentials needed to build experiences in a game engine, use scripting to create, navigate, and customize 3D graphic assets to construct virtual environments, and create a presentable prototype.
The average salary for an AR/VR developer in the US in 2022
Of software engineers predict we will see the full impact of AR/VR within the next 5 years
The global XR market is expected to reach approximately $393 billion by 2025, a CAGR of 69.4% throughout the forecast period
This comprehensive program is designed for professionals or students with a computer science degree or equivalent development background who want to learn XR essentials and fundamentals to build AR and VR experiences in Unity. It is also geared toward technical artists, who have created art in a tool like Maya but want to start making their own games and create animations and riggers. Participants in this program will have a foundational understanding of mathematics (i.e., Algebra I, at a minimum) and scripting language experience, so they can advance to the next level and sharpen their scripting skills to create, navigate, and customize 3D graphic assets to construct interactive, virtual environments.
It is ideal for:
The seven-month program is divided into five sections that explore the foundations of XR, 3D math and Unity development, construction of virtual environments, and high definition XR. It culminates in a project development phase and capstone project.
Get an overview of the past, present, and future of extended reality.
Explore the design principles essential for effective XR development, and consider the roles, interactions, and workflows within an XR project.
Recognize the role that game engines play within XR architecture, and set up Unity for successful development.
Develop knowledge of the Unity GUI, learn how to import assets and GameObjects to utilize in project development, and create a Rube Goldberg machine. Explore the use of vector mathematics in Unity.
Utilize C# to create custom Unity components. Apply the concepts of prefabs, transform API, materials, vector multiplication, and projection in Unity to create an obstacle in a third-person platformer scene.
Explore the Input System Package to create a character controller. Apply C# scripting, physics, rigidbodies, colliders, matrix mathematics, and Unity coroutines to GameObjects to create interactivity and to create your own roll-a-ball scene.
Use tools within Unity to create a functioning UI with a scene. Add animations to and interactions between GameObjects, and apply matrix mathematics to Unity development.
Utilize Unity’s physics engine to apply raycasting to inform interactions, and explore how Unity employs quaternions and matrices to represent rotations in 3D space.
Get an overview of AR development frameworks and learn to develop image tracking-based AR using Vuforia with Unity.
Create AR experiences leveraging object-recognition techniques and interactions.
Learn about SLAM and AR Foundation and use Unity's AR Foundation to detect surface types and create code to load on a mobile device.
Explore Unity’s XR Interaction Toolkit with its powerful library that allows you to quickly prototype and build AR and VR experiences to improve user experiences. Use the XR toolkit, grey boxing, and 6 DoF room-scale VR to create an end-to-end XR experience.
Complex interactions between hand avatars and physical 3D interfaces create more immersive experiences for users. Create and customize interactive controls within a scene.
Get a crash course on computer graphics rendering and an introduction to writing shaders in Unity. Create a custom mesh and custom shader and apply these to objects in a scene. Apply matrix math and linear algebra to transform objects.
Explore scriptable rendering pipelines in Unity to create shaders using the shader graph. This graph-based approach is applicable to many tools in programming, 3D modeling, and more.
Conceptualize and construct a virtual lobby to link your VR environments using ProBuilder and other tools in Unity. Explore and implement lighting technologies in Unity’s Universal Rendering Pipeline.
Diagnose and solve lightmapping issues within virtual environments. Build and implement a system to manage scene loading and transitions, and deploy an application to the Oculus Quest.
Utilize Unity's High-Definition Render Pipeline (HDRP) to kick technical artistry to the next level. Leverage the advanced materials and lighting workflows in the HDRP including probes, materials, lighting, textures, and more to create realistic scenes with stunning graphics.
Achieve more realism through rendering visuals for XR environments. Add interactivity through teleportation, configure the occlusion culling system and dynamic resolution to improve performance.
Work with Unity’s animation rigging package to create custom, dynamic hand poses for your hand avatars to increase the realism and immersion of XR experiences.
Use the VFX Graph technology in Unity to create visual effects and procedural animation that will add rich visuals to XR experiences. Also delve into particle systems to simulate a variety of effects within a scene.
Align your career and project production goals and think through your project in detail to build a production schedule. Practice trailer and documentation analysis, and learn to analyze and effectively communicate through documentation.
Explore project management tools to further organize your project plan. Apply lessons from case studies to your professional practice. Develop a styleframe, shot list, or storyboard as well as conduct a motion test to further define your project.
