Advanced Visualization Lab
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| This article, Advanced Visualization Lab, has recently been created via the Articles for creation process. Please check to see if the reviewer has accidentally left this template after accepting the draft and take appropriate action as necessary.
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The Advanced Visualization Lab (AVL) is a team at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The AVL specializes in creating cinematic scientific visualizations of large, three-dimensional, time-evolving data. The AVL has contributed to a number of scientific documentaries including the IMAX films "A Beautiful Planet"[1] and "Hubble 3D"[2], a number of fulldome films[3], and television documentaries.
History
Cinematic visualization work at the NCSA started in 1994 under University of Illinois Art + Design Professor Donna Cox, and was formalized under the "Advanced Visualization Lab" name in 2006. Cox coined the term "Renaissance Team"[4] to describe the combination of artists, technologists, and scientists that it takes to create cinematic scientific visualizations. Unlike many visualization teams who use visualization software to create their imagery, the AVL relies primarily on visual effects tools and techniques to achieve a cinematic look[5].
As of 2020, the core AVL team members are Donna Cox (director), Robert Patterson (designer), Stuart Levy (senior programmer), Kalina Borkiewicz (senior programmer), AJ Christensen (designer), and Jeff Carpenter (multimedia specialist)[6]. Past team members include Gretchen Hall and Alex Betts.
Work
Below is a selection of documentary films that the Advanced Visualization Lab has contributed to and/or co-produced:
- 1996: "Cosmic Voyage"
- 2000: "Passport to the Universe"
- 2006: "Black Holes: The Other Side of Infinity"
- 2010: "Life: A Cosmic Voyage"
- 2010: "Hubble 3D"
- 2011: "Tree of Life"
- 2012: "Dynamic Earth"
- 2012: "Space Junk"
- 2015: "Solar Superstorms" [7][8]
- 2016: "SuperTornado: Anatomy of a MegaDisaster"
- 2016: "A Beautiful Planet"
- 2017: "Seeing the Beginning of Time"
- 2018: "The Jupiter Enigma"
- 2018: "Imagine the Moon" for Chicago's Adler Planetarium
- 2019: "Birth of Planet Earth"[9]
In 2015-2019, the AVL created a number of visualizations as part of the National Science Foundation funded grant, CADENS[10]. This grant resulted in three fulldome documentaries, nine flat-screen documentaries, and a number of making-of documentaries for international television and streaming.
Awards
Selection of recent awards and film festival selections for individual visualizations:
- 2017: ACM/IEEE Supercomputing Conference, "First Light in the Renaissance: Formation of the Very First Stars in the Universe" (1st Place Best Scientific Visualization)
- 2017: ACM/IEEE Supercomputing Conference, "Milky Way Analogue Isolated Disk Galaxy" (2nd Place Best Scientific Visualization)
- 2019: ACM/IEEE Supercomputing Conference, "An Accessible Visual Narrative for the Primary Energy Source of Life from the Fulldome Show Birth of Planet Earth" (1st Place Best Scientific Visualization)
- 2019: SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater, for "Photosynthesis in a Chromatophore"
- 2019: SIGGRAPH Asia Electronic Theater, for "Photosynthesis in a Chromatophore"
- 2019: SIGGRAPH Asia Computer Animation Festival, for "The Collision that Formed the Moon"
Selection of recent awards and film festival selections for AVL co-produced documentaries:
- 2015: Espinho Fulldome Festival, "Solar Superstorms" (Award Winner)
- 2016: Jena Fulldome Festival, "Solar Superstorms" (Award Winner)
- 2016: IPS Brno Fulldome Festival, "Solar Superstorms" (Audience Award)
- 2016: Gwacheon International Film Festival, "Solar Superstorms"
- 2016: SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater, "Solar Superstorms"
- 2017: Astra Film Festival, "Solar Superstorms"
- 2018: Macon Film Festival, "Solar Superstorms"
- 2018: Beijing Film Festival, "Solar Superstorms" (Annual Dome Film Award)
- 2019: IPS Brno Fulldome Festival, "Birth of Planet Earth" (Director's Award)
- 2019: Reflections of the Universe Fulldome Festival, "Birth of Planet Earth" (Best Astronomical Visualizations Award)
- 2019: Macon Film Festival, "Birth of Planet Earth"
- 2019: Astra Film Festival, "Birth of Planet Earth"
- 2019: Immersive Film Festival, "Birth of Planet Earth"
- 2019: DTLA Film Festival, "Birth of Planet Earth" (Best Educational Dome Film)
- 2019: Immersive Cinema Festival IFF, "Birth of Planet Earth" (Award Winner)
- 2020: Dome Under Festival, "Birth of Planet Earth"
- 2020: Korean Fulldome Festival, "Birth of Planet Earth"
References
- ^ http://www.smilepolitely.com/splog/ncsa_enabled_imax_movie_a_beautiful_planet_premiering_at_savoy_16_may_1st/
- ^ https://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-01/advanced-visualization-lab/
- ^ https://www.fddb.org/organizations/advanced-visualization-lab-at-the-national-center-for-supercomputing-applications
- ^ 1988. "Renaissance Teams and Scientific Visualization: A Convergence of Art and Science". In: Collaboration in Computer Graphics Education, SIGGRAPH 88 Educator's Workshop Proceedings, D. Cox, August 1–5, 1988, p. 81 - 104;
- ^ https://www.sidefx.com/community/advanced-visualization-lab-avl-houdini-connect/
- ^ https://www.hpcwire.com/off-the-wire/ncsas-donna-j-cox-honored-with-rare-ips-technology-innovation-award/
- ^ https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=135550
- ^ Rubin, J. (2015, March). Visualizing the Data. Planetarian, 44(1), 12-16. Retrieved September 10, 2020, from https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.ips-planetarium.org/resource/resmgr/planetarian/201503planetarian.pdf
- ^ https://www.hpcwire.com/off-the-wire/ncsa-visualization-team-co-produces-birth-of-planet-earth/
- ^ https://www.news-gazette.com/news/1-5-million-grant-to-ncsa-to-put-big-data-on-big-screen/article_eae796d9-a5a6-541d-b28b-04f47347cb17.html
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