When public opinion was anxious about the employment of fresh graduates, we found a VR content development group "Dandelion Studio" composed of college students on social media.
Tu Jiahui, a third-year member, told us that they are a student organization under the MiXAR Virtual Reality and Media Art Laboratory of Xiamen University Kah Kee College. Eight members devote themselves to innovative projects every day. Straight to jobs.
Located in Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province, this university is on the Zhangzhou Campus with Xiamen University. It was approved by the Ministry of Education in 2003 and jointly organized by Xiamen University and Xiamen Jiageng Education Development Co., Ltd. It is a new mechanism and model. independent college.
On social media, Kah Kee College of Xiamen University is often distinguished by netizens from the "heavy version" and "secondary version" of Xiamen University. Tu Jiahui has long been used to this kind of external evaluation. Compared with these, in her junior year, she pays more attention to how the school allows students to enter the job market competitively.
MiXAR Lab is one of the initiatives, which is why Tu Jiahui worked hard to join it.
Since its establishment in 2016, this laboratory has integrated three major disciplines: design, video and programming development. It offers courses in the direction of virtual reality and games in the form of interdisciplinary cooperation. It is committed to cultivating students' attention to cutting-edge technology, Learn to use advanced tools and experience the scene of going to work in the practice of innovative projects. 180 students have gone to work from here, and went to "big factories" such as Tencent and NetEase.
"After studying in the laboratory for one academic year, you can choose to practice in a cooperative unit or form a team to start a business. Our laboratory forms a team every year to make products, with a total of 16-18 models, covering VR, games, virtual idols, and virtual social interaction. Years Winning prizes every year, and entrepreneurship competitions are standard.” In Tu Jiahui’s description, the MiXAR laboratory is different from ordinary departments in that it carries the mission of “helping students get a job”. Adapt to the needs of the market and the workplace during the project.”
Amid the turmoil of "AI replacement theory", youth unemployment, and college employment, we chatted with Tu Jiahui about majors and practices, universities and employment, metaverse and new technologies. She has already begun to deal with the complex future before graduation. "Practice as early as possible" is her solution.
original intention
"Get out of the books and see the frontiers of science and technology in the laboratory"
The Explosion of the Metaverse: What is the relationship between Dandelion Studio and the MiXAR virtual media laboratory of Xiamen University Kah Kee College? What are the professions of the members? How to divide the work?
Tu Jiahui: Dandelion is actually one of the 6 studios of MiXAR Lab. The 8 members are from digital media, animation, intelligence and soft engineering majors. I am majoring in visual communication design. We all chose the courses set up by the MiXAR lab, and then freely formed a team to join the Dandelion Studio to practice virtual reality (VR) projects. Specific to the project, the students of digital media and animation are mainly responsible for the construction of art scenes and the production of art assets, and the students of intelligence and software development are responsible for interactive design and perfect interactive experience.
The Explosion of the Metaverse: Why did you join MiXAR Virtual Media Lab?
Tu Jiahui: Because the laboratory can meet many of my development needs, and I can learn a lot from the teachers. The teachers who teach us include Cui Wenzheng, Cai Ming, and Li Zhanliang. Most of them have overseas study experience, or are deeply involved in the game industry and UE. for many years.
Here, we seem to enter the society early, and we can gain initial experience in doing projects. We need to understand the project process, know how to get along and communicate with colleagues, and we can also get many opportunities to visit and visit cutting-edge game companies, such as Dream Technology, Reality Interesting and other companies can communicate directly with industry leaders.
The Explosion of the Metaverse: What criteria will the students of Kah Kee College apply to join the laboratory?
Tu Jiahui: The annual enrollment of the laboratory is only for students from the School of Design, the School of Literature and Communication, and the School of Letters Science. Interested students can apply, and they can join the laboratory after being screened by interviews.
During the interview, the teacher will ask us our views on Metaverse and Web3. For students majoring in development, they will ask about their awareness of game design and future plans. There will not be too many technical issues involved in the interview, because the teacher also knows that everyone is not very good at the beginning and needs to practice in practice. However, the applicant's grade point is one of the factors in the laboratory inspection, and everyone who joins the laboratory can be said to be the best among the best.
Explosion of the Metaverse: What courses does MiXAR Lab offer?
