Celebrating 30 Years: Where 2D Becomes 3D

From 2008 to 2019, the Duderstadt Center’s 3D-related technologies could be found in a space called the 3D Lab, which was preceded by the Virtual Reality Lab or VRL, located in the DC since 1997. The 3D Lab housed many different ways to make two-dimensional objects in three-dimensions through virtual reality (VR) and 3D printing. In the space, there were projection screens to do live demonstrations and workshops; a less-sophisticated version of what is now the MIDEN. There was also an early version of virtual reality. In the center of the room stood a box attached to big arms that could swing in many different directions. Users of the space could hold and peer through the box to see different VR scenes. To the untrained eye, it looked like something that belonged inside a submarine. In actuality, it was a Binocular Omni-Orientation Monitor, or BOOM for short.

As technology improved, the tools and applications for 3D technologies grew, eventually necessitating that the space be broken up into parts specializing in different activities. Now, the 3D Lab is broken into two different spaces: Fabrication Underground, conducting the 3D printing, and the Visualization Studio and MIDEN, which handles virtual reality and augmented reality. Many spaces in the Duderstadt Center have changed over the years, but one thing never changes: good ideas and the creativity of those who walk through its walls.