Third-year Otago Polytechnic bachelor of information technology students Jun Cui, Trevor Farquharson and Gareth Dorset learned on Thursday a panel of polytechnic and industry examiners had awarded their projects 100%.
Their first project is a virtual ant farm designed and built for the nature galleries at Otago Museum and installed in June, while the other is an interactive photographic panorama of central Dunedin which is being trialled at the Otago Settlers Museum.
The almost 360deg panorama was created by electronically stitching together more than 31,200 images recorded using an imported robot camera.
Visitors use a control panel to zoom in on a point of interest in the panorama before selecting an image and projecting it on to a photographic gallery wall.
It was the first time a team had earned 100%, head of the school of information technology Assoc Prof Sam Mann, said.
"I can honestly say, having managed some 300 projects, that I have never seen a team of the calibre of this group. I have seen elegant and creative solutions alongside a commitment to details that I can only hope to duplicate."
For both projects, the students collated the content, created the computer programmes to run the displays and designed and built the control panels.
They said they had begun working together last year and discovered they had complementary skills and interests.
Ms Cui's forte was graphic design, Mr Dorset's was programming and Mr Farquharson's was construction, documentation and client liaison.
The students said they were delighted with their mark.
"I think we have earned it. We have put in many hours and a lot of effort," Ms Cui said.
The students have diverse backgrounds.
Mr Dorset (24) enrolled at polytechnic after discovering a love for computer programming while at university, while Ms Cui (23), originally from China, moved to Dunedin two years ago when her husband found work here.
She had previously completed two years of a computer design course in Wellington.
Mr Farquharson (44) worked in the construction industry for many years before deciding to retrain in information technology.
All said they were now seeking work and hoped their course results would help.
The virtual ant farm and the cityscape panorama were among several projects exhibited at an information technology industry showcase on Thursday.
Other projects included a digital waterfall which allowed users to control the 250 streams of water to draw images, an interactive game played using a real guitar, and an electronic staff training system for the health sector.
Students from many departments including fine arts, fashion design, product design, communication design, architecture, horticulture and health are showing their work at end of year exhibitions between now and the end of November.
