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AVS & CINECA Laboratory Immersive Visualization Story

tracy/Editor  From:AVS  Hit:  2010-1-25

CINECA Laboratory (Bologna, Italy), a reseARCh facility run by a consortium of Italian universities, has selected software from Advanced Visual Systems to visualize a broad range of scientific, analysis and high-performance computing projects at the new state-of-the art facility.

Using AVS/Express Multipipe Edition (MPE) in conjunction with an SGI Onyx2, Origin 3800 and a CRAY T3E massively parallel computer to project data onto a 150 degree curved screen using a BARCo Barron Immersive desk connected to three Onyx2 graphics pipes, the Laboratory will undertake, among other projects, the development of breakthrough bioengineering applications and the simulation of cultural heritage data to maintain and protect valuable historic sites.

VIS.I.T. (VISual Information Technology) is an inter-disciplinary laboratory dedicated to develop human-centered, powerful, and interactive 3D graphics tools in a variety of fields, including cultural heritage, bioengineering and scientific visualization.

The mission of the lab is to present concepts, techniques, as well as massive or complex numerical data through Interactive Computer Graphics, Virtual Reality and Human Computer Interaction technologies. The VIS.I.T. Lab is conceived as an open space room with several workstations and an Onyx2 SGI graphic supercomputer connected with the Origin 3800 and the IBM SP Power4 massively parallel computer of CINECA by a high-bandwidth interconnection. Some 3D graphic applications developed in the lab can benefit from being viewed in real time in two semi-Immersive Virtual Reality environments.

According to Sanzio Bassini, Manager of CINECA's High Performance Systems DiVision, "We are pleased to be able to use the AVS software systems in our Virtual Theater because they open up a wider range of applications for us to use in our reseARCh. We have used AVS's software at the Lab for many years and have developed a close relationship with the company. As such, the move to empower our Virtual Theater with AVS/Express was a natural step and it enables us to consider undertaking larger projects and collaborative reseARCh with external organizations."

"We find it very important to have a tool such as AVS/Express," continued Bassini, "because the software allows one to be able to build an application on a laptop computer and visualize the data without any additional effort inside the Virtual Theater. Partnership is key to our mission at CINECA, and the partnership with AVS helps us to improve our technologies, especially in the industrial fields."