IPB University Vocational School TPL Study Program Gives Augmented Reality Training at SMKN 1 Sukalarang
IPB University Vocational School students and lecturers from the Software Engineering Technology (TPL) Study Program held knowledge transfer and training activities for students majoring in Visual Communication Design at SMKN 1 Sukalarang, Sukabumi. This activity was carried out as a form of real contribution to society.
This activity aims to introduce and train students in using the latest technology, namely Augmented Reality (AR) as well as supporting design applications and software development such as Figma, Blender, and Unity.
The training held at SMKN 1 Sukalarang is part of the SMK Center of Excellence Assistance program in 2024. TPL IPB University lecturer, Nur Aziezah, SSi, MSi who initiated the activity along with three students explained the basic concepts and practical applications of AR and software used in the creative industry and technology development.
“This is part of how IPB University Vocational School continues to contribute to providing benefits to the community in various forms of activities, such as this introduction to AR,” said Nur Aziezah.
The series of events began with an explanation of Figma. Pandu Wicaksono as the speaker explained, Figma is a cloud storage-based application that offers interesting features such as prototyping and collaboration. This feature allows users to do team collaboration online in real time.
“Figma’s features are quite simple, suitable for beginners who want to learn the basics of AR,” said Pandu.
Next, the participants were directed to a practical session. They directly tried to operate this application. The participants were guided from the beginning of the email registration stage to the account, until the participants managed to understand the basic layout, colors, and typography in this application.
The series of activities was continued by Muhammad Fawwaz Naufal who discussed Blender, an open-source application for 3D design. Students were introduced to the benefits of Blender in creating 3D animation and modeling.
“After understanding the basic principles that exist in Figma’s interface design (UI), it can be used as a foundation and framework to expand capabilities by increasing understanding by learning 3D visualization in Blender such as cubes, spheres, characters,” said Fawwaz.
The last session was filled by Akhdan Ravi Andaman with an introduction to Unity, an application and game development platform that combines design elements from Figma and Blender. Unity allows users to integrate 3D visual elements from Blender as well as interfaces from Figma into interactive projects.
“Unity is a more complex application because it involves Application Programming Interface (API) scripting or can also be said to be a coding-based application. The elements from Figma and Blender are exported to Unity to be used as assets in the development of design projects, games, and applications,” Akhdan explained.
This asset-rich application also offers team collaboration features. It provides an easy and engaging design experience with a robust platform for AR experiences. The students were also given the opportunity to see firsthand how this application can be used in creating immersive virtual worlds.
With the knowledge gained, it is hoped that students can be better prepared to face challenges in the world of creative industries and the latest technology and technology in future careers. (VGP/ASW/Rz) (IAAS/RUM)