Tu Jiahui: The courses in the laboratory are not professional courses, and do not teach technology. The technology needs to be honed in experiments. It is more about teaching thinking and cutting-edge dynamics, such as Web3, blockchain and so on. AIGC is very popular this year, and the teacher will introduce useful tools in class. We did use it later in the project, such as using AI drawing tools to stimulate creativity and inspiration. Some courses have broadened our horizons and let us know what kind of game is good.
So I think that joining the MiXAR laboratory during college can allow us students in the ivory tower to jump out of the books and see the world, understand what changes are happening at the frontier of technology, and how we need to keep up.
The Explosion of the Metaverse: What projects are Dandelion Studios currently working on?
Tu Jiahui: At present, I am building a VR boating art gallery, using UES, Maya, 3D Max and other commonly used software for developing virtual reality scenes. The idea of combining boating with the art gallery and "nature is the exhibition hall" came from teacher Cui Wenzheng. He also helped us provide product models and many ideas. Together with the teacher, we implemented the project step by step.
VR art exhibition project developed by Dandelion Studio
"Boating" is the core way for users to interact with the exhibition hall. "Visitors" can watch the exhibition while rowing through VR equipment. During this virtual journey, you can watch the exhibits from different angles at close range, view the detailed information of the works and artists through the operation of the handle, and randomly trigger artistic surprise eggs. We hope to use it to achieve an exhibition viewing experience with a high degree of freedom of exploration, immersion and interactivity.
The Explosion of the Metaverse: Has Dandelion Studio made an appearance with this project? What's the catch?
Tu Jiahui: Our studio was shortlisted for the 2022 Game Daily "Excellent Future Game Production Team Award", and also won the Bronze Award of the Hong Kong Contemporary Design Awards for five times. The VR Art Museum project has participated in some national competitions, such as Internet+, as well as innovation and entrepreneurship competitions for college students. When I took the project to visit the really interesting game company, I was affirmed by the seniors in the industry. All these make us very happy.
The Explosion of the Metaverse: Has anyone experienced this product? What reviews did you get?
Tu Jiahui: During competitions and exhibitions, many people have experienced our VR boating art museum. "The scenery is beautiful" is the compliment of the visitors for our art design skills, and some people commented that the "boating" method is quite novel. The dizziness brought by the headset is some bad experience, which can only be solved by hardware manufacturers.
practice
"Doing projects during school is a preview before work"
Explosion of the Metaverse: How much time do members of Dandelion Studio spend on projects on average each week?
Tu Jiahui: Everyone spends an average of 20-30 hours a week on the project, and overnight is the norm. Everyone is mentally prepared and knows that going to the lab will be tiring, but they still work on the project with the mentality of "wearing yourself to death" and I can see that everyone enjoys turning an idea into reality A sense of accomplishment.
The Explosion of the Metaverse: What difficulties did you encounter when building a VR boating art gallery? How to deal with it?
Tu Jiahui: The most difficult thing is technology. The interactive part of "boating" is very difficult to do. After the teacher gives instructions, we have to learn by ourselves from overseas tutorials. We found an interesting phenomenon. Many foreign lecturers are Indians. Although they have to adapt to the English accents of these online teachers, their techniques are really effective. After we learned it, the effect was very good. Some people even asked us how we did it in private messages at station B, and were willing to spend money to learn.
The Explosion of the Metaverse: Personally, what is the most direct benefit of directly participating in project development during college?
Tu Jiahui: My biggest gain is a panoramic understanding of the process of doing a project, which is very important. From it, you can know how development and design can be synchronized, how to communicate effectively, how to make worksheets, how to determine feasibility... These things cannot be gained specific perception from books, practice can let you know how to solve problems.
Dandelion Studio students develop projects
The Explosion of the Metaverse: In your opinion, how do college students evaluate the relevance and effectiveness of their majors and employment?
Tu Jiahui: I think that college students should try their best to find opportunities to participate in real projects related to their majors. Whether they participate in school projects or internships, they should accumulate more practical experience. Participating in projects during school is like a rehearsal before work, which will reduce the cost of trial and error.
The process of doing the project will also make you clear about your employment direction, knowing where your major can be used, and it is also a way to understand yourself and your major. At least you can know through practical exercises whether you like your major, whether you are willing, and whether you can Work in this direction cannot be done. I study visual communication design, and practice Unreal Engine. After doing the VR project, I found that I am very interested in my major, and I plan to work in UE art after graduation.
