Virtual Reality and Training
Galen is an Instructional Designer at a Denver-Based cable company. He was hired to create training modules for cable installers, but his modules are all completed using Unity 3D and the training is completed using Oculus Rift VR headsets. We sat down with Galen and asked him some questions about VR for training and his thoughts on the future of the field.
What interests you personally in the use of VR and AR for learning? / What drew you to the position? Do you think there is a future for this type of technology in a corporate setting? What do you envision?
I feel like the current general use of VR is completely wrong. Most places/people are using it as a gimmick. They make cool things but they ultimately don’t serve a true purpose. They aren’t trying to find a solution to a problem. They are just making something in hopes that eventually it will solve a problem.
I think that if done properly, AR and VR give us limitless potential in solving problems. In many fields there are just too many variables to replicate scenarios in real life. But in a virtual world, the possibilities are endless. We can safely train people for situations that in real life could kill them, but avoid the danger because of the virtual world.
I have always wanted to develop games or movies. I went to school for animation because I wanted to get a job at Disney/Pixar making movies. However, I don’t want to go to California, so that really limits me! I got into this because it fills a lot of my needs for what I want to do. I want to make things. I like making things look realistic and act realistically. This job presented me with the best of everything. I get to code and make the system do things, making life-like simulations. I also get to design objects and make them move like they would in real life.
Are you formally trained as an Instructional Designer? What is your background?
I am not necessarily trained as an Instructional Designer, I grew up with a developmentally disabled brother, so I know a lot of the basic techniques for adult education, but no formal training.
My background is in art, I have a degree in animation, and many classes on game design. Ultimately I have studied how to make 3D games. Which ended up being the perfect fit for this position.
What advantages or disadvantages do you see over traditional classroom training?
In the current state of technology there is no way to do group VR. No interaction with other people while doing VR training (at least within the virtual world). Eventually it would be cool too have people interact with someone halfway across the globe and be able to have them go through training together.
Right now the ways of asking questions within the virtual world are limited (or at least with the tech at MY disposal) I would love to see AI implemented within VR. Being able to ask questions and answer them within the Virtual Environment. Having some sort of artificial intelligence that can know if the answer that you give is correct or not.
I feel like the current general use of VR is completely wrong. Most places/people are using it as a gimmick. They make cool things but they ultimately don’t serve a true purpose. They aren’t trying to find a solution to a problem. They are just making something in hopes that eventually it will solve a problem.
I think that if done properly, AR and VR give us limitless potential in solving problems. In many fields there are just too many variables to replicate scenarios in real life. But in a virtual world, the possibilities are endless. We can safely train people for situations that in real life could kill them, but avoid the danger because of the virtual world.
I have always wanted to develop games or movies. I went to school for animation because I wanted to get a job at Disney/Pixar making movies. However, I don’t want to go to California, so that really limits me! I got into this because it fills a lot of my needs for what I want to do. I want to make things. I like making things look realistic and act realistically. This job presented me with the best of everything. I get to code and make the system do things, making life-like simulations. I also get to design objects and make them move like they would in real life.
Are you formally trained as an Instructional Designer? What is your background?
I am not necessarily trained as an Instructional Designer, I grew up with a developmentally disabled brother, so I know a lot of the basic techniques for adult education, but no formal training.
My background is in art, I have a degree in animation, and many classes on game design. Ultimately I have studied how to make 3D games. Which ended up being the perfect fit for this position.
What advantages or disadvantages do you see over traditional classroom training?
In the current state of technology there is no way to do group VR. No interaction with other people while doing VR training (at least within the virtual world). Eventually it would be cool too have people interact with someone halfway across the globe and be able to have them go through training together.
Right now the ways of asking questions within the virtual world are limited (or at least with the tech at MY disposal) I would love to see AI implemented within VR. Being able to ask questions and answer them within the Virtual Environment. Having some sort of artificial intelligence that can know if the answer that you give is correct or not.
If someone wanted to enter this field and do similar work what advice would you offer?
If you were to try and get a position doing this, I very strongly recommend getting some coding experience. People can make assets in 3D and animate. They can texture to make it look good, but in the end if you don’t have a programmer that can make all of it work, then you don’t really have anything in the long run. I would then suggest trying to learn 3D Modelling and texturing. These two things are the main thing that are needed in order to get things working for VR.
There are a few different type of Game Engines to use for VR:
If you were to try and get a position doing this, I very strongly recommend getting some coding experience. People can make assets in 3D and animate. They can texture to make it look good, but in the end if you don’t have a programmer that can make all of it work, then you don’t really have anything in the long run. I would then suggest trying to learn 3D Modelling and texturing. These two things are the main thing that are needed in order to get things working for VR.
There are a few different type of Game Engines to use for VR:
- Unreal Engine 4: which is a C++ based coding (which is harder to use) but has a better rendering agent. Which means things within Unreal look a lot more realistic.
- Unity 3D: is a C# based coding, is much easier to work with, but doesn’t look as realistic. The realism is also going to be based a lot on how good of a 3D modeler and texture you have.