Day 0 started with the excitement of packing bags, leaving our own world and setting foot in the unknown.

Flame University is located in the outskirts of Pune. I didn't know that. The road to reach there was filled with curves. We had to rely on the mountain pass and I started feeling scared (concerned about my safety). But the beautiful campus followed.

So, Day 0 went into unfolding the beauty of the campus. I had joy in meeting new people with diverse cultures and experiences.

I won't describe the Flame University Campus here. You should get a virtual tour of this univeristy on its website. But if you get a real tour you'll never feel like leaving this place.

This is a picture of a side of a football ground where we spent our evenings initially. It was so relaxing to sit here.

All the classes, lectures and lab sessions related to Summer School were conducted in the APJ ABDUL KALAM Block of the Flame University Campus.

When we reached there a soothing music was being played in the lecture hall which made us ready for the day.

This is the front side of APJ Block.

The Lecture Hall

Professor Manoranjan Dash from Flame University gave an overview of the Flame University. Also, introduced us to the research outlook of why women only.

Professor Chiranjoy Chattopaddhay gave an overview of the Summer School. He explained how the full semester content is packed into two weeks. He cleared the only prerequisite needed to complete the program which was "CURIOSITY".

Professor Hemangi Kapoor explained the "Reality" behind Augmented & Virtual Reality. She taught us to appreciate the systems and hardware that goes behind everything that we are going to learn.

Other than this, I loved the non-technical part which she covered in the end. I regret not asking her more questions or the right questions maybe.

Professor Sukhendu Das covered the Mathematics behind the Computer Graphics. He also introduced us to the Bresenham's Line Drawing Algorithm.

Then started the practical session in the lab. This lab session was entirely conducted by Professor Chiranjoy Chattopadhyay. He introduced us to the tool Blender which is used for animations, visual effects, motion graphics and interactive 3D applications. He showed us some animation videos which made us realise the power of the Blender tool.

We then installed Blender and Unity. Professor Chiranjoy briefed us about the project which we need to develop. He made us understand how we should assess the scope of the project to be developed before the end of Summer School.

DAY 1

Day 2 started with the same enthusiasm and curiosity.

In the morning session, Professor Sukhendu Das explained the concept of Illumination and Shading, 3D Rendering which was more of the mathematics which goes behind Computer Graphics.

Afternoon session was the lab session conducted by Professor Chiranjoy Chattopadhyay where we discovered many things about Blender. There were a series of things we touched upon like Blender Pipeline, Coordinate Systems, UV Mapping. UV Editing, Animation.

We created a chair, a bouncing ball, using Blender. In all, explored Blender.

Our very first creation in Blender

On this day, we brainstormed on more problem statements. We had many ideas in our mind which all three of us put forward. We were told to form a group of 3 for the project. The faculty had a general disposition towards applying what we learn in the school.

Now as we got familiar with the place, we walked together around the campus after dinner. We talked about different things. Our discussions leaped from Pune, Mumbai to China, Pakistan. How? we don’t know!! hahaha

The topics for today’s session were Introduction to Augmented Reality and ARCore.

Session by Professor Chiranjoy Chattopadhyay

Professor Chiranjoy Chattopadhyay introduced us to Augmented Reality. He explained Milgram’s Reality-Virtuality (RV) Continuum. He touched upon Mixed Reality, Real Environment,Virtual Environment, Augmented Reality, Augmented Virtuality, etc.

Then we dived into the history of AR. We were amazed to know about Pepper’s Ghost. Professor Chiranjoy gave us a practical demonstration of Pepper’s ghost which was more useful and empirical to understand the concept.

He told us about the Government Project of Restoring Hampi, how Hampi (UNESCO World Heritage Site) is being digitally restored using Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality to preserve cultural heritage. Professor also explained to us about the tangible and intangible heritage.

Professor showed us many more videos which covered the application of AR VR in various fields.

The afternoon session was based on ARCore. ARCore is Google's augmented reality (AR) platform, a software development kit that enables developers to build AR experiences for Android and iOS devices.

All of these sessions were conducted by Professor Chiranjoy Chattopadhyay. One thing about him is that his smile never faded during all the sessions. It reflected his love for teaching.

We tried some experiments in Unity. In the end, Professor Rahul Kumar Ray put forward some problem statements before us where we can apply our learnings in the Summer School Program to create a project.

Session conducted by Professor Vishaka Pareek

On Day 4, Professor Vishaka Pareek led a day-long session on Unity and VR Development. She covered Introduction to Unity Engine, its pipeline, Need of Unity, its key features and finally what we can build with Unity, i.e., applications of Unity.

She taught us basics of Unity including foundation of Unity Development, how Unity organizes objects, codes and scenes and hands-on scripting basics.

The afternoon session was based on the history of VR, Future Scenarios and Applications of VR Development. In that, she talked about Volkswagen MARTA (Mobile Augmented Reality Technical Assistance). Applications of VR in Museums, Medical Training, Education, Architecture, Reconstruction, Tourism. She went through the future scenarios in VR like multisensory applications by including external factors in VR like smell, touch, taste, environmental factors along with audio and visuals.

