Studio da Vinci is a visualization studio used for presentations of research work performed at ZIB. It is used for the development of methods in scientific visualization, for discussions with collaboration partners in application fields, for project presentations and for public outreach like e.g. presentations to school classes or presentations during the annual Long Night of Sciences in Berlin.

In order to achieve both, a VR presentation for small groups (4 persons) covering the field of view as widely as possible and 3D presentations for bigger groups (20 to 25 persons), we decided to use a 3D projection system (passive stereo) with a conical screen (aperture angle 140°, incline 12°, radius 4 m) that is segmented into three parts. Planning began in winter 2005/2006, rebuilding the basement began in summer 2006, installation of projection, video, and computer equipment was finished by February 2007, and a first stereoscopic wide-screen presentation took place in April 2007.

Visualization Computer
     8x AMD Quad-Core Opteron 2.7 GHz
     32 GB main memory
     2x NVIDIA QuadroPlex 2200 Model I,
     each with
       -  2 NVIDIA QuadroFX 5800
       -  1 NVIDIA Quadro Sync-G board
       -  4 output channels
     2x 250 GB system disk
     2.0 TB RAID

Visualization Cluster
     Graphics Cluster with 6 nodes,
     each constisting of
       -  2x Intel Dual-Core Xeon 5160 3.0 GHz
       -  Intel 5000X chipset
       -  16 GB main memory
       -  1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 resp Quadro FX 540+Tesla C2050
       -  2x 250 GB system disk
       -  Ultra320 SCSI Controller
       -  Dual port 4Gbit (optical) Fibre
     Channel
     Gigabit-Ethernet network
     RAID array of 6x 1.8 TB RAID systems

Warping
       -  Image distortion for conical screen, cross dissolving of image segments
          (edge blending)
       -  Hardware: 6x Silicon Optix Anyplace

 
Projection
     -  Hardware: 6x projection design F1+, single chip DLP, 1400 x 1050 pixels
        (SXGA+)
     -  Sectioning of screen: 3 segments (left, center, right), 2 images per segment
        (passive stereo)

Rear Projection
       -  Hardware: 1x projection design F1, single chip DLP, 1280 x 1024 pixels
          (SXGA)

 
Viewing
     Passive separation of stereo images: linear polarizing filters in projectors and
     viewing glasses

Foreground: members of the department, Background: results of a climate visualization