The College Tour Right of Passage–Done Virtually
Well, its the time in my life where things have gone full circle. I am now touring colleges with my oldest son. I remember tour colleges myself trying to find that perfect fit. So, we pile into the car and drive all over in search of the perfect campus.
Visiting college campuses was never easier.
But…there will soon be another way of touring campuses. Soon, you’ll be able to do it in 3D as a avatar of yourself.
A company named, Designing Digitally, Inc., has created a product known as “3D Virtual Campus Tours.”
Virtual dorm room, just hit "reset" and it automatically cleans itself.
The first tour they created and launched was a 3D virtual campus tour for The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) utilizing the award-winning Unity development platform for games and interactive 3D.
According to LeAnn Nelson, Chief of Marketing and Media at USAFA, “Designing Digitally took a concept USAFA had for a ‘virtual world’ that would allow us to host tours of our campus for applicants that couldn’t visit in person and turned it into an interactive, entertaining, and fun experience.”
Andrew Hughes, founder of Designing Digitally, stated “I was personally accepted to several schools, but wasn’t able to afford traveling to visit all of them. So, I ended up choosing the college that was closest to home. While this worked out well for me in the end, I don’t want students to have to “settle” as I felt I did at the time.” And thus the innovative and exciting 3D Virtual Campus Tours.
Here is the entire press release, I think the concept is engaging and a great way for campuses across the world to extend their reach.
Designing Digitally, Inc. Partners with the United States Air Force Academy to Develop a 3D Virtual Campus Tour Based on Unity
Virtual world developer Designing Digitally, Inc. used the Unity development platform to design an interactive 3D virtual campus tour for prospective cadets to tour the United States Air Force Academy.
Franklin, OH April 04, 2011 – Designing Digitally, Inc., a full-service interactive design company and developer of “3D Virtual Campus Tours,” recently completed and launched a 3D virtual campus tour for The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) utilizing the award-winning Unity development platform for games and interactive 3D.
And on your left, you will see….
According to LeAnn Nelson, Chief of Marketing and Media at USAFA, “Designing Digitally took a concept USAFA had for a ‘virtual world’ that would allow us to host tours of our campus for applicants that couldn’t visit in person and turned it into an interactive, entertaining, and fun experience.With their creativeness, they were able to expand our concept to better serve our intended purpose. There were many constraints with this project and they always quickly found a successful solution.”
“We continue to see explosive growth of Unity across all aspects of interactive 3D,” said David Helgason, CEO of Unity Technologies. “Designing Digitally creating this virtual world for The United States Air Force Academy is an impressive example of market leading game technology being used for very serious uses.”
USAFA allows users to register for a guided interactive virtual campus tour by visiting the event calendar. Within the guided tour, a group of potential students will be guided throughout the campus by an admissions representative. Users can explore each area on their own, but they cannot teleport from area to area and must wait until the admissions representative teleports the group as a whole. When in a self-guided tour, users are free to visit any area they would like on their own.
“3D Virtual Campus Tours” includes games and many other interactive features to make the tour more engaging and informative. Available features include:
- Games such as parachute jump, basketball shoot out, flight simulator and others
- Clues throughout the virtual campus to teach students about the school
- Trivia questions, answered with the help of the clues
- Text and voice chat capabilities
- Avatar customization
- Dynamic web-based administrative log-in, and much more
Designing Digitally, Inc. is able to provide “3D Virtual Campus Tours” as a robust, massive multi-player recruiting tool aimed at increasing enrollment through accessibility, interactivity and engagement. The web-based format and ease of use allows potential candidates the opportunity to experience the campus even if they aren’t physically there.
With the ability to fill out online applications, financial aid forms, make payments and purchases, “3D Virtual Campus Tours” allows colleges and universities around the world to bring their campus to the homes of prospective students, which increases recruiting efforts and enrollment. For more information or to view a demo, please visit: http://www.3dvirtualcampustours.com
About Designing Digitally, Inc.
Designing Digitally, Inc. is a full-service interactive design firm specializing in web-based training, simulations, and virtual world development. Located in Franklin, Ohio, Designing Digitally, Inc. has developed a number of interactive virtual world, simulation and e-learning solutions for companies and agencies around the country and the globe.
Designing Digitally Inc.’s overall goal is to add value to the clients that they serve by creating engaging and interactive solutions.
Company Website: http://www.designingdigitally.com
Product Website: http://www.3dvirtualcampustours.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ddinc
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/designing.digitally.inc
About Unity Technologies
Unity Technologies is revolutionizing the game industry with Unity, its award-winning breakthrough development platform. Unity Technologies has more than 400,000 registered users worldwide — including Bigpoint, Cartoon Network, Coca-Cola, Disney, Electronic Arts, LEGO, Microsoft, NASA, Nickelodeon, Ubisoft, Warner Bros., large and small studios, indies, students and hobbyists — all using Unity to create games and interactive 3D, like training simulations and medical and architectural visualizations, on the web, mobile, consoles and beyond. Unity Technologies is aggressively innovating to expand usability, power and platform reach along with its Asset Store digital content marketplace and Union distribution service so that it can deliver on its vision of democratizing interactive 3D technology. Unity Technologies is headquartered in San Francisco and has development offices worldwide. For more information, visit: http://unity3d.com.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/unity3d
