W.M. Keck Center for Active Visualization in the Earth Sciences at UC Davis

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The following movies show prototypical visualization applications currently under development at KeckCAVES. All movies were captured with a tripod-mounted video camcorder and show the 3D models displayed in the CAVE from the camcorder's point of view. Stereo projection was disabled to minimize flickering in the movies, and the person in the CAVE did not see the 3D models from the correct point of view. The movies were cut using Adobe Premiere, but not manipulated in any other way.

A Geoscientist's Perspective on Immersive 3D Gridded Data Visualization: MP4, 75MB
Visualizer Software in a CAVE. This video illustrates the features of the visualizer software that aid geoscientists to efficiently and effectively anaylize 3d gridded data using an immersive VR environment. (A smaller version of the movie MP4, 15MB)

Interactive visualization program for 3D gridded data: MPEG-1, 29MB
Exploring model of seismic wave velocities in the Earth's mantle using an interactive visualization program for 3D gridded data. The visualized data set was provided by Barbara Romanowicz of the UC Berkeley Seismological Lab. (Note: The movie is a relatively rough cut.)

Multiresolution terrain visualization program: MPEG-1, 24MB
Exploring a model of the Lake Tahoe basin using a multiresolution terrain visualization program. The visualized data is a combination of a 10m-resolution digital elevation map provided by the US Geological Survey, and a 1m-resolution color image provided by the commercial IKONOS earth observation satellite.

High-resolution tripod LiDAR laser scan: MPEG-1, 27MB
Exploring and analyzing a high-resolution tripod LiDAR laser scan of the UC Davis water tower and Mondavi Center using a multiresolution point set visualization program. The visualized point set contains about 4.7 million 3D points with intensity values that randomly sample all surfaces in the scanned area. The program uses a 3D paint brush interface to allow a user to select subsets of points and extract geometrical properties of those subsets, such as plane equations. The visualized data set was provided by Gerald Bawden of the US Geological Survey.

Nanotech Construction Kit: MPEG-1, 25MB
Using the Nanotech Construction Kit to create a Buckyball (C-60 Buckminsterfullerene) from scratch, one atom at a time. Each triangle represents a single carbon atom. This second movie, MPEG-1, 17MB, shows the same process from the point of view of a user, in a two-handed responsive workbench environment. As a side note, creating the Buckyball in the two-handed VR environment using proper stereoscopic projection took about 2:30 minutes; creating the same Buckyball in the one-handed CAVE (with stereo disabled for video capture) took about 8:30 minutes (the movie shows only a few excerpts).

VR version of ProtoShop: MPEG-1, 22MB
Manipulating a protein model using the VR version of ProtoShop. The visualized protein was created from scratch, by defining a "random" amino acid sequence, creating secondary structures, and assembling the structures into a barrel shape manually.

A Geoscientist's Perspective on Immersive 3D Gridded Data Visualization: MP4, 11MB
Visualizer Software on a Lap-top Computer. While Visualizer was originally designed for VR environments, it is also a flexible and effective tool for exploring 3D gridded data on a desktop or lap-top computer.

A Geoscience Perspective on Immersive 3D Gridded Data Visualization: Microbialite Application: MP4, 45MB
Intricate 3D sturctures can be easily characterized in immersive environments. Here we demonstrate analysis of a rock composed of black organic inclusions and white calcite.

Fun with Volumes and Isosurfaces: MP4, 34MB
Featuring Oliver, Dawn, and Virtual Microbialites in the UC Davis KeckCAVES