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Inside Iowa State
June 9, 2000

C6 opens this month

by Skip Derra
Virtual reality (VR) is about to grow up. C6, the first virtual reality theater in the United States designed to totally immerse the user in images and sound, opens Monday, June 19. Located in the atrium of the College of Engineering's Howe Hall, C6 not only will push the boundaries of virtual reality technology, it will turn VR into a more useful engineering tool.

"C6 is a one-of-a-kind, world-class facility," said Engineering dean James Melsa. "What makes C6 unique is the focus on real-world applications, real world engineering."

The formal unveiling for C6 will be June 19, in conjunction with the International Immersive Projection Technology 2000 workshop, an international conference at ISU on virtual reality and immersion technologies.

C6 will have images on all six of its sides (four walls, ceiling and floor). Many of today's advanced virtual reality rooms have images projected on four sides (three walls and the floor). Tether lines for gloves and headsets, common in virtual reality rooms today, will be gone, replaced by wireless systems that give C6 users an unprecedented level of freedom.

Many of the systems built for C6 by computer and graphics vendors have yet to be commercialized.

In the middle of the action
C6 has a 10 by 10 by 10-foot room in which high- resolution color images from six projectors are coordinated via computers and software to create a seamless animated scene.

In C6, researchers will be able to walk inside buildings that no longer exist, get close-up views of severe weather phenomena like tornadoes, and inspect the interior of operating industrial furnaces to make them more efficient.

"C6 will provide full, look-around capabilities," said Carolina Cruz-Neira, Litton assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and associate director of the Virtual Reality Applications Center. "Inside an industrial furnace, you will be able to check the flow and see how location of the burners can affect overall system efficiency. And, in C6, users will see common perspectives as well as perspectives unique to their location and vantage points."

Iowa State will continue to operate C2, the current virtual reality room, and will link the two facilities.

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