Albert Manero /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u201912 /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u201914MS /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u201916PhD/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/nThe second lab would fulfill Pring/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u2019s interest in virtual reality /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u2014 and would help push him professionally. He applied to participate in The Harrington Lab, which investigates Virtual Nature, using augmented reality and virtual reality as a technical artifact to better understand perceptual phenomenon as it relates to human-computing-environment interactions that cause emotional, learning and aesthetic outcomes. Pring/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u2019s work hinged on discovering how people learn best, using a virtual recreation of the UCF Arboretum as the classroom. The idea is to understand how people can learn about nature and plants in a virtual environment./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n
/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u201cIf you want to learn about plants, you could do a virtual walk and get information from a pop-up window,/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u201d he says. /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u201cOr you could go out into the environment with a phone and get information on your device. Or you could be sitting in a classroom and watching the tour on a screen./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u201d/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n
He and his fellow researchers started with a first-person version of the project to test how it worked. The team then moved on to VR to create a more immersive experience./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n
/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u201cIn March, we developed a controller to work with a treadmill desk so you could literally take a walk through the Arboretum with a projector,/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u201d he says./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n
Pring is complimentary of the artwork in the game, which was worked on by others before he joined the team. /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u201cI/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u2019m not an artist in any way, shape or form but that art is amazing. The plants are as real as you can get. The team went out and took photos of the leaves and what they look like up close /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u2014 same for the water, sand, even tree bark /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u2014 and they made those in game as real images. It/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u2019s really impressive./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u201d/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/nA screenshot of the Virtual Nature VR experience, which Pring helped to create./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/nPring says he could see VR experiences like Virtual Nature useful in a variety of formats./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n
/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u201cFor people who live in northern areas where you can/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u2019t go outside in the winter, imagine being able to go out and have a walk in nature,/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u201d he says. /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u201cOr even on the International Space Station. Astronauts are sitting in metal all day and night. They could use this to be around plants again, which is good for emotional and mental health. It/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u2019s also good for learning about plants and learning overall. I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u2019m an experiential learner, so staring at a screen all day /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u2014 I can/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u2019t take that in. But if I can interact, I can learn a lot more about the subject, enjoy the experience and retain more detail./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u201d/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n
Of all the projects he/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u2019s worked on, Pring says he/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u2019s most proud of his contributions to Virtual Nature, which both challenged him and allowed him to expand his skills among several disciplines. He credits Assistant Professor Maria Harrington, who directs the Harrington Lab, for mentoring him./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n
/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u201cShe has guided me professionally, taught me, and gave me so many opportunities,/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u201d he says. /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u201cI wouldn/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u2019t be here today if it wasn/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u2019t for her./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u201d/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n
He says an important lesson he learned from Harrington was getting over Imposter Syndrome, which he says is prevalent among game-design majors. /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u201cShe taught me to be proud of my own work, not to downplay myself and believe that I can program and make products/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u201d he says./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n
/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u201cI always wanted to help others /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u2014 it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u2019s a lot of fun to teach people. At some point in my life, I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u2019d like to be a professor./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u201d – Thomas Pring /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u201920/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u201cThomas is an amazing undergraduate student whose work rivals what I have seen Ph.D. students do. He could easily make contributions to projects at NASA,/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u201d says Harrington. /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u201cThomas has taken advantage of opportunities at UCF to help advance his studies. I know he will go on to do great things in this field./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u201d/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n
As for what/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u2019s next, Pring says he hopes to land a job in the gaming industry./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n
/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u201cWorking for a VR company would be ideal for me, but whoever has availability,/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u201d he says. Ultimately, Pring says he wants to continue giving back and helping others learn. /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u201cI always wanted to help others /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u2014 it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u2019s a lot of fun to teach people. At some point in my life, I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u2019d like to be a professor./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u201d/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As an undergraduate student, Thomas Pring /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/u201920 worked in two research labs to level up from gamer to virtual reality game designer./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":109099,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[15992,24],"tags":[1004,1317,1899,2297,22203],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-109097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-science-technology","tag-commencement","tag-digital-media","tag-game-design","tag-innovation","tag-limitless-solutions"],"yoast_head":"/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/nUCF Game Design Grad is Leading Virtual Reality Development/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/t /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/t /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/t /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/t /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/t /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/t /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/109097/n