For students who have always wanted to tour the world and view famous sites, such as a huge Amida Buddha or the Panama-Pacific Exposition, Ball State's Institute for Digital Intermedia Arts can now offer these experiences and more with its new 3-D platform.
IDIA recently announced its release of a new virtual environment created for Blue Mars. Blue Mars is a 3-D, virtual-world platform where one can create an avatar and participate in countless activities, attractions and entertainment events online in the virtual world, according to a Ball State press release.
John Fillwalk, director of the IDIA program, said Blue Mars allows people to go further with visual exploration than they could previously.
After creating an account and downloading the Blue Mars program from bluemars.com, people can make their own avatar and browse destinations, including the IDIA lab.
To create these virtual worlds, students scanned pieces from the Ball State art gallery, Fillwalk said. They used the scans to create the art gallery where they then collaborated with historians to build the virtual environment where the sculpture would have resided.
Fillwalk said people can see historical events from the past or go to remote parts of the world they would not typically be able to visit.
People can tour the Yellow River in China, which is populated by a number of Buddhist sculptures, or visit the Ball State art gallery and click on each piece for more information.
Through Blue Mars, businesses can use the virtual world to hold meetings with clients across the country, and friends can use it catch up with one another as well.
Fillwalk said next on IDIA's agenda is creating a virtual campus for teachers and students to use to meet in a 3-D world instead of a physical classroom.
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