Lighting rigs and interchangeable backdrops fill the Production Studio at UCF’s Digital Exploration Center, providing students with a professional-grade photography setup for portraits, creative projects and digital media production.
Melenny Gallardo
UCF unveiled its new Digital Exploration Center with an open house Feb. 9, introducing a dynamic space designed to push the boundaries of research and creativity.
Located on the fourth floor of the John C. Hitt Library in Room 425, the center officially opened to students and faculty Feb. 10 as a hub for immersive technology, digital scholarship and collaborative innovation.
As the library advances its role as a center for active learning and scholarship, the DEC reflects a broader push to reimagine how it serves and engages the UCF community.
“We define the ‘digital’ in Digital Exploration Center broadly, to include digital culture and media as well as digital scholarship and education,” Dr. Daniel Fandino, historian and coordinator of the DEC, said.
The DEC brings cutting-edge technology under one roof, offering students and faculty spaces designed to turn ideas into immersive experiences.
A projection of UCF-related imagery fills one wall of the Immersion Studio at the Digital Exploration Center, highlighting the space’s immersive display technology and high-resolution visuals.
Melenny Gallardo
At the heart of the center is the Immersion Studio, a 270-degree, three-wall projection environment with surround sound powered by Igloo Vision that transports users into fully interactive digital worlds. Flexible seating and built-in camera capabilities allow the studio to shift seamlessly from presentation space to virtual showcase.
“The Immersion Studio lets students explore the past, present and even future in a way that is visually striking and interactive,” Fandino said.
He added that the studio will soon be equipped with LIDAR sensors to enable touch controls and manipulation of projected images, similar to the technology depicted in films such as “Iron Man” and “Minority Report.”
Caitlyn Hale, senior graphic design major, attended the open house with two classmates who have the same major and said the center expands creative opportunities for students in digital media.
“I think it’s awesome that we have all these different resources available now, especially like the immersive room – just having that space to actually put what we’re learning to use is really cool,” Hale said.
Four Shure microphones and three Sony DSLR cameras are set up inside the Hitt Maker Podcast Studio at UCF’s Digital Exploration Center, offering students a professional-grade space for audio and video production.
Melenny Gallardo
Just steps away, the Hitt Maker Podcast Studio provides a professional-grade recording environment complete with a control room and two sound booths. Equipped with three Sony DSLR cameras and four Shure studio microphones, the studio supports high-quality audio and video production for up to four users, with an additional interview area for two.
“As we move forward, we have plans to convert one of the booths into a small digital music production studio,” Fandino said. “We’d love to eventually have our own series of interviews and performances to showcase UCF talent, like ‘The First Take’ or NPR’s ‘Tiny Desk Concerts.’”
Beyond recording and immersive media, the center offers robust production and collaboration spaces tailored to digital scholarship.
The production studio features high-resolution DSLR cameras, six colored backdrops, adjustable lighting and seating for up to eight users, along with photogrammetry and projection mapping stations for advanced creative projects.
Shyla Nuxol, a UCF graduate student in digital media and graduate assistant at the Digital Exploration Center, displays a projection mapping a design she created on stacked building blocks draped in white cloth inside the Production Studio.
Melenny Gallardo
Shyla Nuxol, a UCF graduate student in digital media and a graduate assistant at the center, said she sees the space as a valuable resource for her studies.
“I would like to use this space in conjunction with the projects that I’m working on in grad school,” Nuxol said.
Beyond individual projects, the center also emphasizes collaboration. A conference room and two flex spaces foster teamwork and one-on-one project support, reinforcing the center’s collaborative mission.
The reconfigurable Instruction Room accommodates up to 24 students for classes, workshops and seminars.
Fandino said extended reality stations allow users to engage in movement-based virtual experiences, while high-performance workstations support design, rendering, 3D modeling, virtual reality creation and data analysis.
Together, the spaces position the center as a hub for innovation, experimentation and interdisciplinary discovery.
Cris Chevere, senior graphic design major, said the center helps students experiment with new ideas.
“Our building doesn’t have as many resources, so when our computers act up or we want to try something new, it’s amazing that we can just come to the library and access all these materials,” Chevere said. “It really opens possibilities for experimentation and creativity.”
Appointments are required for DEC facilities with specialized equipment and must be scheduled in advance. Access is limited to current UCF students, faculty, and staff and misuse may result in loss of privileges.
First-time users must complete orientations, and some spaces, like the Immersion Studio, require consultation and advance notice.
Appointments have strict time limits, and repeated no-shows or overstaying can lead to penalties.
“We provide the tools and the guidance; the students provide the talent and the imagination,” Fandino said.
The DEC is open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Fridays by appointment and can be reached at DigitalScholarship@ucf.edu.