in der Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft

Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC)

RAPS-VR

Virtual Reality Module for RAPS

In addition to the X-window based visualization routines, a real 3D stereoscopic render module was attached to the finite-element postprocessor RAPS. Because of the modular structure of RAPS, which separates the finite-element-postprocessing routines from the visualization part, the development of the VR-specific visualization was possible without modifying the RAPS sourcecode. Several features are included in the VR-module.

Virtual Reality Visualization

Implementation with pure OpenGL: maximum performance and compatibility Stereoscopy: real 3D visualization with active shutter glasses Head-tracking: correct, viewpoint-dependent rendering of the scene Multiple displays: support for 2-sided, large-screen workbenches Graphical user interface: QT based GUI for controlling the graphical output Lightsourcing: different types of light sources available: light with fix position, tracked headlight and tracked spotlight Animation (3.2MB): visualization of time-dependent data

OpenGL visualization with lighting Raps VR-Visualization-GUI

3D Interaction

For a fast and intuitive manipulation of the data, tracked 3D input devices based on the Polhemus Fastrak hardware are connected to the visualization:

Stylus: tracked 3D pen for translating and rotating the scene 3D-Cube: tracked cube with 9 degrees of freedom, for positioning of clipping planes Additional Sensors: for special operations, e.g. for moving around the spotlight	RAPS on the workbench Tracked 3D-cube and analog/digital converter

Software Architecture

H. Zilken