Sessions about Multimedia and Animation

This breakout session will demonstrate new technologies used to enhance education and research through 3D simulations. The DEAL Lab at CIT is working with a system which interfaces a 3D portable system with a 3D immersive environment to enhance the student, instructor or researcher's educational experience with a virtual model or environment. The group is comprised of people who have been developing educational modules of this nature for several years. These specialists have consequently developed a vast knowledge, respect from the campus community and vested interest in the field. This technology has evolved into a much more affordable system over recent years and its applicability for educational use is undeniable. Our team is currently focusing efforts toward the generation of more 3D media. The group has been working with the departments of Entomology, Biochemistry, Veterinary Science and Animal Science, to render learning modules to teach complex visual concepts for students. Some of the key features of this 3D demonstraton are the 3D immersive environment, portability and enhanced content development.

"Web Design!" "Web Development!" How do these fit together? Mike Atwell takes the Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation (ADDIE) model of instructional design and applies it to Web production. You'll learn a method for viewing your Web projects from a "bird's eye view" to handle them better.

Ahoy there, mateys! As video gaming becomes a core staple for the younger generations, it is getting increasingly difficult to connect with them using static media. That's why we built "Science Pirates," a 3D educational game designed to teach kids about the science process using a swashbuckling pirate theme. Take a look behind the scenes and see what it takes to build a game like this. Using less than $1000 of off-the-shelf software and a fairly simple scripting language, a small team of artists and script programmers can create fun 3D games that teach. In this session, we'll first show a demo of the game, and then we'll take a look at the workflow involved in creating it, from modeling to texturing to scripting. And when we're done, you'll take home a handout that provides resources to help you get started developing your own 3D educational media.

Gaming has become a serious instructional tool for the classroom mixing play with learning, replacing textbook and lab assignments. The typical student today is exposed to a plethora of technological gadgets and information, opening a host of challenges and issues for the classroom teacher and parent today (balance fun/play with learning). Today’s student requires engagement, the issue is not that students are experiencing A.D.D. but E.O.E. (ENGAGE or ENRAGE me). Equally challenging is the development of a “serious game”. For Pest Private Eye and the Case of IPM the challenge was not only to promote engagement and learning but stay within the constraints of an “educational” budget. The CIT DEAL staff and the UNL Pesticide Education Office faced this challenge in a game pilot for Integrated Pest Management. This session the production staff highlights the challenges in the game development with the 3D environments, character animations, storyboarding, timeline and budget processes. In addition, discussion will include the next phase in the development process to move ahead from a pilot to a 2 yr grant funded project.

As we move to position eXtension as a high-quality, interactive learning environment for our Internet customers, visibility of our resource-based content increases dramatically. Top quality, professional presentation of content is a must. This includes appropriate writing styles and editorial review of everything publicly available. Professional photographers, videographers and graphic designers can use their talents to bring content alive. As eXtension strives to present the best our land-grant system has to offer, we must capitalize on the professionals from the Extension system to enhance and add value to the content being developed in order for us to successfully compete in the Internet world. Our marketing claims "the best, most researched knowledge from the smartest land-grant university minds across America," and we know those minds have been relying on ACE professionals to make other Extension resources top quality! Come hear from some currently involved in eXtension, and find out how you too can share your expertise through involvement with this national initiative.

Adobe Flash is the standard for web animation. Adobe Flash allows you to create animations, text effects, and complex interactive web applications. It is a powerful tool - and when used correctly - can make the web experience very enjoyable. In this 3 hour, very hands on, work session you will learn some essential Flash fundamentals and a few good tips and tricks for animating with Flash. Briefly, we will cover: Using the Flash interface, Creating and importing graphics and sound, basic animation techniques for Web and some simple Actionscript to make interactives. The session is directed at people who are familiar with computer graphics but always wanted an quick hands on intoduction to Flash.

Turn your iPod into a personal Museum Tour Guide. By using the Notes feature, you can add audio and video links to explain interesting points along the way. Documentation will include sample text code and preference files to turn your iPod into more than just a cool gadget.

When you plug your iPod into iTunes, you normally can’t view the audio and video files stored on it. Learn about some free software that allows you to view these files, and then play them full screen on your computer. It’s one more way to turn your iPod into more than just a cool gadget.

This hands on session will cover 3D modeling and animation basics using Newtek's Lightwave 3D. Although the session will be software specific most of the techniques can be applied to any 3D animation package. The session will be broken into three sections. The first section will cover software basics and navigation. The second section will cover basic and intermediate modeling techniques. The third section will cover texturing, lighting, and animation techniques. This session is open to all skill levels.

New Mexico State Univeristy's Media Productions will present a Science-Based Food Safety education project. The Pirate-themed online games will lead kids through science processes, helping 8-14 year old students understand appropriate methods for preventing food-borne illness.

NMSU Regularly engages in user testing for development of websites and educational games. In this session, they'll review the methods they use, including access to kids, consent and Instititional Review Board forms, and questioning and observation techniques.

Discover how easy it is to create electronic 360 degree photographs for the web or a computer. The software, Photovista, is easy to use and enables you show others a 360 degree view of a room or object. You can put the 360 degree photographs together for a complete tour of a building and surrounding area.