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(DMC199) Hololens Development Course

Exploring the Integration of HoloLens Technology within Academia for Trade-Based Education

About the Course & Grant

Partners: Microsoft, Intel, Oregon Storyboard & Clackamas Community College

Grant Funds: $100,000

Matched Funds: $100,000 (Intel), $15,000 (CCC), $100,000 (Volunteer Pro Development Hours)

Grant Team: Shelley Midthun, Andy Mingo, J Bills, Nikki Dunsire, Tawny Schlieski

Course Instructors: J bills, Nikki Dunsire, Thomas Wester

Core Student Builder: Philip Modin

Research & White Paper prepared by: Anthony Pires, Shelley Midthun

In the spring of 2016, Microsoft released the HoloLens, a mixed-‐reality headset that revolutionized the computing experience. Prior to this initial public release, Microsoft made HoloLens Developer Kits available to early adopters and industry pioneers. Oregon Story Board (OSB), Clackamas Community College (CCC), and Intel partnered to create an educational opportunity for developers and storytellers for the HoloLens and the broader Augmented, Mixed and Virtual Reality fields, within that early adoption space.

In October 2015, Clackamas Community College and four other universities (Carnegie Mellon, Dartmouth, Virginia Tech, and UC Berkeley) were chosen as recipients of Microsoft’s HoloLens Academic Research Grant. I was a part of this team. Microsoft established this grant to better understand the role and possible applications for holographic computing. Additional goals were to stimulate and advance academic research in mixed reality and encourage applications of holograms for new and unique purposes. This opportunity allowed for early access to an emerging technology and early exploration of its potential within a learning environment.

To better understand the technology that we would be interfacing with, Andy Mingo, Shelley Midthun, J Bills and I were provided an opportunity to attend the Microsoft Hololens Academy on the Microsoft campus.

This experience was unlike any other. We were introduce to the nuances of the headset, code needed to implement baseline functions and visuals, and training on the hand gestures recognizable to the camera on the head-mounted display. Right away we recognized some potential challenges:

Though still impressive, the field of view was incredibly small
Building and loading content would require patience and skill, particularly in coding (C#)
The HMD was not comfortable

As part of the proposal for augment trade-‐based education, Oregon Story Board opened its doors to interested students and working professionals excited to take part in this emerging technology. Part one of the CCC/OSB grant application proposed that we create "project-centered, studio classes,” which would allow students from various Portland-area schools to work with industry professionals in cross-disciplinary teams to develop content for the HoloLens. Using software such as Unity3D and Maya and Microsoft’s HoloLens, students created a holographic interactive auto transmission. The final HoloLens project would then be used as a supplemental teaching tool within the Automotive Services Training program at CCC. I was one of the three instructors who taught the course, along side John Michael Bills (co-instructor) and Thomas Wester who stepped into my position when I was pulled back onto endeavors at The Art Institute of Portland in a full-time capacity.

The DMC199 class was a controlled adventure into the unknown, with a goal to apply the combined talent of the Hololens grant team with some of the best minds in Portland, towards a new visual communication medium utilizing this new mixed reality device. The grant team engaged students and professionals with a full range of skills; Unity and C# were a priority, as were digital design skills such as modeling and texturing.