SCD | Visualization | VEG
NCSA Virtual Reality Center
We should envision an NCSA Virtual Reality Center (VRC). The VRC will be many things to many people. It is a Museum of Technology which displays the latest applications to the Alliance, to the Industrial Partners, to the Beckman Institute, to the University of Illinois and to the general public. It is an Institute of Virtual Reality which conducts training seminars, workshops and support on Virtual Environments for Alliance and Industrial Partners. It is a Production Facility where Alliance and Industrial Partners can have their data transformed, by experts in virtual reality visualization, into a mulitude of electronic mediums. Last, but certainly not least, it is a Research Facility on virtual environments where the cutting edge of both hardware and software can be explored so that new tools can be created. The VRC should consist of a showcase CAVE theater, an InfinityWall Presentation Room, an Immersadesk Lab, a Production Workstation Lab and a Research Workstation Lab.VRC - Museum of Technology
The VRC will showcase the CAVE system and have the ability to handle a large volume of visitors. The facilitiy should be designed to handle this traffic flow. The deployment of CAVE and ImmersaDesk systems to date have been in research environments. However, to address the growing demonstration requirments a CAVE designed as a theater is required. There is one CAVE facility which has addressed the need for traffic flow and exhibition, the CAVE at Ars Electronica Center in Linz, Austria. The CAVE at SARA in Amsterdam, Netherlands is also designed as a showcase facility but does not handle a seated crowd very well. The importance of a well designed CAVE showcase is very high. The CAVE allows for the visualization and interaction with data in a manner unparalleled since the invention of the printing press. The CAVE is a highlight on every tour to visit NCSA, and the demands for demonstrations of the CAVE technology is increasing. Last year the Ars Electronica CAVE had 120,000 visitors. An Immersadesk Lab and InfinityWall Presentation Room will also be visible to touring groups through one way glass corridors, in this way researchers could be observed but not disturbed as they work with the virtual environments. Monitors in a central area will display work in progress, polished video of completed projects and inform visitors about virtual reality and high performance computing. Virtual Reality Centers are a relatively new, but not without precedent. The NTT/ICC in Tokyo, Japan is an example of a facility which showcases electronic and Virtual Reality art. Virginia Polytechnical Institute is the only institution in the United States which has followed this direction and they have committed ~$25M towards the creation of their ACITC building. This facility will be a state of the art Virtual Reality Center which will become a centerpiece on the Virginia Tech campus.VRC - Institute of Virtual Reality
The VRC will be a high end training facility for the NCSA and the Alliance and Industrial Partners. Training includes but is not limited to, workshops in virtual reality application development, high performance computing workshops, seminars, lectures and presentations by the most reknown scholars in high performance computing and virtual reality. An InfifityWall Presentation Room networked to the GRID will provide a high-tech facility, from which knowledge can be passed on through multiple media. This Presentation Room will be able to accomodate presentations and seminars from experts in the fields of virtual reality and high performance computing. The Presentation Room will also be able to fuction as a collaborative virtual environment to enhance any presentation. In turn all functions in the InfifityWall Presentation Room will have the ability to be broadcast over the internet, intrAnet or GRID. A Production Workstation Lab will provide a hands on training facility to allow NCSA, Alliance and Industrial Partner scientists to learn advanced applications in visualization and high performance computing. NCSA has an immediate need to teach visualization and simulation skills to Alliance and Industrial Partners. A VRC will provide a state of the art facility for quick and efficient dissemination of information.VRC - Production Facility
The VRC will provide a production service to Alliance and Industrial Partners. By using a Production Application Development (PAD) system composed of modular coding, team programming and high volume/quick turnaround production techniques, Alliance and Industrial Partners can be handed the ways and means for constructing their own virtual reality visualizations. As a high-end extention of training services, the Production Workstation Lab would accomodate several programming teams. Demonstration versions of the final applications would then be showcased to the public in the CAVEVRC - Research Facility
The VRC will provide NCSA, Beckman and UIUC a state of the art research facility which could be used to explore the pioneer areas in virtual reality and visualization of high performance computations. Seperate computing machines are needed to be available for experimentation so as not to disrupt the stability needed for demonstration, training and production environments. A Research Workstation Lab would accomodate the needs of experiments which would be selected through peer review. An efficient display patching network will allow these experimental machines to share the display systems of the VRC.In conclusion, A Virtual Reality Center will provide a state of the art facility for NCSA to function as a leader in virtual reality and high performance computing. There is a real need for facilities designed to accomodate the presentation of information. Currently, our facilities, and the majority of virtual environment facilities around the globe, are designed to only handle research. However, the preliminary research phase for developing the CAVE technology is past. We need to design new facilities to handle the multiple-use challenges of the future.
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Tom Coffin tcoffin@ncsa.uiuc.edu
National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA)
Virtual Environments Group
University of Illinois, Urbana tel: 217-244-3664
M/C 476 - 152 CAB lab: 217-244-4913
605 East Springfield Avenue fax: 217-244-2909
Champaign, IL 61820
http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/~tcoffin
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CAVERNUS--------------http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/VR/cavernus/
The National Center for Supercomputing Applications
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
tcoffin@ncsa.uiuc.edu