CHAMPAIGN, Ill.-- In space galaxies collide over billions of years.
Visitors to SIGGRAPH '96 August 4-9 in New Orleans could watch it in less
than four minutes. The National Center for Supercomputing Application's
(NCSA) three-and-a-half minute excerpt from Cosmic Voyage, an IMAX movie
that takes audiences on a journey from quarks to galaxies, was selected to
the SIGGRAPH Film and Video Show, the Academy Awards of computer animation.

  Narration for the special clip of galaxies condensing and colliding was
written by NCSA's Donna Cox, associate director for scientific visualization
for Cosmic Voyage and art director for the segment, Robert Patterson, NCSA
visualization and virtual environment designer, and Frank Summers, Princeton
scientist. The excerpt simulates the gravitational interplay between 2
million galactic particles, something undreamed of until the age of
supercomputing.

  The research led to the development of a virtual reality tool to control
the computer graphics camera that has changed the future of computer
animation.

COMPUTING THE UNIVERSE

  Today the power of supercomputing and visualization technology are
providing a unique look into the mysteries of the universe -- its birth,
development and continuing evolution.

  Cosmic Voyage is a visual story about the relative sizes of things in the
universe. But it is also a testimony to the scientific ability of today's
technology and a promise of its future. The film, which opens Aug. 9 at
the National Air & Space Museum in Washington DC, has two of the largest
and best astronomical simulations ever done. Close to 15 minutes of the
35-minute film are original computer animation.

  "This IMAX film is the first ever to contain this much computational
science and observational data as well as work from major Hollywood
computer graphics experts," said Cox, who is also a University of Illinois
professor of art and design. "Fourteen minutes of 4,000 pixel high-resolution
IMAX computer graphics is unheard of in the industry...this film is on the
cutting edge of IMAX film-making, technology, science and edutainment."

  The animation was made possible through a major collaboration. Cox
orchestrated the joint effort between Pixar Animation Studios (creators of
Toy Story), Princeton University, the University of California at Santa
Cruz (UCSC), NCSA, Santa Barbara Studios, Electronic Visualization Lab
(EVL) at University of Illinois at Chicago and the San Diego Supercomputer
Center (SDSC).

  Together they produced simulations taking viewers through the evolution of
the universe. The SIGGRAPH excerpt includes two supercomputer simulations.
The first simulation represents two billion years in the early universe
when matter condensed along filaments that formed galaxies. It was created
by Summers and simulated and visualized on NCSA's supercomputer, the SGI
POWER CHALLENGEarray. The second simulation representing the collision and
merger of two spiral galaxies was developed at UCSC, simulated at SDSC and
visualized at NCSA.

  "The simulations and visualizations were much more of a supercomputing,
mass storage and networking problem than anyone envisioned it would be," Cox
said. "This project moved from a Hollywood production to a major
supercomputer/mass store challenge."

FROM CYBERSPACE TO OUTER SPACE

  The simulations generated over 150 gigabytes of raw data; visualization
technology transformed that data into 100 gigabytes of meaningful and
realistic high-resolution images.

  The Star Renderer, developed by PIXAR senior research scientist Loren
Carpenter, efficiently created realistic images that resemble Hubble
photographs from the data sets. Erik Wesselak, NCSA visualization software
programmer, developed the interface between the data sets and the PIXAR
Star Renderer.

  To visualize the simulations, NCSA researchers Patterson and Cox conceived
and designed the Virtual Director. EVL virtual environment research
programmer Marcus Thiebaux designed and developed the Virtual Director
software. It allowed Patterson to choreograph a visual path through data
displayed visually in NCSA's CAVE, a surround-screen, surround-sound,
projection-based virtual reality (VR) system that allows total immersion in
3D computer graphics.

  "Instead of typing, clicking and dragging, the Virtual Director allows you
to use voice commands and a spatially tracked wand to fly around the galaxies
and position the virtual camera," Patterson said. "Using the Virtual Director
in the CAVE provides a more intuitive and creative environment than the
standard desktop interface." This was the first time VR has been used to
choreograph the camera motion for an IMAX film.