EDM Studio Inc. - Discovery Theatre

CSIRO, the Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organization, performs applied research in areas of economic or social value to Australia. The Discovery Centre showcases CSIRO research in such diverse areas as agriculture, minerals and energy, manufacturing, communications, construction, health and the environment.

Discovery is home to the Nortel Networks VR Theatre, a large two-screen real-time rendered immersive virtual environment crafted by the Australian National University Supercomputer Facility Vizlab.

Vizlab staffer and EDM Studio partner Darran Edmundson was the project coordinator of the 7-minute Discovery Centre exhibit, responsible for gathering source material, script writing, overall design (art direction), and animation along with Freelance modeler Karen McCann. Vizlab's Stuart Ramsden burned the proverbial candle writing the playback system while Vizlab head Drew Whitehouse provided tweaks to his low-level C++ rendering engine, helped out with matte paintings on demand and generally kept a watchful eye.

It is worth noting that this exhibit was commissioned in early 2000 and ran four (2 left-eye, 2 right-eye) screens off of a single high-end PC. In the intervening years, graphics technology has continued to progress at a tremendous rate.