3D Viz for Molecular Model

Fakespace Systems Inc. announced that it provided a PowerWallT to the First Regional Visualization Center in North Wales, United Kingdom. The University of Wales, Bangor now features a state of the art large-scale immersive display that will be used to drive new discoveries in molecular modeling and materials and life sciences.

The Molecular Modeling and Visualization Center was established at the University of Wales, Bangor Chemistry School with the goal of attracting world class researchers and specialist materials companies to the region. The six foot by seven foot stereoscopic wall display will help researchers at the School of Chemistry better understand problems in molecular and materials modeling and quantum mechanical research.

With virtual reality, or immersive visualization, researchers get a whole new perspective on their data compared to what can be achieved on a small 2D screen, such as a computer monitor. Using the visualization center, chemists from the University and industry will gain deeper insights into the properties and performance of different materials, without actually having to experiment on the materials themselves.

The models and simulations viewed on the Fakespace PowerWall are created using Accelrys Materials Studio software and a number of custom written applications. The data are then transferred to Amira software which drives the visualization graphics. The large-scale display provides a sense of data immersion so that researchers can actually observe properties and characteristics from inside and in-between molecules in a virtual quantum world.

“We are very excited to offer our facility for use by outside organizations which can benefit from computational study and the prediction of structure and properties of molecules and molecular materials,” said Dr Maher Kalaji, head of the School of Chemistry at the University of Wales, Bangor. “The large-scale screen and 3D capability facilitate a huge leap in the way that we visualize and understand molecular structures and interactions.”

The Fakespace PowerWall is a flat, large-scale stereoscopic visualization system designed for collaborative work and compelling presentations. It provides a bright 3D display for working with highly accurate detailed models. A slightly different image for the right and left eye creates a true stereoscopic effect and motion tracking intensifies the sense of reality by changing the perspective of the model being viewed depending on the position of the viewer.

“Fakespace works with researchers and designers all over the world to provide visualization environments that meet their specific needs,” said Richard Cashmore, Business Manager for Fakespace Systems Europe. “The display at the University of Wales, Bangor is particularly effective for teaching, and research and development collaboration, and potentially provides a much deeper understanding of the shape of molecular structures and how they can change.”

The immersive display system is powered by a custom designed computing cluster server, with 16 dual Opteron processors running Linux. The solution provider, Gaia Technologies Plc., used Infiniband for communication between servers and provided a two terabyte expandable storage area network for the center.

The visualization center was funded by The Welsh European Funding Office (WEFO) through the ERDF program with match funding from a number of partner organizations including Accelrys Plc, Gaia Technologies Plc, Welsh Assembly Government (WAG), The Sir William Ramsay Memorial Trust and The University of Wales Bangor.

In addition to university and industry research the Molecular Modeling and Visualization Center also provides support to the North Wales Optoelectonics project, OpTIC, and will be used in collaboration with a number of other evolving North Wales research facilities such as the Center for Advanced Software Technologies also located in Bangor and The Wales Center for Visualization at Aberystwyth in West Wales.