Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/18322
n n n n Trends & Technologies The new visualization systems of today are powerful, affordable By Jon Peddie t Today, semi-custom panoramic projector display systems, such as this one from Scalable Display Technologies, offers an immersive experience at a moderate price. cap 32 October 2010 he idea of visualizing computer-generated mod- els before actually building them was conceived by the automotive and airplane industries in 1950. Te demand and need for better, bigger, and faster visualization systems grew as fast as the ability to provide them. Visualization systems let users test atomic bombs without all that messy radiation and noise, fly airplanes that aren’t built, find oil a mile or more underground, and examine the insides of 2000- year-old mummies. Visualization systems can mean different things to dif- ferent people, so to avoid confusion and controversy, I make a distinction between large-scale and localized visu- alization systems. A localized system, by my definition, is a single monitor used by an investigator and may be shown to colleagues on occasion. Visualization systems employing voxels for medical research, such as a Toshiba Medical Visualization System, is a typical example, as are individual product life-cycle manage- ment (PLM) visualization systems, like those from Siemens. Visualization systems are often confused with simulation systems. For example, in finite-element analysis Once the domain of the auto industry, visual- ization systems today play a key role in many diverse industries. (FEA), a mathematical simulation is made, typically of a stressed component such as a beam, and then visualized for the stress points, which are often displayed in pseudo colors to highlight the effect. Large-scale visualization systems, on the other hand, employ two or more displays, or projectors, and can occupy an entire desktop, a wall, or an entire room (an example is a Cave). When dealing with a visualization wall, fur- ther definitions are required. Is the visualization wall strictly computer-generated, a mix of CG and video, or just video. Tese types of visualization systems typically get defined as command and control (or CCD, in which the D stands for “decision”), signage, situational, and sci- entific or engineering visualization. Video walls are a com- pletely different system. Te situational and scientific or engineering visualization systems are, to my way of thinking, the most interesting be- cause they involve the highest degree of computer resolution and display capabilities. Often, these visualization systems provide stereo graphic capability (S3D.) Today’s Vis Systems In the past, around 1990, large-scale visualization systems were built by Evans and Sutherland, SGI, and various mili- tary contractors, such as General Electric, Lockheed, and Mechdyne. Tese systems sold for between $100,000 Courtesy Dr. Phillipe Pomar, University of Toulouse.