This course teaches the design and evaluation of three-dimensional (3D) user interfaces and interaction techniques. The course consists primarily of lectures and hands-on programming projects. Students will be expected to implement several 3D interaction techniques as part of this course, using state of the art 3D input devices. The course is intended to lay the foundation for 3D user interaction as it can be applied to novel user interfaces for computer games and consumer electronics, as well as virtual reality and augmented reality applications.

An important aspect of the course are going to be programming assignments involving 3D interaction devices. These assignments are going to be done with the VR authoring toolkit Unity 3D.

Oculus Rift HMD	Oculus Touch controllers	Oculus Quest 2

Course Schedule

Click here for the course schedule.

It lists lecture dates, homework due dates, and recommended reading.

Topics

• Introduction to 3D interaction
• Application domains
• Output hardware
• Input hardware
• Selection and Manipulation
• Navigation (Travel and Wayfinding)
• System Control
• Symbolic Input
• 3D user interface design
• Evaluation of 3D User Interfaces

Prerequisites

• CSE167 (Introduction to Computer Graphics) or equivalent course or experience
• Experience with graphics programming, or experience with Unity 3D, Unreal Engine or Lumberyard
• Linear algebra and coordinate systems

Format

• Instructor: Dr. Jürgen Schulze
• Instructor's office hour: Tuesdays 3:30-4:30pm on Zoom
• Number of Units: 4
• Section ID:
• Lectures: Tuesday and Thursday, 2:00-3:20pm on Zoom; starts January 5th
• Homework Discussion: Mondays 4-5pm; starts January 11th
• Homework: programming assignments
• Piazza page: piazza.com/ucsd/winter2021/cse165
• TAs: Robin Xu, Haoqi Wu

Grading

You will find your homework and other scores on Canvas. Please verify a few days after after every due date that your score has been recorded correctly and inform your grader if you find an error.

There will be no assignment or indication of letter grades corresponding to scores on the individual exams and homework projects. The final grade depends on a weighted average of all the scores. The following grading key will be used:

For undergraduate students with the P/NP option: A pass (P) grade will be given for an average score of 60 or higher.

For graduate students with the S/U option: A satisfactory (S) grade will be given for an average score of 75 or higher.

Homework Assignments

The following links will become active once the homework projects have been posted on line:

• Homework Assignment #1: Social Distancing, due January 24th at 11:59pm
• Homework Assignment #2: Covid Testing, due February 7 at 11:59pm
• Homework Assignment #3: Classroom Design Tool, due February 21 at 11:59pm
• Homework Assignment #4: Building Blocks, due March 7 at 11:59pm

All projects are solo projects - team work is not allowed.

If you can't finish your project by the due date, you can submit by the following Sunday, but your score will be subject to a late penalty of 25%.

Recommended Textbook

The textbook is highly recommended, but not required to do well in class. The lecture slides will be made available after each lecture and there will not be reading assignments. But the textbook can help understand many of the topics in greater depth.

LaViola, Kruijff, McMahan, Bowman, Poupyrev 3D User Interfaces: Theory and Practice (2nd Edition) Addison-Wesley Professional, 2017 ISBN: 978-0134034324

Students with Disabilities

If you have a documented disability, please bring your documentation to me as soon as possible so that I can make suitable accommodations for you. If you believe that you have a disability and desire accommodation, please register with the Office for Students with Disabilities.

Resources

• Best UI Practices for VR in Unity
• Advanced VR Interactions in Unity Tutorial
• Previous CSE 165 course web site