Some people head to the State Agricultural Fair with their animals or veggies in tow, but not Corey Menning. He has his computer. And a virtual reality headset.
Corey Menning, an Instructor at Iowa Lakes Community College, is excited to let people know about their Construction Program and give them an opportunity to try the leading edge technology they are using. His program uses Envisioneer™ software for building and design and has recently upgraded the software to include Envisioneer’s virtual reality feature to his program. Using an Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, students can view their Envisioneer home designs in virtual reality!
“I am so excited to be using the Oculus Rift with the Envisioneer software to include virtual reality in my Construction Technology Program at Iowa Lakes Community College! It will be a great tool for students to use when designing homes, giving virtual tours to clients that we build homes for, bringing with us on a variety of home and trade shows as well as high school visits to demonstrate the amazing technology that is available in the construction industry. I am also thinking of other ways that this will enhance my program, for instance, I’d like to design a virtual worksite with several safety hazards that students will have to tour and record what OSHA violations they see and what they need to do to correct them.”
“They (students) were absolutely blown away by the experience and perspective that the virtual reality was able to provide for them!”
“I have so many ideas that I am excited to incorporate in my Construction Technology program this year using Envisioneer teamed up with the Oculus Rift. Today for example I had students use Envisioneer to design homes that fit a list of parameters that a client gave us they wanted their home to include. The list included things like number and location of bedrooms, number of baths, style of direction they wanted the kitchen to face, square footage of the home, etc. After students came up with a floor plan they thought fit all the criteria I had them load it onto the computer I have the Rift hooked up to so that they could take a virtual tour of it. They were absolutely blown away by the experience and perspective that the virtual reality was able to provide for them! Several students realized minor things that they needed to address noting that they didn’t realize any issues by simply looking at the 2D drawing. I had several students that went back to their plans after touring them once to spice them up with elaborate layouts of furniture, decorations, vehicles, and other objects to give it an even more realistic feel! They couldn’t wait to get back in line to “tour” their home using virtual reality!”
Mr. Menning has been using Envisioneer in his program at Iowa Lakes Community College since 2009.
Here are some photos from Mr. Menning’s students experiencing VR!
(Photos courtesy of Corey Menning, Iowa Lakes Community College)
