Queensland is set to develop into the virtual reality capital of Australia following the opening of a new virtual reality centre based at The University of Queensland and funded by the State Government.

The $2 million state-of-the-art educational and research Visualisation and Advanced Computation Laboratory (ViSAC) is one of three major virtual reality centres for the State, including a flight visualisation facility based at Boeing in Brisbane and a facility that began operation at the Queensland Manufacturing Institute in Brisbane in September 2001.

Based at UQ's St Lucia campus, ViSAC will support researchers at Queensland universities through the Queensland Parallel Super-computing Foundation (QPSF).

"The other major virtual reality facility in Australia is at RMIT in Victoria, and while we are using the same technology, our work environment has been set up inside our virtual reality lab, not separate to it, and this is unique in Australia," Professor Kevin Burrage said.

"Several other Queensland groups are working with smaller visualisation environments."

Professor Burrage is Director of UQ's Advanced Computational Modelling Centre (ACMC), which runs the new facility on behalf of the University and QPSF.

He said ViSAC was a computing resource which gave researchers access to visualisation tools to enhance their productivity and quality of research.

Using the technology, researchers studying subjects, such as the operation of a living human cell or the structure of complicated molecules, feel as though they are immersed inside a complex three-dimensional structure.

"This is the ideal technology for anyone working with complex models and big datasets, and it will enhance the productivity and quality of researchers' work," Professor Burrage said.

"For example, researchers at UQ's Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB) are visualising in the structure of molecules in three dimensions, which they can rotate. Using goggles they can see in stereoscopic vision complex structures. The IMB has many projects needing three-dimensional structure modelling to develop new drugs, better understand drug delivery and normal cell operation."

Professor Burrage said the ViSAC lab also provided an educational computing resource to introduce high level undergraduates to high performance computing and visualisation that was appropriate to their chosen fields and it showcased the State's computing excellence and commitment to state-of-the-art research and teaching.

Its function was to foster interactions between science and industry in the use of new technologies such as high performance computers, visualisation of complex datasets, advanced informatics, high performance modelling and software development. The facility also provided an aesthetic world-class venue for professional training and workshops.

From left: James Lever, Professor Burrage and Bob Bothof at work in the new Virtual Reality Centre (Photograph: Chris Stacey).

On this site

Go to top