“The Round Earth Project” by The Round Earth Team
Conference:
- SIGGRAPH 1999 More animation videos from SIGGRAPH 1999:
SIGGRAPH Video Review:
Track:
- 12
Title:
- The Round Earth Project
Director(s):
Company / Institution / Agency:
- The Round Earth Team
Description:
This video describes an investigation into how virtual reality technology can be used to help teach concepts that are counter-intuitive to a learner’s currently held mental model. In this case, VR helps teach young children that the Earth is spherical by allowing them to explore a small asteroid where the implications of living on a spherical body are more apparent.
Two children collaborate in the learning activity. One child explores the surface of the asteroid as an astronaut.The second child acts as mission control, guiding the first child with a spherical view of the asteroid. The children talk to each other and inte-grate their different views to accomplish their mission.
The models were created using Alias|Wavefront Power Animator and then loaded into the SGI Performer-based version of the CAVE library, which manages the VR experience. The visuals were captured in real time during a visit to the asteroid.
Software:
Alias|Wavefront Power Animator, SGI Performer-based version of the CAVE library
Additional Contributors:
Collaborators: Jim Costigan and the Round Earth team
