CAVCaM Capabilities

The hardware capabilities of the center range from mid-size computational systems, with computational science simulation software on the SGI Altix, the Access Grid Nodes, wide-screen and stereoscopic displays, as well as two immersive displays; the Visbox-P1 and the Fakespace FLEX. Detailed information about these "hard" capabilities can be found on the CAVCaM facilities page.

We also have several visualization tools we maintain and are developing. And we are working to have some common data formats that can be used to pass information from the computational simulations and data observations to the visualizations. These "soft" capabilities are listed below.

CAVCaM Applications and Data Formats

In order to make the CAVCaM facilities and expertise available to as many DRI researchers as possible, we are putting considerable effort toward developing and porting visualization and virtual reality software that will be usable by a range of research activities. And while we also work on custom software and customized extensions to existing software as required by research grants in which we participate, for many DRI researchers, it will be possible for them to bring us their data, and then see it in the CAVE a few days later, perhaps sooner. As we continue to expand the Center's application and data format repetoire, the set of researchers will approach the full domain, and the lead time for the data will shrink.

We are always interested in learning about what existing software and data formats are in use at DRI, so we can consider how to address those needs. Suggestions can be emailed to the CAVCaM Technical Director, Bill Sherman.

In addition to the "working" applications, we also have a selection of applications that we use to demonstrate the technology of virtual reality. Many of these applications do not directly provide the means for viewing research data, but they do help to show some of the capabilities of virtual reality, that will hopefully inspire us and our collaborators to find optimal ways of developing useful software tools.

All the "soft" capabilities are listed here under the categories:

• Data Formats
• Scientific Computing Applications
• Visualization Applications
• Virtual Reality Demonstration Applications
• Computer Graphics Software

The current list of data formats that can be more easily brought into the CAVE stems primarily from the three projects initiated under Phase-I of the contract with the STTC.

If you make regular use of a format not listed here, and would like it to be addressed by some of the CAVCaM software tools, please let us know.

The Center maintains a suite of computational science simulation tools on the Altix cluster machine. These software tools tend to be models in common use in the scientific community. Basic information on how to access these tools is maintained on the Center's systems, however, users will need to educate themselves on data formats, setting up proper initial conditions to run a simulated experiment.

The CAVCaM staff is working to have visualization options available to analyze the output from these tools.

As with the data formats, if there is a computational tool that you make regular use of, or would like to make regular use of, please let us know.

There are a number of visualization tools available via CAVCaM resources. Many of these tools will run either on an individual's desktop (perhaps making use of a floating license), or in the Vislab environment — there are also some that work on the immersive visualization displays, but those are listed below, separately.

CAVCaM staff (including much work accomplished under the ACES program), have developed tutorials for many of these applications.

In addition to the visualization tools listed above that are classified as "immersive", there are also some software applications available that are useful in demonstrating the technology of the CAVE. Some of these applications might be classified as "fun", but their value to DRI comes in teaching programmers and potential users about different interface techniques. Also, these programs were written at other institutions and shared to DRI, so no DRI faculty-hours were killed in their making.

As part of the effort to produce visualization software, there are a number of computer graphics and related software systems employed as the foundations upon which the applications are built. All of these tools are Open-Source, which permits sharing of the scientific and visualization tools developed with the broader community.