A test pilot, for example, can sit in a folding chair inside the CAVE while projected images offer him the sensory experience of being at the controls of a fighter jet. Kriz, director of Tech's Visualization Laboratory, helped spearhead the effort to bring the CAVE to the university. At Virginia Tech, the CAVE can be used by faculty members and students from all university disciplines. Mathematics professors can bring their students inside geometric shapes. Engineering classes can put together and take apart complex structures.
Veterinary surgeons can prepare for operations by viewing large-scale simulations of animal organs.
Architect students can design 3-D structures and rearrange them with the wave of a wand. Tech students and faculty members already have access to computer graphics and modeling programs, but the CAVE offers visual information that cannot be delivered by flat computer screens or virtual-reality helmets, Kriz says. With sight comes insight. In the CAVE, I can control a complete scene or structure. If I can control a structure, I can design a new property for it.