Portal Environment & Capabilities

The Visualization Portal and facilities like it are commonly referred to as virtual reality rooms or immersive environments. The term 'virtual reality' was coined in 1989 by Jaron Lanier (founder of VPL Research) and referred to the ability to immerse a person in an artificial, computer-generated, three-dimensional world. A variety of methods of achieving immersion have been developed, each with inherent strengths and weaknesses. The spherical screen used in the Portal offers a good balance between immersion (it provides a moderate amount) and visibility for a larger audience (up to 45 people).

Along with the large spherical screen, the Portal offers high performance computing for running and displaying large datasets. These two elements - top notch display and computing technologies - are key to successfully displaying a diverse set of models and applications that showcase ongoing research at UCLA. And for the Portal to continue to be successful it is necessary to keep both up to date.

The computing infrastructure has already undergone one major upgrade, and the next one currently being research and planned. The display system will undergo its first major upgrade in Winter 2004 with new projectors and control systems. This will result in images that are clearer, brighter and have better color integrity than are currently possible in the Portal.

Integrated Virtual Reality Display

The key element of the Visualization Portal is an immersive virtual reality display. The system uses three ceiling-mounted projectors to display images on the 160 x 40-degree spherical screen (24 feet in diameter, 8 1/2 feet high). This allows up to three simultaneous images (up to 1280 x 1024 pixels each) to be displayed - for example one video- taped image, a PowerPoint presentation, and a computer simulation. A single image can be created across all three screens by overlapping the three images and blending the edges together, resulting in a 3520 x 1024 pixel seamless display.

Stereo 3-D Visualization

The Portal supports the display of 3-D objects and virtual environments using active stereo equipment from StereoGraphics, Inc. This type of technology has been successfully used for many years in diverse fields and has proved invaluable for UCLA researchers in Astronomy, Chemistry, Plasma Physics and other disciplines.

System Control

Equipment to control lighting, sound, computers, video, and networking is housed in the Portal's control room. An SGI Origin 3400 is available for presentations in the Portal as well as for development work in the lab. Auxiliary computers, VCRs, sound equipment, and teleconferencing units can be moved to the Portal floor. Communication between the control room and the Portal is possible via an area microphone and sliding window.

Computing

The primary computer used in the Portal is an SGI Origin 3400, with three graphics pipes and 12 processors. Each graphics pipe has 1 GB of memory dedicated for textures, and the system has 6 GB of main memory. The SGI offers a good balance between raw computing power, the ability to process complex graphics, and the quality of the output displayed on the screen. It uses proprietary technologies.

The Portal also has standard Microsoft Windows and Apple OS X-based machines for web browsing, PowerPoint slide shows, and other tasks. They have the ability to drive all three of the Portal projectors but at this point the separate screens can't be blended into a single image using these machines.

Experimentation continues with "clustered" solutions that use off-the-shelf PCs. The advantages over proprietary technologies are the rapid advances in speed - both primary processing (CPU) and graphics processing - and much lower costs. But those advantages come with a price. It is much more complex to run the same application and data on many separate computers and to keep the separate machines synchronized while running a complex dataset.

Connectivity

All of the Portal's networking equipment is managed with a Cisco gigabit switch and router. Access from the Portal to remote sites is achieved via the ATS gigabit connection to the campus backbone network and to the CalREN and Abilene 10-gigabit networks for off-campus connections.

The SGI Origin uses dedicated fiber to carry its video, serial ports, keyboard and mouse using Lantronix VDE technology. While the fiber run is only about 50 meters, it's possible to send these signals with no noticeable latency for distance of up to 10,000 meters.

Portal Layout

The Portal space is designed with maximum flexibility to support a wide variety of uses. Seating can be arranged for an intimate experience of up to 24 guests, or expanded to accommodate 45 guests for a lecture or presentation. A conference table can be placed up front for collaborative work sessions or in the rear for discussions after a presentation. The space can also accommodate a small theater presentation in which the immersive zone becomes an open stage with the audience looking in.

Lighting and Sound

Quality lighting and sound were critical elements in the design of the Portal. Color and lighting are used to minimize reflection on the screen. Acoustical treatment of the walls and ceiling help attenuate the sound reflected from the hard spherical surface. Voice amplification is separate from the 5/1 surround sound. Assistive listening is provided for people with disabilities.

Sonification of Models

An area of ongoing research is learning how adding sound to various models can aid both researchers and audiences who view those models. ATS is using a sophisticated Sound Server that communicates with vrNav and can play an appropriate sound based on the position inside a given model. The sound intensity behaves much as one would expect in the real world, sounding louder as one gets closer to the source and softer as one moves away.

This has been used with great success in an architectural model of a medieval basilica, Santiago de Compostela, allowing one to experience what the Cathedral might have sounded like, as well as what it might have looked like in the early 13th century.

Visit the Portal

The Visualization Portal is an entryway into much of the research and instruction being done at UCLA. It is both a research tool, in which people can develop their work, and a presentation facility which can be used to most dramatically present that work. In the Portal, audiences can hear, see and otherwise experience information through a theater that was designed to highlight and enhance the presentation of information.

The Visualization Portal supports a range of applications and disciplines. Researchers have made these available for demonstration of the Portal's capabilities. Thursday sessions are informal, and depending on the audience size we can customize the presentation to your interests. Reservations required, see our events page to RSVP to an upcoming Informal demo.

Outside Groups: The purpose of the Visualization Portal is to support UCLA Research and Education. We receive numerous requests for visits from K-12 classes and other visitors, unfortunately we do not have the resources to support all of these requests. Thanks to generous support from the Steinmetz Foundation, the Experiential Technologies Center (ETC) is able to host a limited number of educational outreach events per quarter. ATS will also support requests initiated by UCLA faculty members who are working directly with K-12 teachers supporting their curriculum. Thank you for your interest. If you are interested in bringing a class or group to the portal, you may send a request to events@ats.ucla.edu; we will add your name to our waiting list. 

For directions to the Portal, see: http://www.ats.ucla.edu/location.htm

NOTE: Photos are routinely taken in the Portal. If you do not want to be part of these photos, please notify the photographer or the person doing the Portal demonstration.