VizWorld.com

CGSociety digs back into the Vault to bring us a great lengthy piece by Kieron Helsdon on the Anatomy of Explosions.

Explosions can be natural or artificial – simply defined as a sudden release of energy. This release produces a sudden expansion of the material accompanied by large changes in pressure, typically with a flash or loud noise, which is called the explosion. Explosions cause pressure waves in the local medium in which they occur. These pressure waves are called deflagrations if they are subsonic and detonations when supersonic. An example would be gunpowder in a firearm or fuel in an internal combustion engine. Deflagrations are easier to control than detonations – when the goal is to move an object (a bullet in a gun, or a piston in an engine) with the force of the expanding gas.

via CGSociety – BANG! The Anatomy of Explosions.

Graphics, Science education

Big press release from NVidia today announces the creation of 20 new CUDA Research & Teaching centers, scattered across 7 countries, all dedicated to bringing the power of GPU’s to the masses.

“Being named a CUDA Research Center is an exciting opportunity for UNM, and we really look forward to working with NVIDIA on interesting research problems that leverage the GPU-based supercomputer we are in the process of building,” said Pradeep Sen, assistant professor at the University of New Mexico.

This is in addition to the existing 350 that are already out there.  Get the full list of sites after the break.

Read more…

Science cuda, education, gpgpu, nvidia

A new program from Chico State aims to cash in on the new popularity of visualization, specifically in the pursuit of justice in the courtroom, via a new international program led by psychology professor Neil Schwartz.  Called the “Cognitive Visualization Program”, it aims to create a new breed of visualization experts learned in the methods of now just presenting information, but evoking specific emotional responses from it.  They’ve collaborated with overseas universities and established a special grant program.

From the grant, each student will receive a $12,000 stipend for the overseas portion of the program, while paying standard graduate-level tuition in the States. The debut semester, coming next fall, will kick off at University of Koblenz-Landau in Koblenz, Germany, a region with similarities to Chico, Schwartz said. The second semester will take students to University Pierre Mendès France in Grenoble, France. Then, students will come to Chico State for one year. Graduates will earn an international, double master’s degree and be known as “cognitive visualization specialists.”

Of course, this news just screams for a discussion of the ability of visualizations to manipulate data and perception, and in the courtroom that could be a dangerous mix.  How long until a death-sentence hangs on only a single visualization?

Schwartz acknowledged that knowing how to manipulate visual cognition could potentially put graduates in a coercive position. He noted that students will be encouraged to abide by a psychological code of ethics when they enter the workforce. In fact, the program will include a strand of ethics courses, he said.

via Mind matters – News – Local Stories – November 25, 2010 – Chico News & Review.

Science education

ISGTW has an article about the rise in popularity of various virtual world platforms like Second Life to replace current virtual classrooms that typically consist of little more than powerpoint slides and web forums.  The ‘virtual reality’ environments of Second Life and World of Warcraft offer significantly improved interactivity and realism, which greatly improve the student’s reactions.

“Extensive research shows that visual imagery can play a powerful role in accelerating learning. Evidence suggests that use of visual media can enhance problem-solving, motivation, understanding and the expression of ideas,” said Roger Murphy of the Visual Learning Lab at the University of Nottingham, UK.

Part of the “Immersive Education” initiative and the “Media Grid” standards group, they’re working to create a standard infrastructure to combine media delivery, storage, and networking into a unified environment for both educators and students.

via Feature – Teaching gets a Second Life.

Science education, second life, virtual worlds

At SC10 last week, I found out that the ARIN group, the American Registry for Internet Numbers,  has created a series of graphic novels to explain the transition between IPv4 and IPv6.  The failure of IPv4 to scale to current usage patterns is discussed widely, but often difficult to understand.  The graphic novel format, they’ve found, does a good job of putting the same information in an easier to understand format.

Some liberties are taken in order to present this information in comic book style, but the aspects of the story that illustrate how ARIN and its community work are taken directly from technical documents, like ARIN’s Policy Development Process, and based on the ideals and roles described in multiple RFCs.

Team ARIN is not a typical group of superheroes — they do not battle a literal enemy directly. Instead they use their powers to educate the public and facilitate community participation in the existing open, transparent, bottom-up policy process. Team ARIN presents the true mission of the “real” team ARIN, as we facilitate the open and transparent policy process, technical discussions, and act as an informational resource for the community.

