The Cosmic Voyage

[P3D Larry Berlin <lberlin@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi All,

The current issue #35 of "IRIS universe" which is an excellent graphics
related magazine from Silicon Graphics has an article titled "The Universe
in a Cave". The article is about the 3D immersive environment of a system
called "The Cave' which stands for Computer-Assisted Virtual Environment.
When you stand inside the cave wearing LCD headsets, your head gear is
tracked so that the computers which run it can reconfigure the 3D
environment according to your head position. A magic wand kind of device
allows the person inside to literally direct the action and observe the
changes live.

It was recently used to create some special footage for a program called
"The Cosmic Voyage", a 40 minute IMAX film created for the Smithsonian
Institution's 150th anniversary this year. It will "transport viewers across
millions of years of universe formation inside the Smithsonian's National
Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C". this summer. Then it will travel to
some of the other IMAX theaters around the world. Viewers will get to see
the Big Bang, watch galaxies form and millions of years later collide plus
lots more.

The Cave is a three wall device, but there is a one wall device where you
can get the experience of it this summer called the "Immersadesk" at
SIGGRAPH '96 in New Orleans.

If you want more information about the CAVE, visit these URLs on the Internet:

        NCSA's Virtual Environment Toolset at 
        http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Pubs/access/94.2/VEToolset.html

        NCSA's Silicon Graphics POWER CHALLENGEarray Technical Summary
        http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Consulting/TechSummary/odin.html

        Virtual Director Software
        http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/EVL/docs/VROOM/HTML/PROJECTS/48Thiebaux.html

        Cosmological Structure Formation in the IMAX Film Cosmic Voyage
        http://zeus.ncsa.uiuc.edu:8080/Summers/IMAX.html

Larry Berlin

Email: lberlin@xxxxxxxxx
http://www.sonic.net/~lberlin/


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