Author: Meaghan Moody

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Unity Workshop Series

person playing Beat Saber in a virtual reality headset.
person playing Beat Saber in a virtual reality headset.

Interested in building virtual worlds, VR simulations, AR applications, and more? Meet Unity, an industry-standard, real-time creation platform used for video games, animations, and XR projects! In this Unity crash course, you will learn about its user interface, the basics of coding, its physics engine, and AR basics. Leveraging this knowledge, you will explore a zombie-infested campus, create your own AR application, and more! Join the Studio X team for this fun and informative 3-week workshop series. All learning levels are welcome. No experience necessary! While we recommend signing up for all four workshops, you are also welcome to attend as many or as few as you can.

AR Basics with Unity
11/17/2021 @4PM



Note: In order to participate, you will need to complete the following pre-workshop instructions. Need assistance with this process? Join us on the Studio X Discord.

Where: Learning Hub, Studio X, First Floor Carlson Library
When: Wednesdays, 10/27/21 – 11/17/21 from 4 to 5:30pm
Register: Full Series

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Insta360 One X2 Specifications

  • Display Size: 1-inch diameter
  • Resolution: 5.7K
  • Other Features: Charging, Digital Viewfinder, Image Stabilization, Still Photos, Video, Video
    Converter, Waterproof, Wireless
  • Cable Length: 31.49 in. / 80 cm
  • Connections: USB-C
  • Memory Cards: MicroSD
  • Focal Length: 7.2mm equivalent
  • Pixels: 18MP
  • Max ISO: 3200
  • Max Shutter Speed: 1/8000
  • Batteries: Rechargeable lithium-ion
  • Height: 4.45 in. / 11.3 cm
  • Length: 1.17 in. / 2.98 cm
  • Width: 1.82 in. / 4.62 cm
  • Weight: 5.25 oz. / 149 g
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Oculus Quest 2 Specifications

  • Product Dimensions: ​191.5 mm x 102 mm x 142.5 mm (strap folded in), 191.5 mm x102 mm x 295.5 mm (strap fully opened up)
  • Product Weight:​ 503g
  • Tracking: ​Supports 6 degrees of freedom head and hand tracking through integrated Oculus Insight technology.
  • Storage:​ 256GB
  • Display Panel:​ Fast-switch LCD
  • Display Resolution: ​1832×1920 per eye
  • Display Refresh: ​72Hz at launch; 90Hz support to come
  • SoC:​ Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ XR2 Platform
  • Audio: ​Integrated speakers and microphone; also compatible with 3.5mm headphones.
  • RAM: ​6GB
  • Battery Life:​ You can expect between 2-3 hours based on the kind of content you’re using on Quest 2; closer to 2 hours if you’re playing games and closer to 3 hours if you’re watching media. At any point, you can check the battery status of your headset in the Oculus App settings or in VR via Oculus Home.
  • Charge Time: ​With the provided USB-C power adapter, Quest 2 will charge to a full battery in about 2.5 hours.
  • IPD: ​Adjustable IPD with three settings for 58, 63 and 68mm.
  • Playspace:​ Stationary or Roomscale supported. Roomscale requires a minimum of 6.5feet x 6.5 feet of obstruction-free floor space.

Controllers:

  • Dimensions: ​9 x 12cm (per controller, includes tracking ring)
  • Weight:​ 126g (per controller, no battery installed)
  • Requires 2AA batteries (included in the box; 1 for each controller)
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Creativity Stations

computer workstations with dual monitors.

Studio X has six workstations for individual exploration and XR project development. These workstations have a PC with a high-end graphics card and processor, dual monitors, and a range of specialized software. Four of the six workstations are reservable.

Reserve Here

computer workstations with dual monitors.
Six high-end workstations with a range of software

Seating: 1
Access: UR students, faculty, and staff
Noise Level: Medium 
Brightness: The workstation area has overhead lighting but no windows.
Equipment: PC with dual monitors
Software: List of Software

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Collaboration Rooms

Studio X has 3 collaboration rooms (one small and two medium-sized), which are collaborative, tech-enabled spaces that facilitate XR exploration and creation.

Reserve Here

Collaboration Room B (medium)

Collaboration room B. Shows a medium-sized room with two windows, a table and chairs, and a wall-mounted monitor.

Seating: 6
Access: UR students, faculty, and staff
Room Dimensions: ~12 x 15ft
Noise Level: Quiet – This room has a door. 
Brightness: The room has overhead lighting and a large window with adjustable blinds.  
Equipment: PC with dual monitors, a wall-mounted monitor with personal laptop HDMI connection, data drop, and a wall-mounted whiteboard
Furniture: Desk, flip-top table, and stackable chairs 
Software: List of Software

Collaboration Room C (small)

Medium size room with a work station

Seating: 3
Access: UR students, faculty, and staff
Room Dimensions: ~9.5 x 11ft
Noise Level: Quiet – This room has a door. 
Brightness: The room has overhead lighting and a large window with adjustable blinds.  
Equipment: PC with dual monitors, data drop, and a wall-mounted whiteboard
Furniture: Desk and stackable chairs 
Software: List of Software

Collaboration Room D (medium)

Room with two tables several chairs and a computer workstation

Seating: 6
Access: UR students, faculty, and staff
Room Dimensions: 11 x 18ft
Noise Level: Medium – There is no door to this room. 
Brightness: The room has overhead lighting and a large window with adjustable blinds.  
Equipment: PC with dual monitors, a wall-mounted monitor with personal laptop HDMI connection, data drop, and a wall-mounted whiteboard
Furniture: Desk, flip-top table, and stackable chairs 
Software: List of Software

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Innovation Suite

Conference room with Desk, chairs and computer

The Innovation Suite’s is a semi-private, collaborative, tech-enabled space for research intensive engagement and learning with extended reality (XR). This project room accommodates larger research teams of up to 12 people. Reservations for this room must be approved by Studio X staff.

