The Virtual Nematode Peter M. Sforza and Jon D. Eisenback Department of Plant Pathology, Physiology, and Weed Science Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, Virginia USA

Introduction

In 1915, N.A. Cobb had a vision of nematodes:

The Virtual Nematode uses 3-D animations and virtual reality environments as visual teaching aids for several concepts in plant parasitic nematology. Visualization may enhance a viewer's perception and retention of the information presented.  This may be particularly important in teaching scientific or technical material containing complex concepts. Current and future advances in information technology provide unique opportunities for innovative teaching approaches.

A Nematode’s Perspective

The minute size of nematodes often makes them difficult to manipulate and study. Viewing a nematode under a microscope can cause the nematode to appear 2-dimensional, making it difficult to understand the morphology and anatomy in 3-dimensions. Using 3-D models and virtual reality environments, we can scale down our size to that of a grain of sand and study the structure and activities of the nematode from a new perspective.

The Virtual Agroecosystem

The Virtual Agroecosystem is an ongoing project to create virtual reality (VR) worlds for the visualization of agroecosystem concepts and processes, particularly those related to plant pathology and weed science. The Virtual Agroecosystem is a 3-D model based on a working farm in eastern Virginia. The farm can be explored in real-time and hyperlinks lead the user to more detailed virtual worlds for specific topics. For example, navigating down a stairway that leads into the soil profile causes a new scene to appear that illustrates weed seed distribution for different tillage regimes. For the Virtual Nematode, a patch of symptomatic plants will link to a nematode scene. The VR worlds are experienced in a VR environment such as the CAVE^TM technology at Virginia Tech or VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) for the world wide web. The Virtual Nematode is the latest addition to the Virtual Agroecosystem. 

Creation of 3-D Models and Animations

3-dimensional models and animations were created on a desktop computer using 3-D Studio Max® software from Kinetix. This powerful software allows the user to create 3-D geometry, manipulate it's form and texture, modify the objects in numerous ways, and then animate the scene. The possibilities are limited only by one's imagination, experience, and knowledge of the tools in the design environment. Finally, the scene can be rendered or exported as various formats, including still images (e.g. jpg, gif), animations (e.g. mov, avi), and virtual worlds (e.g. wrl, iv). A detailed tutorial on how the nematode was created can be found at the Virtual Nematode homepage.

Hyperlink to The Virtual Nematode:

http://www.ppws.vt.edu/~sforza/nematode.html

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