College of Sciences Newsletter

Edition 10

February 15, 2002

Dive in! The Water's Fine!

What are these guys doing? Are they robots in a futuristic movie? NO…but they are experiencing an encounter of the fourth kind – virtual reality in the Chesapeake Bay!

Did you know that Old Dominion University and the College of Sciences has one of the only four CAVEs available in Virginia?

The ODU C.A.V.E. (Collaborative Audio Visual Environment) was created by Drs. Glen Wheless and Cathy Lascara and funded by external research grants. It is a 10 x 10 x 10-foot structure that sits in a large, darkened room where physical oceanographers and atmospheric scientists can step inside, run data and become fully immersed into the virtual environment being projected (e.g., Chesapeake Bay).

The CAVE consists of rear-projected screen walls and a front-projected floor. It is a multi-person, high resolution, 3-D graphics video and audio environment. Using special stereoscopic LCD shutter glasses inside the CAVE, images appear to float in space with the user free to “walk” around them, yet maintain a proper perspective. The users can share the experience and collaborate with other scientists at other CAVEs (e.g., NASA, University of Illinois-Champaign, Argonne National Laboratory, etc.)

Cave users stand in the CAVE. (Sorry! The3-D image does not appear in the photograph.)