Performance optimization on display wall

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Performance Optimization on Display Wall

Project by: Aaron Robinson (High Point University)
Advisor: Dr. Bruce Segee (Electrical and Computer Engineering, UMaine)

Abstract

High-resolution data visualization is used for viewing large data while maintaining finer detail. The need for high-resolution arises from the very large data sets generated by many scientific models but commercialization of such displays has already begun (CineMassive). Current methods of creating large viewing surfaces often neglect the finer detail. To create a high-resolution wall display, either multiple projectors or LCD must be arranged to create a single display. If projectors are used (LionEyes), larger viewing surfaces can be achieved with fewer displays and they can be arranged to create a single seamless wall display. If LCDs are used (Hyperwall-2), the display wall will provide higher-resolution and larger displays can be achieved at relatively low costs. However, LCDs sacrifice the seamless appearance achieved with projectors because of their bezels. Beyond the differences in physical display, there are a different approaches to how data should be displayed to the multiple displays that form a display wall. One approach is to have all the rendering done on a single machine and then pass the images to the displays (indirect rendering). The other option is to have a machine for each part of the wall display and each machine renders their own section of the display. If indirect rendering is utilized, parrelization is not an issue but the framework quickly hits a cap as the network becomes flooded. If direct rendering is used, code must be parrelized but the architecture allows for much larger displays.

The goal of my research will be to document different forms of high-resolution data visualization in use today and determine the best way to benchmark display walls given the intent of the display. The visualization wall at UMaine's Innovation Center will be tested under a number of configurations. Any software improvements which are developed while doing this research will be presented to the open source community.

Weekly Reports and Schedule

  • Week 1 (06/01-06/05):
    • SuperMe program orientation
  • Week 2 (06/08-06/12):
    • Read background information
    • Research current high-resolution data visualization displays
  • Week 3 (06/15-06/19):
    • Continuing research
    • Create project abstract
  • Week 4 (06/22-06/26):
    • Began DMX/Chromium wall configuration
    • Continuing research
  • Week 5 (06/29-07/03):
    • Continuing wall configuration
    • Continuing research
  • Week 6 (07/06-07/10):
  • Week 7 (07/13-07/17):
    • Continuing wall configuration
    • Continuing research
    • Began Rocks 4.2 + Viz Roll configuration
  • Week 8 (07/20-07/24):
    • Continuing wall configuration
    • Continuing research
    • Began Rocks 5.0 + Viz Roll configuration
  • Week 9 (07/27-07/31):
    • Continuing wall configuration
    • Continuing research
  • Week 10 (08/03-08/07):
    • Report due - Wednesday, August 5 (Paper)
    • Poster due - Thursday, August 6 (Poster)
    • Final symposium - Friday, August 7 (Presentation)

Related Links and Works

SourceForge: DMX - Also referred to as Xdmx, this provides an X proxy that communicates between multiple X servers to create a unified display.

SourceForge: Chromium - Chromium is used for interactive rendering on a graphics cluster. Specifically when coupled with DMX you create a high resolution display that has rendering capabilities.

SourceForge: Chromium Documentation - This is the documentation for Chromium. It describes how Chromium works and how to configure it.

Rocks: Viz Roll 4.2.1 Documentation - This is the first version of the Viz Roll that we tested. It lacks the rocks commands which make using Chromium, DMX and SAGE a breeze.

Rocks: Viz Roll 5.0 Documentation - This is the current version of the Viz Roll that we are researching. Using this version we have created a 2560x3072 resolution display using 6 monitors. Using this release we have gotten DMX and Chromium to work. However, we still have not gotten SAGE to work with this release.

SAGE: Scalable Adaptive Graphics Environment - "SAGE is a graphics streaming architecture for supporting collaborative scientific visualization environments". When used with other components key to streaming high-resolution visualization, it allows multiple users to work in a high-resolution interactive environment.

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