ACADEMIA

Fakespace Systems Inc. today announced it has been awarded the contract to upgrade the C6, a six-sided virtual reality room at Iowa State University’s Virtual Reality Applications Center (VRAC). Fakespace will apply the latest generation of stereoscopic projection technology and its integration expertise to create an environment supporting the display of simulations generated by a cluster-based computing system at the unprecedented resolution of 100 million pixels. The C6 at Iowa State originally opened in June 2000, and was installed at that time by Fakespace’s parent company, Mechdyne Corporation. “Fakespace already provided us with a prototype wall to review and the brightness and clarity is stunning,” said James Oliver, the director of Iowa State’s Virtual Reality Applications Center and a professor of mechanical engineering. “The university chose Fakespace to build the system because of the company’s long track record of success in creating some of the most advanced VR environments.” The C6 was originally equipped with CRT-based projection technology that displayed a resolution of 1024 x 1024 on each of the 10-ft. x 10- ft. walls, ceiling and floor. The total resolution of the six walls was 6.3 million pixels. The upgrade will increase the resolution on each wall to 4096 x 4096 pixels, increasing the image clarity more than 16 times. The total overall resolution will be more than 100.6 million pixels. An incredible 34.1 pixels per inch will produce detail and realism never before experienced in a surround screen virtual environment. Most virtual reality rooms in the world offer less than nine pixels per inch. “We are pleased that Iowa State recognized our ability to deliver the world’s most advanced visualization technology,” said Chris Clover, CEO of Mechdyne Corporation. “Immersive viewing at the unprecedented scale that the upgraded facility will provide is likely to reveal significant discoveries in engineering, genetics, urban planning and control of unmanned aerial vehicles. The facility will enhance the university’s international reputation as one of the world’s finest research centers.” Twenty-four of the latest Sony SXRD 4K digital large-venue projectors will be used to create the intense stereoscopic imagery. These projectors produce an amazing 4096 x 2160 pixels, which is four times the resolution of advanced digital projectors that are currently in use in some movie theaters. Fakespace will have to precisely overlap and blend the images from each projector to create seamless, high-resolution 3D imagery. As a point of comparison, the highest resolution HDTV systems available for home use are 1920 x 1080 resolution. More than 100 HD resolution projectors would be required to fill the screens of the Iowa State C6 in order to create the clarity of the Sony projectors. Fakespace demonstrated a prototype of one C6 wall, creating a 10-ft. x 10-ft. stereoscopic display during VRAC’s Human Computer Interaction Forum in April. A cluster of forty-nine HP xw9300 workstations, each with dual processors and dual GPUs, will drive the display graphics. The cluster will be configured and installed by Fakespace sister company VRCO Inc., another division of Mechdyne Corporation. Planning for the upgrade has already begun. While the facility is expected to reopen in the fall of 2006, the grand opening is expected in spring of 2007.