By Mark Brinkerhoff
brinkerhoff@newsroom.byu.edu
BYU's College of Engineering and Technology will unveil its new virtual reality theater Friday, Dec. 8, at 11 a.m. in the Crabtree Technology Building.
Built with private donations, the million-dollar theater will host a special 3-D presentation of semester projects by industrial design students.
In addition, corporate and animation industry representatives will be on hand to see how students integrate technology in industrial design.
As part of the presentation, students will screen boat designs in virtual reality and then display foam models of their designs.
But industrial design students will not be the only ones to benefit from the theater.
'It is going to be a great learning tool for our budding designers, animators and researchers across the campus,' said Richard Christiansen, dean of the College of Engineering and Technology.
The theater is equipped with fiber optic cables, two high-resolution projectors and digital surround sound for a superior virtual reality experience.
These features can significantly reduce the cost of designing and creating new products, said Brent Adams, professor of industrial design.
'The ability to examine designs in three dimensions can allow product managers to narrow down the design pool immediately,' Adams said.