Special Relativistic Visualization - The State of the Art
Speaker: Don Black, Digital ChoreoGraphics
When: 2008-03-14 11:00:00
Venue: 78-420
Host: John Williams
Abstract:Scientific Visualization is finally coming of age, thanks to the
cost-effective graphics card technology spurred by the video game
marketplace. It is now possible to generate computer visualizations
of esoteric and mathematical concepts heretofore beyond the ken of
the human eye. An extraordinary example is the visualization of
objects moving past the observer at relativistic velocities -
velocities near the speed of light where objects shrink and time
slows down. What would they look like....?
Don V Black will present some 30 minutes of Computer Generated
animation sequences representing the State-of-the-art in the field
of Scientific Visualization of Relativistically Moving Objects. Don
will briefly discuss New and Exotic Theories of Physics such as
"Large Extra Dimensions" (LXD) as they relate to Visualization, and
the Special and General Theories of Relativity as they are projected
before you for your edificaton and amusement.
This presentation is an 'outtake' of Don's research into
"Visualizing Non-Intuitive Physical Phenomena" at UCI. As a result
of this research, "new" physics will be able to be explored in a
virtual laboratory on the desktop. The animation sequences are
outtakes of SIGGRAPH and other Computer Graphics and Visualization
conferences held over the last few years. In addition to the
animations of Dr Daniel Weiskopf, Corvin Zahn and Andrew Hamilton,
Don will provide a non-mathematical overview of Einstein's Theory of
Relativity and the field of Relativistic Visualization.
Biography:Don V Black is currently owner and director of Digital
ChoreoGraphics, a computer graphics software development firm
specializing in visualization, Chairman of the IEEE Orange County
Computer Society and a graduate student in the School of Information
and Computer Science at UC -Irvine. Don did his undergraduate work
at North Carolina State University (NCSU), and then accepted a
position with the Computer Center at the University of North
Carolina - Chapel Hill (UNC-CH), supporting the Triangle
Universities Computation Center (TUCC) interactive computer graphics
systems.
In 1976, Don joined the microcomputer renaissance when he founded
Digital ChoreoGraphics, a software firm specializing in interactive
computer graphics for the microcomputer. Digital ChoreoGraphics
developed a number of commercial animation, CAD, and visualization
products including EAGER 3D, ProductOne, SnapShot, Animage, Floor
Visions, Splash!, and PlanScape.
Since that time, Don has indulged a life long dream to study
Physics, and enrolled in the Visual Computing graduate program at
the School Of Information and Computer Science at UCI. He is now
involved in the research necessary to develop his thesis:
"Visualization of Non-Intuitive Physical Phenomena". More
information about this research can be found here:
http://www.HyperVisualization.com
Type: IEEE Computer Society Seminar
Contact:John Williams, seminar host (jwilliams@itee.uq.edu.au)
or Guido Governatori (ITEE seminar co-ordinator)
(guido@itee.uq.edu.au)