Virtual reality: The Next Big Thing for college creatives — from college.usatoday.com by Morgan Buckley, University of Southern California
Excerpt:
College students across the country — from the University of Southern California to the University of Minnesota to Southern Methodist University — are also experimenting with virtual reality applications via clubs, design labs and hackathons.
The tech industry is taking note.
Among the bigger showcases for the technology took place last month, when the University of Southern California’s Virtual Reality Club (VRSC) hosted its first annual Virtual Reality Festival and Demo Day, a showcase of projects and panels with The Walt Disney Company as its title sponsor.
Students traveled from the University of California-San Diego, UCLA, Chapman University, Loyola Marymount University and the University of Colorado-Boulder to attend the fest. The judges were industry professionals from companies including NVIDIA, Google, Maker Studios and Industrial Light and Magic’s X Lab.
Some $25,000 in prizes were split among winners in four categories: 360 Live-Action Videos, 360 Animation, Interactive VR Games and Immersive Technology/Augmented Reality (AR). VR/AR categories ranged from health care to games, journalism, interactive design and interpretive dance.