She briefed us about projects like Digitization of Museums in Rajasthan, chARitram(Ancient Storytelling from Paintings), Kiradu Temple Reconstruction, Dharohar Visual Walkthrough, 3D Design Work for Temples, Gamification of ASI Vadnagar Site, Gamification of Physics concepts, Space exploration, etc.

It was nice and exciting to see what all things were possible through AR. Vishaka mam’s calm and composed attitude of teaching helped us grasp more.

After dinner we were again on our way to explore the huge campus of Flame University. Admiring its infrastructure, watching the sky, listening to music, enjoying the nature around.

The best thing about this day was we got to listen to a person’s melodic voice. We were sitting in the computer lab after dinner and we could hear people singing nearby. Restless to know who is singing this well, we came out to see. We saw a group of people. I was mesmerized. I didn’t know how beautiful it feels to see someone singing and when the person who is singing is insane. Nobody could have resisted not listening. I left the lab and went running to join this group. And can you guess what happened next? We all sang different songs right from english songs to marathi zingaat and then the soothing bawra mann.

This was one of the best experiences I ever had. I still remember how I felt at that moment. This was nothing called entertainment. It was more of a spiritual experience for me to see an ARTIST performing ART. We humans expect a lot from people whom we love. I don’t know about you but I do. And then sometimes some strangers come into your life to give you the best memories of your life. How does it feel then?

Day 5 session was conducted by Professor Rahul Kumar Ray. Rahul Sir was a cheerful teacher always smiling and spreading knowledge about AR VR. His sessions were more inclined towards hands-on. Before that, he explained what is called zero immersive and fully immersive experience, discussed immersion, interaction, adaptive VR, perception/neuroscience, sensorama, etc.

Session conducted by Professor Rahul Kumar Ray

He explained the working of a 3D glass. He showed us some videos regarding projects like VR for anatomy education, VR Museums, Sky VR, Jotirlinga project, etc.

We all then created a small beautiful room in unity. We also started developing a mini game in Unity. Rahul Sir guided us thoroughly. There were two students from Flames University as a TA who were there to help us and guide us through our summer school.

Day 6 was a holy day for me because it was a holiday. Hehehe! We went on exploring. We went to the gymnasium at Flame university. It was again more than a good experience. The gym trainer there also taught us many things right from the basics. He was calm, composed and yet powerful. I felt grateful to learn.

In the afternoon, we again headed to the lab to work on our project. Here, we had access to all the resources at the computer lab till 10 pm. Professor Chiranjoy always told us to utilize all the resources available to us to the fullest.

Lab where all of our sessions were conducted.

Day 7 was a Sunday. I think people love Sunday because of slow mornings, don’t you agree? We enjoyed the slow Sunday morning without rushing and resting well. We enjoyed the mountain view from the balcony of our hostel room. Hostel rooms at Flame University provided us all the amenities we needed. We lived near the mountains yet there was not a single inconvenience. Food was always there. Dining hall was a good place. I enjoyed the food. They served us many dishes. I am still blown away by gulab jamun(It’s my all time favourite).

Can you really resist your temptation to not eat these sweety gulabjams!?

In the afternoon, with all love, we clicked so many photos. My friends taught me how to pose. Hehehe! We then headed for lunch. Finished the lunch with dignity as well as fun.

They always served us warm food.

After enjoying the sunday we were back to our work, the computer lab, unfolding Unity Assets, Animating Objects, Debugging Errors, Rendering everything. We were working on a project called Time Travel wherein users will get to experience different eras like the future era or dinosaur era. We tried making all of this work smoothly. But many things didn’t work. There was still so much to do. We lost track of time. Around 11:45 pm, a security guard came to tell us that time is over and they need to lock the lab.

We left the lab after that. It was around midnight and I felt quite scared. I immediately wanted to reach the hostel. Me and my roommate on our way to the West Block were walking slowly. I remembered the days when I get even one minute late after 7 pm how my mother gets worried.

We, women, always have to compromise our freedom for our safety. While we were returning I saw many women on the road near the block. Some were sitting on the road (yes! Literally on the road) in a circle talking over their day, chatting, some were dancing. I cannot describe what this meant to me, to us women. Freedom has always been our wish and not reality.

We returning back to our hostel room.

After a lot of lab sessions, we were back to the lecture hall for a webinar on Cartography in Game Mechanics. Professor Phoebe Toups Dougas (who loved dragons) explained game mechanics, Gameworlds, map as interface, game history, war games using maps, etc.

Webinar by Professor Phoebe Toups Dugas

Rahul Sir showed us one more video on Extended Reality Floatation Tank Experience to Reduce the Fear of Being in Water. This session got cancelled at the last moment. So, the resource person shared the video to be displayed. On the basis of this video, Rahul Sir guided us.

