Markdown for my VR talk proposal

Fluffy VR talk proposal.markdown

Let's Play! Build your first Cardboard App

Elevator pitch

As a beginner trying to build Android Cardboard Apps, you'll be faced with a big OpenGL learning curve, and the Android build / debug cycle will quickly take the fun out of the experience. This talk will teach you ways to avoid the pain and build your first VR App.

Abstract

Cardboard is a great platform for VR. It makes VR accessible anyone with a phone, but, for Android App developers new to 3D and VR, the barrier to entry can be daunting. Unless you have solid experience with OpenGL, the long build-and-debug cycle we have with Android can make it difficult to get started.

Using the Java Cardboard SDK, we'll see how to create our very first Cardboard App. Of course, we don't have an office full of trained 3D modeling experts on hand, so we'll also learn how to programatically build simple 3D models to fill our virtual space.

To avoid death by compile, we'll also find out how a combination of scripting and live shader editing can provide much needed instant feedback when designing Apps on Cardboard. We'll also touch on how using off-the-shelf Android Wear devices can solve the VR interaction problem.

• No prior OpenGL experience required, no Unity, just Java (70% of code samples)
• Helpful: Understanding of Javascript basics (20% of code samples)
• Optional: Very basic RenderScript or GLSL scripting (10% of code samples)

To the Point VR talk proposal.md

When I started making a Cardboard App, I had a lot to learn. I didn't know much about OpenGL, things kept breaking when I changed little details... it was painful.

Not being a very sensible person, I kept going, and I'd like to share with you some of the things I found out:

• OpenGL: How to use as little of it as possible.
• Fill the scene: How to programmatically create and design fun and simple 3D models.
• Shaders: Math is fun, or, How to impress your friends with parallel processing.
• Avoiding Death by Build: Use scripting and live shader editing to get instant feedback.
• Look Ma, no Hands: Solving the VR input problem with Android Wear.