Visual Interpretation and Analysis of HPC Nanostructure Models using Shared Virtual Environments

The advent of high performance computers (HPC) has allowed materials researchers to model large three-dimensional (3D) nanostructures. Properties associated with these 3D structures can be sufficiently complex where researchers can benefit from immersive virtual environments (VEs) in their analysis and interpretation of HPC model results. Because immersive VEs are expensive and not as convenient compared to the researcher’s desktop computers, desktop VE-simulators have become important for day-to-day routine analysis. Recently desktop computer graphic cards have significantly improved and consequently emphasized the use of desktop VE-simulators when analyzing large structures. In spite of these advances at the desktop, immersive VEs have continued to prove invaluable in special cases. Although both immersive VEs and desktop VEsimulators are useful, analysis is typically limited t o a single researcher. With high-speed networks, immersive VEs and desktop VE-simulators can be combined into a share collaborative workspace. Shared VE applications were created using a new API called DIVERSE. To foster collaborative development the DIVERSE API was licensed GNUGPL/LGPL. These collaborative VE applications were designed to enhance researchers’ interpretation and analysis of HPC results.