VISUALIZATION
Mechdyne Applauds Opening of See3D Visualization Center
Dome and PowerWall Displays Support Real-time Stereo Imaging of Scientific, Engineering Images for Academic and Industry Researchers: Mechdyne Corporation today announced that its has installed a custom 4.6m (15 ft) dome and a 4.6-m (15-ft) wide Fakespace PowerWall immersive display system at See3D, the state-of-the-art computer visualization center at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth (UWA). The facility, which officially opened in October on the Penglais campus of UWA, makes a world-class virtual reality environment available to academic and commercial researchers throughout the region. 
The new See3D Centre has already performed breakthrough work in immersive display, including viewing stereo imagery of the sun using data from the NASA STEREO (Solar TErrestrial REelations Observatory) mission, which was shown for the first time in April 2007 on the PowerWall. Other work at See3D includes development of visualization techniques for evaluating wind farm locations, as well as urban planning and historical preservation simulations. “Immersive display technology is a powerful tool for our academic and commercial partners,” said David Neill, program director of the See3D facility. “Working with Mechdyne, we were able to have the PowerWall in place at a temporary location earlier this year, and then move the display and upgrade its capabilities as part of the permanent installation with the Dome at the new centre.” Mechdyne designed the 4.6m radius dome to seat up to ten people. The two monoscopic projectors in the dome, each with 1400 x 1050 resolution, are blended to fill the screen with a total continuous resolution of over 2.5 million pixels. The stereoscopic Powerwall utilizes two projectors, also with resolutions of 1400 x 1050. Projectors in the Dome and the PowerWall are seamlessly blended using Mechdyne’s proprietary optical blending system that eliminates the need to electronically set up and constantly adjust blended projectors. Computing resources tied to the visualization systems at See3D include an SGI Prsim Graphics Engine (configured with 28 processors, 56 GB of RAM, 12 graphics outputs and four image compositors), a 24-processor SUN V40z high-performance computing cluster, and a three TeraByte (3 TB) RAID storage system.
The new See3D Centre has already performed breakthrough work in immersive display, including viewing stereo imagery of the sun using data from the NASA STEREO (Solar TErrestrial REelations Observatory) mission, which was shown for the first time in April 2007 on the PowerWall. Other work at See3D includes development of visualization techniques for evaluating wind farm locations, as well as urban planning and historical preservation simulations. “Immersive display technology is a powerful tool for our academic and commercial partners,” said David Neill, program director of the See3D facility. “Working with Mechdyne, we were able to have the PowerWall in place at a temporary location earlier this year, and then move the display and upgrade its capabilities as part of the permanent installation with the Dome at the new centre.” Mechdyne designed the 4.6m radius dome to seat up to ten people. The two monoscopic projectors in the dome, each with 1400 x 1050 resolution, are blended to fill the screen with a total continuous resolution of over 2.5 million pixels. The stereoscopic Powerwall utilizes two projectors, also with resolutions of 1400 x 1050. Projectors in the Dome and the PowerWall are seamlessly blended using Mechdyne’s proprietary optical blending system that eliminates the need to electronically set up and constantly adjust blended projectors. Computing resources tied to the visualization systems at See3D include an SGI Prsim Graphics Engine (configured with 28 processors, 56 GB of RAM, 12 graphics outputs and four image compositors), a 24-processor SUN V40z high-performance computing cluster, and a three TeraByte (3 TB) RAID storage system.