In the afternoon, we were back to developing the obstacle game. We revised what we did yesterday. After lunch break, Krishna (One of the TAs) explained to us XR Origin (XR Rig) Support which is the foundation for all the XR interactions. He did so by telling how to do the proper configuration of it. Then, Suyash (One of the TAs) explained to us how to create UI components in the scene. For example., buttons, toggle, slider. Both of them were students of Flame University. They helped us in our project teaching how to debug problems. They were very good at breaking down things to demonstrate how things worked in Unity. We got to learn a lot from these guys.

Okay. This was my favourite session. Can you guess what we did during the Day 9 session ?

Yes we did this. No computers, no machines, just papers.

This session was entirely conducted by Professor Prajish Prasad. It all started with admiring all the designs around us.

Session by Professor Prajish Prasad

The topic was Introduction to Interaction Design. Professor Prajish explained to us the 5 dimensions of Interaction. Then told us to relate all these dimensions to our project. He explained the activities involved in Interaction Design. We were taught how the foundation of a project is built upon the steps in these activities like Identify, Develop, Build and Evaluate. He made us understand the core need of our project, understanding the end user, observation study.

He introduced us to “How might we” statements and everything we learnt from him he made us correlate it with our project. Professor Prajish is calm and composed in his behaviour, his lectures made me remember my school days. Very first time since I completed school I felt like I am learning everything from scratch again the way I used to in school days.

He explained Prototyping along with technical feasibility, clarifying requirements. He showed us some example comic representations of the project. Then we went on to create the storyboard of our own project.

This is the storyboard we created under the guidance of Professor Prajish for our Time Travel Project

Afternoon sessions were conducted in the Design lab of Flame University wherein Professor Sherlin Pimenta also joined to guide us. I cannot describe the beauty of a design lab.

Professor Prajish told us about Paper prototype and Digital Mockups. He showed some videos for demonstration which gave us the idea of how we can create a paper prototype of our project.

This is our final Paper Prototype for the Time Travel Project.

On this day, under the guidance of Professor Gowdham Prabhakar, we learnt a tool named TouchDesigner. TouchDesigner is a node-based visual programming environment used for creating real-time interactive multimedia content. It was a hybrid session wherein Arunav Sir explained the basics of TouchDesigner.

In the later session, Krishna (TA) gave us practical demonstrations of some components in Unity. He explained how to make an object grabbable through a VR headset.

My teammates created a beautiful poster for our project demonstration. Now we were in the midst of our project development wherein the bugs in our project troubled us.

TouchDesigner was fun.

In the morning, a lecture was conducted by Professor Gowdham Prabhakar on New Media Design for Collaborative AI. He discussed many things, showed us their work in the Kanpur Literature Festival.

In the afternoon session, Krishna explained to us the UI of Unity and how to make it work in the VR Headsets.

Everyone now was on their toes regarding the project.

THE FINAL DAY.

The morning started with a lecture on Metaverse by Professor Santanu Choudhary. He covered a wide range of topics like metaverse, Multi technology, Mirror World, Digital Twin, Cyber Archaeology, NERF ToolBox, etc.

Then was our final exam, the project demonstration. Everyone had come up with different ideas. All of us had given their best. I felt proud of all of us lovely hard working women. Each one had something good to bring to the table. Everyone was friendly and supportive.

Many were leaving early, so the closing ceremony preceded. Four projects were selected as the Best Project and among them our Time Travel Project was selected as the Best Project. And for a moment, the dark circles under our eyes felt worthy to me. Hehehe!

These titles are temporary but what I felt during this summer school will always remain with me.

This is our Time Travel Project Group with all the esteemed faculty members.

I feel very grateful to be a part of this ACM India Summer School organised by Flames University and sponsored by Microsoft.

We lived a luxurious life at Flames University for two weeks but what remained with me was experience and different people I met. People in Pune along with the cultural significance are known for their straight face attitude. Here, all the people I met were very friendly, supportive and kind-hearted.

The faculties were amazing. Professor Prajish Prasad, Professor Chiranjoy Chattopadhyay, Professor Rahul Kumar had done their best for us. The organizer student intern Amisha Mishra co-ordinated very well with all of us. Teaching Assistants were the best. I would thank the hostel staff, the dining hall staff, workers and all the people involved in this Summer School.

Okay. Until then, I have covered only the good things but I don’t like it. Too much of good is sometimes perceived as insincere. Now let me tell you the other side of the coin.

There were times when I felt very small in this environment. I doubted myself, my skills. As always I made many mistakes. This was the very first time I had left my home (though my home was only 20 kms away! Hehehe! but still). I faced a very different environment that I had never experienced.

I am home now and my heart is filled with gratitude only. It was really nice there to be surrounded by more mountains and trees than humans.Hehehe!

If you read the whole blog, please let me know about my flaws which I rarely notice. Please let me know if I have missed something. And let me know how you feel after reading my very first blog.

Final Goodbye!