Course | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Wed, 22 Feb 2017 12:56:57 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png Course | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Valve ditches $3,000 tracking course requirement for SteamVR developers https://www.kitguru.net/components/vr/jon-martindale/valve-ditches-3000-tracking-course-requirement-for-steamvr-developers/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/vr/jon-martindale/valve-ditches-3000-tracking-course-requirement-for-steamvr-developers/#comments Wed, 22 Feb 2017 11:18:46 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=322599 Valve has announced that it is ditching the requirement of a $3,000 training course to become a SteamVR tracking partner, meaning just about anyone can make SteamVR enabled hardware. While the course and in-person training will still be available for those who want it, Valve is also making much of its supporting documentation freely available. …

The post Valve ditches $3,000 tracking course requirement for SteamVR developers first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
Valve has announced that it is ditching the requirement of a $3,000 training course to become a SteamVR tracking partner, meaning just about anyone can make SteamVR enabled hardware. While the course and in-person training will still be available for those who want it, Valve is also making much of its supporting documentation freely available.

Announced in August last year, Valve's SteamVR certification program involved a course for hardware developers, including in-person training and free developer hardware for anyone who attended. The course did cost $3,000 per attendee though and following multiple partnerships with various organisations, Valve has now ditched that requirement. Anyone can become a SteamVR partner and anyone can make official SteamVR hardware.

“After working with numerous third parties and updating the tools, Valve is opening more direct access to the technology and course work, available free of charge in English and Chinese,” Valve said in a statement. “StreaVR Tracking is royalty free and can be used for peripherals HMDs and other devices.

“StreaVR Tracking is royalty free and can be used for peripherals HMDs and other devices.”

Valve even clarified that it doesn't expect to receive anything from people using SteamVR, stating on its SteamVR tracking page: “There is no certification from Valve necessary. Ship the product you want to build, whenever you think it's ready.”

The toolkit offers assistance for optimal sensor placement, as well as calibration tools for prototyping and manufacturing. The documentation offers schematics and layouts for electronic components, mechanical designs for reference hardware and datasheets for the sensors used within HTC Vive base stations.

For those who think they need a little more help getting started though, the course is still available and Valve will continue to give out development hardware to anyone who attends. For those looking to get it directly, Valve recommends contacting Triad Semiconductor for a SteamVR tracking hardware developer kit, though at the time of writing its relevant page simply reads “coming soon.”

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru Says: This is great news for any bedroom hackers who want to make some homemade VR accessories. All of the software and tools to create new and exciting VR controllers and sensors are now freely available. This could usher in a lot of new SteamVR accessories over the next couple of years.

The post Valve ditches $3,000 tracking course requirement for SteamVR developers first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
https://www.kitguru.net/components/vr/jon-martindale/valve-ditches-3000-tracking-course-requirement-for-steamvr-developers/feed/ 1
You can actually study super hero movies as a University course https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/you-can-actually-study-super-hero-movies-as-a-university-course/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/you-can-actually-study-super-hero-movies-as-a-university-course/#respond Thu, 25 Sep 2014 11:10:55 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=213490 Who said studying had to be boring? A university in Baltimore is offering a new course called ‘Media Genres: Media Marvels', in which participants will watch and study Marvel comic book movies like Guardians of the Galaxy, Iron Man and Captain America in an effort to spot key insights in to modern culture. A press …

The post You can actually study super hero movies as a University course first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
Who said studying had to be boring? A university in Baltimore is offering a new course called ‘Media Genres: Media Marvels', in which participants will watch and study Marvel comic book movies like Guardians of the Galaxy, Iron Man and Captain America in an effort to spot key insights in to modern culture.

A press release about the course says: “The course, ‘Media Genres: Media Marvels,' will examine how Marvel's series of interconnected films and television shows, plus related media and comic book sources and Joseph Campbell's monomyth of the ‘hero's journey,' offer important insights into modern culture. The course is believed to be the first of its kind in the country.”

guardian-of-the-galaxy-poster1-600x400

The course will start being offered to students during the Spring of 2015. The professor of the course, Arnold T. Blumberg, has taught about comic book mythology for years.

“Every generation has a modern media mythology that serves as a framework for entertaining as well as educating about ethics, morality, issues of race, gender, class, and so on”, he explained in the press release. “For the past several years, ‘Harry Potter' and ‘Lord of the Rings' have served in that role for tens of millions. When I was younger, it was the first ‘Star Wars' series, which I saw in the theater.”

The professor then goes on to say that these days, Marvel is providing that fictional framework with its completely mapped out universe. A chunk of the course will spent taking a look at the impact of Guardians of the Galaxy:

“One thing we'll do is dive into the impact of the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy' film, which proved two things: mainstream movie audiences are not remotely tired of superhero movies; and Marvel Studios can now release a sci-fi adventure that actually features talking trees and raccoons.”

A lot of focus will also be placed on Tony Stark as he was portrayed as “someone who could readily comment on the insanity around him”,  which in turn “grounded the entire Marvel film canon.”

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: So we now live in a world where you can go to University and study Marvel movies, granted it does have some real ties to media studies as a whole. Would any of you guys take Marvel studies if it was offered at your university? 

Source: Cnet

The post You can actually study super hero movies as a University course first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/you-can-actually-study-super-hero-movies-as-a-university-course/feed/ 0