Consider user onboarding and UX design for your prototype. Design your own user survey to elicit user feedback and determine how user feedback impacts your project development.
Evaluate your project development schedule and dedicate time for development. Through case studies, consider how user experiences can shape project development.
Use feedback and other tools to re-examine the goals for the final stretch of project development. Hear real-world stories about the complexities and factors that can impact project development.
Identifying your target audience and what they care about impacts your communication and distribution decisions. Improve your project MVP and polish your curated assets and documentation for final project distribution.
Present and share your capstone project.
Get an overview of the past, present, and future of extended reality.
Explore scriptable rendering pipelines in Unity to create shaders using the shader graph. This graph-based approach is applicable to many tools in programming, 3D modeling, and more.
Explore the design principles essential for effective XR development, and consider the roles, interactions, and workflows within an XR project.
Conceptualize and construct a virtual lobby to link your VR environments using ProBuilder and other tools in Unity. Explore and implement lighting technologies in Unity’s Universal Rendering Pipeline.
Recognize the role that game engines play within XR architecture, and set up Unity for successful development.
Diagnose and solve lightmapping issues within virtual environments. Build and implement a system to manage scene loading and transitions, and deploy an application to the Oculus Quest.
Develop knowledge of the Unity GUI, learn how to import assets and GameObjects to utilize in project development, and create a Rube Goldberg machine. Explore the use of vector mathematics in Unity.
Utilize Unity's High-Definition Render Pipeline (HDRP) to kick technical artistry to the next level. Leverage the advanced materials and lighting workflows in the HDRP including probes, materials, lighting, textures, and more to create realistic scenes with stunning graphics.
Utilize C# to create custom Unity components. Apply the concepts of prefabs, transform API, materials, vector multiplication, and projection in Unity to create an obstacle in a third-person platformer scene.
Achieve more realism through rendering visuals for XR environments. Add interactivity through teleportation, configure the occlusion culling system and dynamic resolution to improve performance.
Explore the Input System Package to create a character controller. Apply C# scripting, physics, rigidbodies, colliders, matrix mathematics, and Unity coroutines to GameObjects to create interactivity and to create your own roll-a-ball scene.
Work with Unity’s animation rigging package to create custom, dynamic hand poses for your hand avatars to increase the realism and immersion of XR experiences.
Use tools within Unity to create a functioning UI with a scene. Add animations to and interactions between GameObjects, and apply matrix mathematics to Unity development.
Use the VFX Graph technology in Unity to create visual effects and procedural animation that will add rich visuals to XR experiences. Also delve into particle systems to simulate a variety of effects within a scene.
Utilize Unity’s physics engine to apply raycasting to inform interactions, and explore how Unity employs quaternions and matrices to represent rotations in 3D space.
Align your career and project production goals and think through your project in detail to build a production schedule. Practice trailer and documentation analysis, and learn to analyze and effectively communicate through documentation.
Get an overview of AR development frameworks and learn to develop image tracking-based AR using Vuforia with Unity.
Explore project management tools to further organize your project plan. Apply lessons from case studies to your professional practice. Develop a styleframe, shot list, or storyboard as well as conduct a motion test to further define your project.
Create AR experiences leveraging object-recognition techniques and interactions.
Consider user onboarding and UX design for your prototype. Design your own user survey to elicit user feedback and determine how user feedback impacts your project development.
Learn about SLAM and AR Foundation and use Unity's AR Foundation to detect surface types and create code to load on a mobile device.
Evaluate your project development schedule and dedicate time for development. Through case studies, consider how user experiences can shape project development.
Explore Unity’s XR Interaction Toolkit with its powerful library that allows you to quickly prototype and build AR and VR experiences to improve user experiences. Use the XR toolkit, grey boxing, and 6 DoF room-scale VR to create an end-to-end XR experience.
Use feedback and other tools to re-examine the goals for the final stretch of project development. Hear real-world stories about the complexities and factors that can impact project development.
Complex interactions between hand avatars and physical 3D interfaces create more immersive experiences for users. Create and customize interactive controls within a scene.
Identifying your target audience and what they care about impacts your communication and distribution decisions. Improve your project MVP and polish your curated assets and documentation for final project distribution.
Get a crash course on computer graphics rendering and an introduction to writing shaders in Unity. Create a custom mesh and custom shader and apply these to objects in a scene. Apply matrix math and linear algebra to transform objects.