The Explosion of the Metaverse: Will the works and achievements of the studio be commercialized? We see that Dandelion also has its own social media accounts.
Tu Jiahui: At the beginning, I operated these social media accounts just to let the outside world know about the existence of our student studio. At the beginning, I wanted to be an account of the development department, so that everyone can see our growth, and we can continue to optimize our website according to the feedback from netizens. work.
Although there are not many fans, there are still "seeking cooperation". Some people want to ask us to make game demo scenes, some want us to make VR games, and some metaverse platforms invite us to settle in, but most of them have not accepted. Nervous, everyone wants to use the limited time on our own projects, and some are too demanding, we have evaluated it, and we are afraid that we will not be able to take it down. So far, I have only taken one game demo, which can be regarded as an experience to sharpen skills and train the team.
employment
"Experience and works are the key stepping stones"
The Explosion of the Metaverse: What Value Does MiXAR Lab Provide for Student Employment?
Tu Jiahui: I think so. The laboratory provides us with equipment, venues, teaching and even resources for internships and employment. We will understand industry trends and market needs better than other students here.
Every year, the laboratory invites many front-line practitioners to visit the school, such as seniors who work in large factories and return from studying abroad. The teacher will encourage us to show the project to the guests, and the two parties will establish contact during the communication process. Provide a docking channel for future internships or employment. The laboratory will also organize us to visit and communicate with various companies, so that we can understand what the first-line companies in these markets are doing.
Explosion of the metaverse: Will students who join the MiXAR lab be more employable?
Tu Jiahui: As far as I know, five batches of students have graduated from the lab, and they have basically joined major game companies, such as Tencent, NetEase, TapTap, Funplus, Funplus, etc. Our alumni circle is very wide. There was a statistic before the school official account, two years after graduation, everyone's average salary can reach 17K.
MiXAR students go to enterprises for exchange
Metaverse Explosion: Dandelion Studio is vertically engaged in XR projects. Do you think Metaverse is a pseudo-scene? What is the relationship between XR and the Metaverse? Is your major related to it?
Tu Jiahui: I think the concept of Metaverse has blurred some technologies or professions. In fact, 5G and XR are specific technologies implemented in Metaverse, including AI. Our studio is very optimistic about the XR track. When Apple’s VisionPro was released, we were excited while watching. Some students said, “I feel like I have seen the future.” In fact, we are standing on the borderline between the present and the future.
The students in the studio almost have a consensus that this product of Apple will promote the positive cycle of XR software and hardware ecology, and its community will accelerate developers’ investment in it, and efficient tools will come out, which will greatly reduce the development cost of XR content and applications. This is an opportunity for both the Metaverse and the XR industry, especially the demand for talents.
Metaverse Explosion: Graduation season is approaching. Are many of the graduates around you taking public exams, postgraduate exams, or choosing employment? In this "hardest employment season", are majors related to the Metaverse easy to find jobs?
Tu Jiahui: The graduation season is here, and I can feel the anxiety of the graduates. There are many students around me who are preparing their portfolios to find jobs, and there are also many students who are preparing for the postgraduate entrance examination. Some people have decided to study abroad early in the morning. More people majoring in visual communication design should choose employment. I found that there are still more recruitment needs in the direction of virtual engine that I want to choose.
It is true that the employment situation of fresh graduates in recent years is relatively severe, but I can see from the experience of seniors and sisters that fresh graduates with practical experience and professional works are rarely unable to find a job. Experience and works are the key stepping stones.
The Explosion of the Metaverse: There is a voice that believes that the disconnect between higher education and the talent demand of the market is the reason why "graduates are unemployed after graduation". What do you think?
Tu Jiahui: It is very common (phenomenon) for college students to find that professional knowledge is not needed in work after graduation, so I think it is necessary to practice as soon as possible, find problems, and quickly adjust the direction of ability development. Fortunately, people in our laboratory are not likely to face these problems. Whether it is setting courses, doing projects, participating in competitions, or cooperating with companies to receive business orders, the laboratory is highly employment-oriented for student training, allowing us to accumulate Knowledge and experience directly meet the market demand, and ensure that students are not out of touch with the demand from the two dimensions of vision and actual combat.