| |||||||||||||
|
LSU RESEARCH is a member of the University Research Magazine Association. Visit www.urma.org. |
COMPUTING
POWER FOR THE ARTS
Nemeaux, a cluster of 24 Apple Xserve G5 machines, will enable Tebbut’s students to render their designs in a significantly shorter time: 15 minutes. Purchased with a $114,000 grant from the Louisiana Board of Regents, the Nemeaux cluster will be used primarily for creative and research projects in the computational arts, including animation rendering, video compositing, and network-based digital audio. The Laboratory for Creative Arts & Technologies (LCAT), a division of LSU’s Center for Computation & Technology (CCT), plans to use current rendering systems in conjunction with the SuperMike cluster to create a range of computational options. Through rendering, students are able to translate a set of computer data and virtual objects into a full visual representation of those objects. “Nemeaux will enhance the work and experience of students like never before,” says Stephen David Beck, LCAT director and professor of composition and computer music in the School of Music. “The increased speed and decreased rendering times will allow students to perform more work and increase productivity. We finally have the resources we need for heavy-duty computing in the arts.” Though the new cluster is well-suited for application in computer animation, it will be a valuable research tool for other areas as well. Students will be able to engage in research on computational aspects of music, video, film, and art, while collaborating with top researchers in grid computing, scientific visualization, and human-computer interface. With a cluster this powerful, there are numerous unknown applications as yet that researchers will be able to explore. “Someone like Philip Tebbut would benefit greatly because his students will be able to become more involved with the computational part of their work. They will now have the tools to develop those skills,” says Stacey Simmons, LCAT assistant director.
ON
THE WEB: from Fall 2004
|
||||||||||||
When
LSU’s Ruth Z. McCoy Professor of Interior Design, Phillip
Tebbut, tells his students to render their designs, they usually
don’t expect to see their completed renderings of restaurant
and commercial building interiors on their computer screens until
the next day. That is all about to change thanks to a new computing
cluster. 
These
advances couldn’t come at a better time for LCAT, as Baton
Rouge will be hosting an animation festival in the spring of 2005.
The Red Stick International Animation Festival will showcase a
variety of technologically created art forms and allow those in
the field many opportunities to make connections. Workshops, screenings,
and lectures by speakers from such notable companies as Pixar
Studios will be housed at the Shaw Center for the Arts in downtown
Baton Rouge. Thanks to Nemeaux, LSU students will be able to take
their inspiration derived from the festival back to the lab and
make an impressive showing of their own.