Present and share your capstone project.
Hear from a Medivis developer as he discusses being on the cutting edge of bringing AR and AI into the medical industry.
Develop and try out interactive environments and tools with this VR headset.
Explore the roles and responsibilities of XR developers within workflow ecosystems, as well as essential skills.
Follow a process to develop an idea from pitch to prototype as part of the capstone project.
Explore non-gaming industry XR applications.
Hear from a Scatter developer as he discusses the product development pivots and experiences for a room-scale VR experience that premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival.
Video Lectures
Assignments
Discussions
Real-World Tools & Technology
Capstone Project
Career Support & Mentoring
Dedicated Program Support Team
Mobile Learning App
Stepping into a career in XR development requires both hard and soft skills. The Professional Certificate in AR/VR Development and 3D Graphics program offers guidance for navigating a career path in XR development, including:
These services are provided by Emeritus, our learning collaborator for this program. Our program support team includes course leaders to help you reach your learning goals. It is our primary goal to give you the skills needed to be prepared for a job in this field; however we do not guarantee job placement.
Michael Allison
Alex Lotsos
Rui Pereira
David Lobser
Michael Allison
Senior Software Engineer, Scatter
Michael Allison is an XR developer and enthusiast hailing from the world of creative technology. After receiving his master’s degree in interactive telecommunications from NYU, he spent a year as a research resident at the university to continue to work on his graduate thesis: experiments in virtual reality performance art. He went on to work for years as a technical artist and creative technologist, building site-specific interactive experiences for the likes of Intel, AT&T, and IBM.
Michael later spent several years as the Head of Technology at a creative tech firm, where he was the technical lead on a wide range of projects from smart appliance prototypes and experimental retail products to XR experiences for experiential marketing. Michael is currently a Senior Software Engineer at Scatter Inc., a startup creating the next generation of volumetric capture and rendering technologies.
Alex Lotsos
Co-Founder and Lead Developer, Unseen Media
Alexandros Lotsos is a Brooklyn-based creative technologist and STEAM educator with a background in mathematics, philosophy, and digital media. He is a co-founder and XR developer at Unseen Media and a former adjunct faculty member of the Integrated Digital Media program from NYU Tandon where he taught courses in creative coding and game development with Unity.
Rui Pereira
Creative Technology Lead and Spatial Computing Consultant, (IDEO, Havas, Google, Microsoft)
Rui P.G. Pereira is a Creative (and) Technologist passionate about (dis)embedding technology in people's lives to make them better and happier. Previously, Rui worked at Google where he collaborated strategically with brands like Coca-Cola, HBO, and Procter & Gamble and their creative agencies on insight-driven interactive experiences and product innovation. Rui has also led the Innovation Lab at Havas Worldwide and has won the agency a CANNES LIONS Bronze Award: Innovation and Creative Data—Social Data.
Rui is a thought leader in the area of emerging technologies, Augmented and Mixed Reality and Spatial Computing frequently presenting his work and research publicly. He also teaches Magic Windows and Mixed-Up Realities, a course on thinking, sketching, and building mixed reality experiences in the Interactive Telecommunications program from NYU Tandon.
David Lobser
Lead Creative Technologist, Luxury Escapism, Creator, Cosmic Sugar
David Lobser is a designer, animator and XR developer. His VR work includes multi-user, location-based experiences such as Flock, developed at NYU’s Future Reality Lab. He taught animation and creative code at Harvard, NYU, SVA, CU, and Parsons. His work has been seen at Coachella, Burning Man, FoST, the Phi Center, Electric Daisy Carnival, SXSW, and more. Most recently, his work has focused on therapeutic VR and includes "Cosmic Sugar" and "Visitations."
Wenbo Lan
Upon successful completion of the program, participants will be awarded a verified digital certificate by NYU Tandon.
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Immediate repayment, interest-only repayment, and deferred payment options available. Click here to know more.
Immediate repayment, interest-only repayment, and deferred payment options available. Click here to know more.
Flexible Payment Options – Monthly payments as low as US$ 2,940.
Choose to pay in two, or three monthly installments for higher flexibility Click here to know more.
You can opt for any one of the financing options to cover up to the full cost of the program tuition. If you are considering financing your program through one of our partners, the enrollment process can only be completed with the assistance of your program advisor.
Please note that loan applications should be submitted no later than four business days prior to the enrollment deadline due to processing time.
Flexible payment options available.