Augmented reality workshop at ELA

Professor John Craig Freeman recently taught a one-day workshop on video game design for students from 10 Los Angeles-area high schools at Emerson College Los Angeles.

Freeman, of Visual and Media Arts, who is leading an ongoing public art project involving augmented reality, provided students with an expert introduction on two emerging tools of video game design: augmented reality and photogrammetry.

Augmented reality can be used to “place” virtual three-dimensional objects into real-world locations (which is a major part of Freeman’s ongoing project with Los Angeles County Museum of Art).

Professor John Craig Freeman (center, first row) with several Los Angeles-area high school students during a workshop on augmented reality he hosted at Emerson College Los Angeles. 

Photogrammetry is a technique that converts sets of photographs into 3D models. This could be used to convert photographs of a person into an avatar that could be used in a video game, for example.

By the end of the workshop, students were able to create a 3D avatar of themselves and view it in augmented reality; understand how to use mobile augmented reality browsers; and test, view, and document their work.

The students were from the following Los Angeles–area high schools: Alliance College-Ready Academy, New Open World Academy, UCLA Community School, Van Nuys High School, APEX Academy, Helen Bernstein High School, STEM Academy Hollywood, Ulysses S. Grant High School, and Hollywood High School.