Introduction to VR December Updates
December saw some big changes to the VR course, most notably the course has been updated to run on version 0.9.2. We made this change in part to take advantage of new features, but also because many students use the documentation on the aframe.io site, which defaults to version 0.9.0.
What Changed in A-Frame
The biggest change that you need to be aware of is how animation is done. In version 0.9.0 and later, animation is no longer a separate tag. Instead, it is now an attribute inside the opening tag of an item.
Along with the change of how it is implemented, several other smaller changed in how animation is completed are worth noting:
- The keyword repeat has been replaced with loop.
- Colors can only be animated using their rgb values as the to and from values. (i.e. to: rgb(0, 255, 0))
- duration and direction have been replaced with dur and dir.
- begin has been replaced with startEvents
What Changed in the Course
For modules 1, 2, 5, and 7, the starter code and solution code for each lesson were updated to version 0.9.2. The code needed for each of these lessons is the same for the previous version.
For modules 3 (Animation), 4 (Interactions), and 6 (Next Steps), the lessons were updated with new slides and videos to explain these concepts under 0.9.2. For the most part, the content of each lesson is the same, the change was just to update how animation was completed.
In addition to these changes, all lesson plans for the course were updated to include up to date planning notes, additional discussion questions, as well as updated problem guides.
How These Changes May Impact You
If you have already created a section of the Introduction to VR course, you will still have the original 0.5.0 version of the course. These changes will only be in effect for new courses that are generated from this point forward.
In other words, if your students have started the VR course on version 0.5.0, they should see this version all the way through to the end. If you have not created a section of the VR course yet, your new section will start with the 0.9.2 updates.
If needed, you can always switch back and forth between versions by editing the version at the top of the code.
Questions? Feel free to reach out to us at hello@codehs.com.
