The IDIA Lab offers curriculum in partnership with the Department of Art and the School of Music in the College of Fine Arts; and the Department of Architecture in the College of Architecture and Planning at Ball State University. IDIA immersive learning and emerging media experiences attract students from all disciplines to design and produce a host of interactive digital projects. Undergraduate and graduate curriculum in new media are available in Art, Music, and Architecture. Several new programs are also in development.
Curriculum and Facilities
The IDIA Lab’s Immersive Seminar that involves students from across campus to work on innovative projects. Check out our recent news for descriptions of current and ongoing projects.
Immersion Projects
Interactive Virtual ChatBots
Interactive Virtual ChatBots The Institute for Digital Intermedia Arts (IDIA Lab) at Ball State University has developed a demonstration of how artificial intelligence can drive real-time gestural and vocal responses in 3D virtual characters within the Unity game engine. This project showcases a new generation of AI-enabled non-player characters (NPCs) capable of engaging users through […]
Read More About Interactive Virtual ChatBotsVirtual Elementary School
Virtual Elementary School The Virtual Elementary School Project, designed by the Institute for Digital Intermedia Arts (IDIA Lab) at Ball State University for Maryknoll Elementary School in Honolulu, Hawai‘i, creates a fully interactive digital twin of the school’s physical campus. This innovative platform extends Maryknoll’s educational mission into an immersive online environment, enabling students, teachers, […]
Read More About Virtual Elementary SchoolSmithsonian VR Exhibition
Smithsonian VR Exhibition BSU IDIA Lab developed Virtual Milestones of Flight, an immersive head mounted display prototype designed for the permanent exhibition at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. Both the exhibition and simulation celebrate selections of the most significant airplanes, rockets, and spacecraft in history. Some of these craft incorporated into […]
Read More About Smithsonian VR ExhibitionNSF FUNDED VIRTUAL SIMULATION OF HADRIAN’S VILLA
NFS Funded Virtual Simulation of Hadrian’s Villa IDIA Lab has designed a virtual simulation of the villa of the Roman Emperor Hadrian, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site located outside of Rome in Tivoli, Italy. This project is being produced in collaboration with the Virtual World Heritage Laboratory (VWHL) at the University of Virginia […]
Read More About NSF FUNDED VIRTUAL SIMULATION OF HADRIAN’S VILLAResearch
Launch of Virtual Companion iOS app by IDIA Lab
Learn how modern technology can shape our understanding of the past during a special program at Mounds State Park on Saturday, Nov. 14. Visitors to the 1 p.m. program will join park naturalist Kelley Morgan to learn about modern technologies that help archaeologists and historians bring the past to life. During the second half, director […]
Read More About Launch of Virtual Companion iOS app by IDIA LabBuffalo Bill’s Wild West gets a virtual makeover
Digital artists from Ball State’s IDIA Lab built their virtual simulation of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West with the Unity 3-D gaming platform along with custom software created by the lab. Cowboys and Indians captivated the country when Buffalo Bill’s Wild West rolled through America in the late 1800s and early 1900s. More than a century […]
Read More About Buffalo Bill’s Wild West gets a virtual makeoverVirtual Buffalo Bill
Ball State University’s IDIA Lab https://idialab.org is developing a multiplayer virtual world that simulates Buffalo Bill Wild West Show. This digital history project is built in Unity 3D using custom software created by IDIA Lab and is being produced for the Buffalo Bill Center for the West in Cody, WY. Scholars include Douglas Seefeldt and James […]
Read More About Virtual Buffalo BillTemple of Artemis: Wonder of the Ancient World
IDIA Lab was contracted by digital humanities scholars at UCLA to design and build a virtual simulation of the Temple of Artemis, one of the Wonders of the Ancient World, This massive Greek temple, four times the size of the Parthenon lies in ruin in present-day Turkey. This simulation incorporates our CelestialEngine with accurately positions […]
Read More About Temple of Artemis: Wonder of the Ancient World