The Use of Supercomputing to Support Advanced Visualisation Technology in Superyacht Design

Jim Tabor, Tim Thompson, Alex Pedcenko, Sean McCartan

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationInternational Conference in Marine Design, 14 -15 September 2011, Coventry
Pages111-116
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2011
EventInternational Conference in Marine Design - Coventry, United Kingdom
Duration: 14 Sept 201115 Sept 2011

Conference

ConferenceInternational Conference in Marine Design
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityCoventry
Period14/09/1115/09/11

Bibliographical note

This published paper was given at the International Conference in Marine Design, 14 -15 September 2011, Coventry. Author's note: Advanced visualisation methodologies and technology from the automotive industry offer a significant opportunity for transfer of innovation to the marine industry, to support spatial awareness and enhanced immersive experience for design clients through photorealistic stereo viewing animations. There are two key challenges in the implementation of this technology, both relating to the processing time required to generate each render frame of the animation. Firstly the number of frames required for a walk through animation, given the size of the interior. Secondly, when modelling the exterior of the super-yacht in the marine environment, the vast number of polygons required to produce the sea surface.

This research represents a benchmark analysis of a HPC's rendering performance using different numbers of nodes, being compared to conventional desktop workstations currently used by the industry. The computing time required to produce an animation sequence for a super-yacht is compared. The performance and rendering capabilities of a range of CAD packages are also discussed. Both open source and industry standard CAD packages are used to create high resolution stereoscopic 3D animations that can help potential owners to fully visualise and explore their vessel as part of the client/designer design dialogue. The technology shows the potential to enhance spatial awareness in the design process, and also to be a useful tool in the ergonomic resolve of the vessels interior.

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