This course explores the visual and human-computer interaction design process for scientific applications in immersive virtual reality. It is cross listed at Brown (as CSCI1370) and RISD (as ILLUS5303) and is co-taught by David Laidlaw from Brown Computer Science, Fritz Drury from RISD Illustration, and Sharon Swartz from Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Jadrian Miles is the TA.
Computer science students learn how to work effectively with each other as well as with artists and designers in creating applications targeting Brown's Cave. A Cave is an 8'x8'x8' cube whose floor and walls are covered with displays, which we will use to create interactive 3D virtual environments.
Artists and designers learn to interact with scientists in designing and realizing applications in this new medium. We study the process of design from several perspectives; learn about some specific scientific problems; study existing applications of scientific visualization and virtual reality; explore the medium of the Cave; create designs for the scientific applications; critique, evaluate, realize, and iterate the designs; and culminate with a demonstration of final projects.