This Journal Record article reports Oklahoma City Community College is investigating a possible deal with Eon Reality to provide a training ground for 3-D and virtual reality technology. From the article: "The deal is a long way from done, but if it comes together, OCCC students could have an opportunity to get a jump-start in the development and use of 3-D animation – skills that are expected to be in high demand in the very near future.
The deal could also give the college access to software that was developed for corporate sales and training applications, but could just as well be used to help train future nurses and auto mechanics.
Eon Reality Inc., based in Irvine, Calif., is a privately held interactive 3-D visual content and virtual reality company started in 1999.
The company’s products take traditionally two-dimensional sales and training materials, make them 3-D and place them in a Web-based virtual reality environment.
More than 95 academic institutions around the world use the company’s software, Eon officials said. “We have been looking at some software that allows us to do construction and 3-D simulation through Eon Reality,” said Paul Sechrist, president of OCCC.
Marly Bergerud, vice president of educational development for Eon, said academic relationships help the company’s commercial goals while helping the school.
“In these environments we help set up training of content developers that create content for industry and for the educational environment in a way that is self-sustaining,” she said.
Bergerud said many industries have content Eon can convert to 3-D for interactive training.
“Interactivity is what’s engaging, compelling and exciting,” she said.
Using Eon’s software, developers can create anything from a detailed model of machinery to a complete model of the human brain or a virtual tour of an ancient city.
That would also give Eon an Oklahoma presence, making its product more accessible to local companies.
Felix Aquino, vice president for Academic Affairs at OCCC, said he and others at the college have visited with Eon on several occasions and recently toured the company’s headquarters.
If the school decides to form the partnership, it would be the only such partnership between Eon and an Oklahoma educational institution. Aquino said there are still details to work out, but an agreement could be signed in the next few months.
He said the partnership would put OCCC on the cutting edge for both training and academic development of the software.
“Community colleges are the great deliverers of work force training in this country,” he said. “But this is very much in its infancy.”"