Black Engineering Building recently became home to Iowa State’s newest virtual reality system.

Named C4 (Cave 4) for its four walls, the virtual reality system replaced the outdated C2 system, which also had four walls.

“We needed a good upgrade,” said Carolina Cruz-Neira, associate director of the Virtual Reality Applications Center.

Mechdyne, a corporation founded by ISU graduates, designed and built the C4. It has received funding from grants and contributors, including $1.2 million from the Army National Guard for military research.

Associate Virtual Reality Applications Center Director Adrian Sannier said the C4 is powered by Silicon Graphic Onyx2 reality engines. It creates two versions of each scene – one as if it were viewed from the left eye and one from the right. Four data pipes transport the image to four projectors for viewing on the panels.

A user views images by donning special glasses, which superimpose the two scenes to create the illusion of depth, Sannier said. Emitters positioned on the sides of the panels synchronize with the glasses, refreshing the image in both eyepieces 60 times a second, so the user always sees an accurate image.

The C4 is linked by dedicated fiber to the C6 in Howe Hall. The C6 is another virtual reality system, placing the user in a six-sided virtual reality “cube.” The two systems are hooked together for real-time collaboration.

“Users feel as though they are in the same place,” Sannier said.

Bryan Walter and Mark Knight, graduate students in mechanical engineering and Virtual Reality Applications Center assistants, teamed up on a class project to design a program for both the C4 and the C6.

Their program, VTennis, allows users to play a tennis-like game with another user using hand-guided wands to block a virtual ball with a paddle, bouncing it off walls and opponent’s positioned defense blocks.

Cruz-Neira said the C4 was built partly for continued research and work with companies to find out what is best to improve technologies and lower costs.

Since it was set up, the C4 has been in use almost around the clock, Cruz-Neira said.

It was used in the “Ashes to Ashes” program, integrating virtual reality environments with live dance to commemorate Sept. 11.

A new project, Battlespace, will allow users to practice military maneuvers in a virtual combat setting, Sannier said.

Up to 500 users from the Air Force and the Iowa National Guard will participate from various C4s, computer screens and a control center in the C6.

Sannier said virtual reality technology has future applications in business.

The technology will allow people to communicate in different ways and will blur the lines between reality and virtual reality.

“If I see it and you see it, isn’t that what real is?” Sannier said.

Larger displays in the home are becoming more common, and this kind of technology might be possible in the future for consumer use, he said.

Cruz-Neira is working on a cluster of home computers to obtain the same amount of processing power for less money.

The technology “is on its way into your living room – you can’t stop it,” Sannier said.

“We would like to see if we could improve the technology so we wouldn’t have to baby-sit so much,” Cruz-Neira said.

“Between the C4, C6 and all the virtual reality equipment, we have the largest virtual reality facility in the U.S., if not the world. It’s very unique that we have it in Iowa.”