Check out the 3-issue series in PDF format on their site below.

via The Adventures of Team ARIN | Team ARIN.

Graphics education, graphic novel

Anyone who’s hardcore into Second Life and other virtual worlds can tell you that the potential for instruction and education is huge.  An article over at the LA Times does the same, but visits some of the virtual environments created by the USC Institute for Creative Technologies which combines technologies like CAVE’s, Virtual Reality, and some hollywood magic to recreate some of the toughest and most challengest training scenarios to date.

Maintaining this kind of realism is key to the institute’s success, said Peter W. Singer, author of “Wired for War,” a book that examines robotic warfare. “The stuff that ICT does is really in a class of its own.”

via Technology: Computer simulation is a growing reality for instruction – latimes.com.

Science education, training

Computer Graphics is an active and exciting field, with technical papers constantly flowing through the likes of ACM and IEEE journals.  However, for an artist is can be a bit daunting, and engineers & CS majors have a library of jargon that can be a bit difficult for the unfamiliar to understand. CGChannel has begun a “CG Science For Artists” series that aims to explain some of these concepts in watered down terms for all to understand.

As a CG artist, you’ve already been exposed to a lot of technical jargon and applied many complex-sounding things in production. For example, you’ve probably used ‘Blinn’ or ‘Lambert’ shaders, but do you know what they actually are? And what is a ‘shader’ anyway?

Today’s applications and game engines have been reasonably successful at making the task of creating artwork simple enough that you don’t need to worry about the math or science, you can just be creative. But this stuff is actually good to know about. My hope is that with this information you may find yourself in a better position to solve problems in production.

via CG Science for Artists – Part 1: Real-Time and Offline Rendering | CG Channel.

Graphics, Science education

Universities in Ohio have some new toys to play with thanks to the Center for Advanced Energy Studies (CAED) and the Idaho National Laboratory (INL).  Boise State University, Idaho State University, and the University of Idaho all got a “immersive virtual reality” system that consists of a high-end computer and a 3D TV. In addition, it comes with some interesting optical tracking systems for interaction.

“Advanced visualization allows researchers to interact with and appreciate data on a different level. If a picture is worth 1,000 words then a 3D model or simulation is worth immeasurably more, from molecular modeling of proteins in cancer studies to enhanced development and testing of renewable energy technologies,” said Boise State Vice President for Research Mark Rudin. “For students the experience will bring what they’re learning dynamically to life, helping them grasp the significance of technical subjects in a unique way.”

Boise State already had people on staff for training, so hopefully these will actually wind up in some real uses soon.

Update 3:43pm: Don’t know why I originally had Ohio in the topic. Fixed.

via Boise State Given 3D Visualization System by CAES and INL for Research and Education in a Stunning Virtual World.

Science 3d, education, university

At the recent UK Visual Analytics Summer School (VASS) at Middlesex University, Simon Buckingham Shum gave a presentation on several various aspects of visualization, and managed to post most of the content on his website.

I drew on the pioneering work of two people in my talk, Bob Horn and Tim van Gelder: Bob Horn from Stanford, developer of the Turing Test Great Debate Maps, was actually able to join the event on Friday thanks to fortuitous travel to UK, and it was great to see him present some of the latest work he has been doing with his large scale information murals visually synthesising outcomes of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development backcast analysis to a sustainable 2050 as a Pathway Mural:

via Visual Analytics 2010 summer school.

Science education

AEC Infrastructure management guru at Autodesk and author of Between The Poles, Geoff Zeiss, opines on attracting and retaining design and technology professionals while the existing workforce ages.

The challenge that utilities are facing is how to attract and retain younger workers in what is becoming an increasingly competitive market place.  What I am seeing is that 3D technology can help.  The net generation is conversant with communications, media, and digital technologies and in particular have been brought up with gaming technology, PSPs, XBoxes, and Wiis. Many modern 3D design applications, which use the same 3D visualization tools that were developed for the gaming industry, provide an environment that is much more familiar and stimulating for the millennial generation, who may perceive traditional 2D design as something left over from the dark ages.  In the last few months I have come across several utilities who are finding that for this reason 3D engineering design technology can contribute to attracting and retaining younger workers.

Between The Poles | 3D Is Helping Address the Aging Workforce Challenge

Science 3d, design, education, engineering