Reserve Here

Conference room WIth desk and computer

Seating: 12
Access: UR students, faculty, and staff
Room Dimensions: ~15.5 x 16.5ft
Noise Level: Quiet – This room has a door. 
Brightness: The room has overhead lighting but no windows. There is one glass wall that looks out into the main Studio X area. 
Equipment: PC with dual monitors, a wall-mounted monitor with personal laptop HDMI connection, data drop, and a wall-mounted whiteboard
Furniture: Desk, flip-top tables, and stackable chairs 
Software:  List of Software
Recurring Reservations: The Innovation Suite may be used for smaller class and group meetings. Please submit requests to this form. You can request the room for full-semester reservations by submitting the form before May 1st for the fall term, October 15th for the spring term, and March 15th for the summer terms.

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Learning Hub

Learning Hub. Displays four tables surrounded by chairs and a large wall-mounted TV screen.

The Learning Hub is a public, collaborative, tech-enabled space for teaching and learning with extended reality (XR). This space accommodates larger groups of up to 16 people. Reservations for this room must be approved by Studio X staff.  

Reserve Here

Learning Hub. Displays four tables surrounded by chairs and a large wall-mounted TV screen.

Seating: 16
Access: UR students, faculty, and staff
Space Dimensions: ~14 x 15ft
Noise Level: Loud – This space is in the center of Studio X and is designed to be open. 
Brightness: The room has overhead lighting but no windows.  
Equipment: A wall-mounted monitor with personal laptop HDMI connection, data drop, and wall-mounted whiteboards
Furniture: Flip-top tables and stackable chairs 
Recurring Reservations: The Learning Hub may be used for smaller class and group meetings. Please submit requests to this form. You can request the room for full-semester reservations by submitting the form before May 1st for the fall term, October 15th for the spring term, and March 15th for the summer terms. 

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Escape from Virtual Eastman Quad! | RCL Stress-Less Week

decorative graphic with text that says, "Escape from Virtual Eastman Quad!"
Banner graphic with text: "Escape from virtual Eastman Quad! Take a break from your studies and enter the Studio X Virtual Escape Room! On Thurs, 5/12 at 6PM. It's a virtual event." Icon of VR headset.

Take a break from your studies and enter the Studio X Virtual Escape Room! Using Mozilla Hubs (free XR software), you’ll be able to create an avatar, enter the virtual Eastman Quad, and discover clues in the space that will help you escape. River Campus Library staff will be there to give you tips and answer any questions about the new Studio X space for immersive technologies that will open in Carlson Library in Fall 2021.

Prizes will be awarded to the first three participants that escape in the allotted time! 

Where: Virtually via Zoom
When: Thursday, 5/13/2021 @6-7PM
Register: https://libcal.lib.rochester.edu/event/7768747

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A New Way to Make AR/VR Glasses

Person using equipment to work with AR/VR lenses.
A metaform is a new optical component that Rochester researchers say can combine with freeform optics to create the next generation of AR/VR headsets and eyewear. (University of Rochester illustration / Michael Osadciw)

University of Rochester researchers combine freeform optics and a metasurface to avoid ‘bug eyes’

“Image” is everything in the $20 billion market for AR/VR glasses. Consumers are looking for glasses that are compact and easy to wear, delivering high-quality imagery with socially acceptable optics that don’t look like “bug eyes.”

University of Rochester researchers at the Institute of Optics have come up with a novel technology to deliver those attributes with maximum effect. In a paper in Science Advances, they describe imprinting freeform optics with a nanophotonic optical element called “a metasurface.”

The metasurface is a veritable forest of tiny, silver, nanoscale structures on a thin metallic film that conforms, in this advance, to the freeform shape of the optics—realizing a new optical component the researchers call a metaform.

Read the full article from the University of Rochester’s Newscenter.

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The Humanities & XR: A Semester of Research

book with features that have come to life.

Karp Library Fellow, Ayiana Crabtree ’22 joined the Studio X team in February 2021 as our inaugural XR Research Fellow. For her first research project, we asked Ayiana to focus on XR and the humanities. Immersive technologies share a natural connection with STEM fields, and the planned Studio X space will also be located on the first floor of Carlson Science & Engineering Library. However, Studio X supports all faculty and students on campus and fosters an interdisciplinary community of practice. Immersive technologies require a diverse range of expertise and perspectives, and the humanities and humanistic social sciences bring a much-needed critical eye to this emerging field.

Further, humanists have already been leveraging these tools and methods in their research. For example, at the UR, Elizabeth Colantoni, Associate Professor of Classics, uses virtual reconstructions to visualize Roman topography. Mike Jarvis, Associate Professor of History, also uses immersive technologies for archaeology research to not only understand the past but to virtually archive historical sites for the future.

In order to broaden Studio X’s reach to other humanities and humanistic social science faculty and students, Ayiana conducted research to find ways these disciplines can benefit from and engage with immersive technologies. This ranged from a blog post describing use cases, a focus group with RCL Learning Initiatives Librarians, and a student survey. View these findings and more in her semester-recap presentation below!

Presentation Slides