Final Oral Exam

• Time: Thursday (3.April) 13:00-15:00, Friday (4.April) 9:00-12:15 (see schedule below)
• Location: 2nd floor meeting room (see image below)
• Aids: No materials allowed (including during the 20 minute preparation time) other than blank paper (provided), pen and white board.
• Co-examiner / Proctor: Guðný Ragna Jónsdóttir (Kristinn R. Thórisson had to cancel)
• Percentage of Final Grade: 30%

• 20 minutes preparation time
• 20 minutes test time
• 10 minute transition/overhead time
• I.e. plan for 50 minutes total

• 10% One quick original design presentation where you are given a virtual environment design scenario (take a look at the various applications) and you have to address various design and high-level implementation factors that cover topics from the lectures. You will get this scenario handed to you when you arrive and get 20 minutes to prepare it before presenting it to the examiners (using a white board, no computers). The presentation plus discussion should not take more than 10 minutes. Your presentation should address (but is not limited to):
  • Why virtual environments provide a useful solution to the design scenario (contrasted with other kinds of interfaces).
  • What user experience you envision in your design and how you intend to guide the user.
  • What user interface challenges you might have and how you would start addressing them.
  • What environment creation challenges you might face and how you would start addressing those.
  • Any interesting opportunities for novel hardware or software solutions?
• 10% One random technical explanation for 5 minutes. You will get one topic from the following list and are expected to explain generally what the technology does and specifically how you can use (or have used) this technology in Panda 3D projects:
  • Scene Graph
  • Tasks and Event Handling
  • Collision Detection
  • Intervals
  • Animating Actors (using Blender)
  • Pixel (fragment) and Vertex Shaders (at least generally how they work)
  • Graphical User Interface (GUI) objects and HUD elements
  • Finite State Machines
• 10% One random theoretical discussion for 5 minutes. You will get one topic from the following list and you are expected to explain and discuss the related concepts and their implication for virtual environments:
  • The illusion of reality and mental models (week 1: The illusion of reality)
  • How one perceives immersion in 3D environments (week 1: The illusion of reality)
  • Definition and usefulness of the presence concept (week 3: Presence and Immersion)
  • Flow and making interfaces invisible (week 4: Action)
  • User action and constraints (week 4: Action)
  • Virtual cinematography and user perspective (week 4: Cinematography)
  • The different roles of actors in virtual environments and their layered construction (week 5: Actors and interaction)
  • The possible role of automation in user Avatars (week 6: Avatars and levels of control)
  • Fundamental principles of animation applied to 3D animation (week 9: Character Animation)

At the designated time, come to the examination room to pick up your design scenario. You will then be lead to a separate, closed, room for your design presentation preparation and will be fetched 20 minutes later for the presentation and rest of the examination.

THURSDAY 3. APRIL (Meeting Room)
[1]  13:00  Marco
[2]  13:25  Riikka
[3]  13:50  Andri
[4]  14:15  Stephanie
[5]  14:40  Ingólfur

FRIDAY 4. APRIL (Meeting Room)
[6]  09:00  Bjarni
[7]  09:25  Arnar
[8]  09:50  Gunter
[9]  10:15  Timo
[10] 10:40  Verena
[11] 11:05  Bjarki
[12] 11:30  Stefán
[13] 11:55  Ívar