Dim the lights, roll the projectors and throw on a pair of those funky 3-D glasses.
No, it’s not for the premiere of another 3-D Disney-Pixar film; it’s for an interactive teaching tool designed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln faculty and staff.
UNL students taking Animal Products 210 viewed the sophisticated program for the first time this October. The interactive software allows students to explore the muscles of a cow carcass three-dimensionally.
With the new program, students can see each muscle individually and rotate it in any direction they want.
“In the past you had a book, which was two-dimensional,” said Steve Jones, a UNL animal sciences professor who helped develop the program. “You had a movie or a slide, which was two-dimensional. This actually has the muscles pop out at you, and you can see all three dimensions.” Nearly a decade ago, Jones joined Vishal Singh, a multimedia design specialist for UNL’s Institute of Agriculture and National Resource’s Communication and Information Technology. After creating a bovine muscle profiling Web site (bovine.unl.edu), Jones and Singh started thinking about developing a similar program for classrooms.
“(The project) kind of evolved over time,” Singh said. “I started working with Steve in late 2001, and we weren’t necessarily doing the 3-D part of the project at the time. I didn’t imagine it would turn into this.”
In 2002, Aaron Hosier, an information technology analyst for UNL’s Information Services, joined the team after meeting Singh at a 3-D video game conference.
Jones developed the content, Singh designed the graphics and Hosier wrote the program.
“This is something — working with virtual reality — I’ve been doing for years,” Hosier said. “I was looking for something here at UNL to apply my skills to. I was able to do that with this project, and it’s been a fun thing to work on.”
The students enjoy the program too.
“I liked it a lot, because it’s more hands-on learning than a book and lecture,” said Lauren Warner, a sophomore agricultural sciences and natural resources major at UNL. “It’s a really good way to put it in perspective.”
Warner said she’d also like to see 3-D technology in more of her classes.
Jones, Singh and Hosier plan to continue improving and adding to the software.
“Not only do I see it evolving, but I see other parts coming out of the program and affecting other areas of study,” Hosier said.
Three-dimensional technology could be used in architecture classes, landscaping classes and other fields of science. Veterinary programs and culinary institutes have already shown interest in similar software, the developers said.
“We’re hitting the timing just right,” Singh said. “The hardware technology is there and it’s more affordable and accessible. People can go out and buy a TV from Best Buy and show this stuff, when before you’d have to spend thousands and thousands of dollars for the equipment.”
This year was the first time the program could be launched in the classroom, because the technology wasn’t as accessible before, Jones said.
“Special projectors, screens and funky glasses: It takes those things to make it all happen,” he said.
The Beef Checkoff and the Nebraska Beef Council provided the funding to finally get the job done — a job Jones, Singh and Hosier feel was done well.
“The fact that people actually reach out and try to grab the muscles shows that we’ve done a good job,” Hosier said.
CourtneyPitts@dailynebraskan.com
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