VizWorld.com

FiatLux Imaging, a Redmond, WA company that creates medical software, has taken the surprising step of releasing their 2D/3D Medical Scan Visualization software free to the world.

“CT and MRI scanners generate huge amounts of data every day, yet the vast majority of that data is never seen outside of the radiology suite. If it were, we believe referring physicians could make better decisions, patients could gain insight into their conditions, and the expense and inconvenience of duplicate scans could be avoided.

The software requires at least Windows XP SP2 with DirectX9.0c and .NET v3.5.  You can download it at their website.

via Free 2D/3D Advanced Visualization Software for CT and MRI Now Available From FiatLux Imaging | Reuters.

Science biomed, fiatlux, free, software

Deadline users might want to contact Prime Focus for a chance to get in on the Deadline4.0 beta, beginning soon.

The latest version, Deadline 4.0, is scheduled for a late November release and will feature improved scalability and stability, an improved Mac OSX experience, and new software support for Autodesk Maya 2010, Autodesk Softimage 2010, Avid MetaFuze, and ffmpeg. Deadline 4.0 will also include customizable themes for the user interface and will be compatible with Prime Focus Software’s upcoming Deadline iPhone application, which will be available soon after the release of Deadline 4.0.

via Prime Focus Software Seeking Beta Testers for Deadline 4.0 – BroadcastNewsroom.

Graphics beta, deadline, iphone, prime focus, software

Kitware has just announced the availability of VolView 3.2, the fantastic volume visualization suite designed for medical and scientific datasets.

VolView 3.2 is a major upgrade that provides many new features including support for loading of multiple datasets simultaneously, support for creating and applying 2D and 3D display presets, and the ability to make image measurements within a user defined contour. A simpler and easier to use interface allows for rapid navigation of the user interface.

One great thing about this release is now they offer a free 30-day trial version.  Simply fill out a quick questionnaire (the usual email address & contact info), and get a free 30-day trial to try before you buy.

If you’ve never seen VolView in action before, check out their demo video after the break.

via Kitware Inc. – leading edge, high-quality software.

Read more…

Science biomed, kitware, software, volume rendering, volview

GPU Ray-tracers, start your engines.. NVidia has just officially released the OptiX CUDA-based Real-Time Interactive Ray Tracer on their website, free.  Announced back at SIGGRAPH, there have been numerous demonstrations on various conferences and venues, but now you can try it for yourself.

Jeff Brown, NVIDIA’s GM for Professional Solutions, explains why OptiX is invaluable: “This opens the door to a new level of interactive realism. Ray tracing’s inherent parallelism makes it a perfect fit for GPU computing. The OptiX engine makes it easy for developers to exploit that power to create an exciting new class of applications. It enables critical design tasks — such as examining reflections, refractions and shadow – to be performed now in real-time.”

Of course, they claim it’s the “World’s First”, but I think the guys at Caustic, Intel‘s Larrabee , and Fryrender would argue that claim.

Go download it in the NVidia Developer’s Zone.

via nTersect Blog – NVIDIA.

Science cuda, gpgpu, library, nvidia, optix, raytracing, software

Earlier this month, Strata announced a new version of Foto3d CX with improved accuracy and several new features.  The idea of scanning physical models, reversing the traditional digital prototype to physical model pipeline, is not new and laser scanners have been around for some time.  Doing this with nothing but a run-of-the-mill digital camera intrigued me, and Strata was happy to oblige my curiosity with a version of the software to review.

Read all about it after the break.

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Graphics, Science feature, foto3d, image processing, review, software, strata

Over at FastCompany, Chris Dannen looks at the current “State of the art” in augmented reality, systems like Layar and Yelp, and is unimpressed.  Is augmented reality really going to become ubiquitous for consumers, or just a fad relegated to a few small niche areas?

How many of us agree without even knowing it? Surely lots of people have the Yelp app for iPhone, which has a pseudo-AR mode. But how many of us actually use it that new mode to find a restaurant? Sure, we try it once, or pull it out to show friends, but that’s about it; once the newness wears off, we’re back to using Yelp the same old way.

via Put Your Phone Down: Augmented Reality Is Overblown | TechWatch | Fast Company.

Hardware, Science augmented reality

Creating a fantastic world of freaks and vampires that run a traveling circus that is secretly a neutral ground between two warring tribes of vampires is no small feat, and the necessary effects to pull it off landed at Rhythm & Hues.

Tools consisted of usual R&H proprietary software: Rhythm for character animation and, in terms of choreography and the renderer, a package similar to Houdini. A lot of the atmospherics, in fact, were done in Houdini.

As usual, work was split between L.A. and India, where they are fully integrated into the pipeline and their crew shares digital assets and they video conference daily. “India supplies everything from animators to lighters to compositors. We ship all things in our pipeline back and forth. Depending on our needs, not everything will get done in India. Alexander Ribs’ [Orlando Jones] dancing shots were done by the animators in India and they videotaped themselves doing the dancing to get the hip movements right.”

Cirque du VFX and Vampires | AWN | Animation World Network.

Graphics movie, rhythm&hues, vfx

Another great visualization creation from xkcd, this time showing “Movie Narratives” for Lord of the Rings, Star Wars (Original Trilogy), Jurassic Park, 12 angry men, and Primer.  Of course the last few are mainly a joke, but the Lord of the Rings & Star Wars ones really are impressive, showing locations, battles, how the character’s parties formed and dispersed throughout the story.

xkcd – A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language – By Randall Munroe.

Graphics infographic, movie, xkcd

CGTantra has announced their November Challenge, and the results are guaranteed to be easy on the eyes.

A femme fatale (pronounced /ˌfɛm fəˈtæl/ or /ˌfɛm fəˈtɑːl/; French: [fam faˈtal], with all [a]‘s) is an alluring and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. She is an archetypal character of literature and art.

Lets show some emotion and balance in our character.Throw in a pedestal under your character for her to stand, lie or crawl on.

Full submission guidelines are available on their site.

November “Femme Fatale” Modeling/Sculpting Challenge Guidelines.. – cgTantra Forums.

Graphics character, contest, modeling

In what can only be called a true labor of love, Axel Mellinger of Central Michigan University spent 22 months and traveled over 26,000 miles to to take thousands of photos of the night sky.   Merging them all into one massive panoramic view, he has created what is quite possibly the world’s largest and highest resolution image of the night sky.  Along the way he encountered several issues with varying brightness and distortions, requiring some interesting solutions.

“Due to artificial light pollution, natural air glow, as well as sunlight scattered by dust in our solar system, it is virtually impossible to take a wide-field astronomical photograph that has a perfectly uniform background,” Mellinger said.

To fix this, Mellinger used data from the Pioneer 10 and 11 space probes. The data allowed him to distinguish star light from unwanted background light. He could then edit out the varying background light in each photograph. That way they would fit together without looking patchy.

via Chicago Journals – News.

Science astronomy, extreme, panorama, photography