Queensland gets major new virtual reality facility

Queensland is set to develop into the Virtual Reality capital of Australia following the opening of a new Virtual Reality Centre based at The University of Queensland, funded by money from the Queensland State Government.

The $2 million state-of-the-art educational and research ViSACfacility is one of three major Virtual Reality centres for the State, including a flight visualisation facility based at Boeing in Brisbane and a facility that will begin operation at the Queensland Manufacturing Institute in Brisbane, probably in late August/early September.

The Virtual Reality Facility based at The University of Queensland will support researchers at Queensland Universities through QPSF (Queensland Parallel Supercomputing Foundation).

"The other major VR facility in Australia is at RMIT in Victoria, and while we are using the same technology, our work environment has been set up inside our virtual reality lab, not separate to it, and this is unique in Australia," Professor Kevin Burrage said.

"Several other Queensland groups are working with smaller visualization environments."

Professor Burrage is director of UQ's Advanced Computational Modelling Centre (ACMC), which runs the new facility on behalf of the University and the Queensland Parallel Supercomputing Foundation.

He said ViSAC (the Visualization and Advanced Computation Laboratory) was a computing resource which gave researchers access to visualization tools to enhance their productivity and quality of research.

ViSAC comprises a large immersive visualization system (curved screen projection system and SGI Onyx3000 image generation computer) and a laboratory of high performance graphics workstations for research and teaching, connected to UQ's 64 CPU Origin 2000 supercomputer via a high speed ATM network.

Using the technology, researchers studying subjects, such as the operation of a living human cell or the structure of complicated molecules, feel as though they are immersed inside a complex 3D structure.

"This is the ideal technology for anyone working with complex models and big data sets, and it will enhance the productivity and quality of researchers' work," Professor Burrage said.

"For example, researchers at UQ's Institute for Molecular Bioscience are visualizing in 3D the structure of molecules, which they can rotate. Using goggles they can see in stereoscopic vision complex structures. The IMB has many projects needing 3D structure modelling to develop new drugs, better understand drug delivery and normal cell operation.

"UQ's Centre for Marine Studies and the ACMC and research groups at JCU are collaborating to develop a virtual reef program where we can model aspects of the Great Barrier Reef and visualise it. It will mimic the feel of diving and being able to see coral and fish moving around you. We will also be able to use this model to investigate the effect of pollution and global warming on the reef.

"Architectural walk throughs are also possible, a valuable technology for town planning and urban design, such as sports stadia, bridges etc.

"Similarly, the University's Sustainable Minerals Institute has programs in mind for virtual mining.

"Environmental climate modelling can also be conducted where it is possible to visualize, for example, cold fronts moving across mountains, as if seeing them from an aeroplane."

Professor Burrage said the ViSAC lab also provided an educational computing resource to introduce high level undergraduates to high performance computing and visualization that was appropriate to their chosen fields and it showcased the state's computing excellence and commitment to state of the art research and teaching.

Its function was to foster interactions between science and industry in the use of new technologies such as high performance computers, visualisation of complex data sets, advanced informatics, high performance modelling and software development. The facility also provided an aesthetic world-class venue for professional training and workshops.

Media: Further information Professor Kevin Burrage telephone 3365 3487 Email: kb@maths.uq.edu.au, website: http://visac.uq.edu.au or Jan King at UQ Communication 0413 601 248.