IDIA
Visualisation
Laboratory
Research in visualisation, analysis and methods

Latest News

Announcing the Public Release of the iDaVIE Virtual Reality software!
IDIA and the Department of Astronomy at the University of Cape Town (UCT) are proud to announce the first public release of the innovative iDaVIE software by the IDIA Vislab. This milestone marks a significant advancement in astronomy data visualisation and analysis, offering researchers a powerful tool to enhance their work using Virtual Reality.
Click the image for the full press release, including additional graphics.
IDIA Vislab on Carte Blanche!
The South African investigative journalism TV series, Carte Blanche features a segment on the MeerKAT radio telescope (Airdate Sunday 16 May 2021), including interviews with IDIA Vislab Head Developer Dr Angus Comrie and Vislab Director Prof. Tom Jarrett. In the subsegment here, Tom and Angus discuss and demonstrate some of the Vislab's research into VR visualisations. Find the full MeerKAT feature in the Gallery Virtual Reality videos or click here (video credit: MNET)
Read about our Vislab in Jarrett et al. (2021)
In Jarrett et al. 2021, we present development and results from custom-built interactive VR tools that are informed and driven by research on galaxy evolution, cosmic web large-scale structure, galaxy-galaxy interactions, and gas/kinematics of nearby galaxies in survey and targeted observations. Click the image to to see the paper.
Recent Talk: Alex Sivitilli
"Infinity within Reach: Exploring the Role of Visualization Tools in Astronomy"
IDIA Vislab PhD student Alex Sivitilli presents his PhD research at the UW Reality Lab (Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering). During his talk, he discussed how astronomers can use Virtual Reality to visualize and interact with volumetric data sets. Click image to see the original tweet and image posted by UW Reality Lab.
Recent Talk: Tom Jarrett
The iDaVIE Software Suite
Vislab Director Tom Jarrett gives a talk at Virginaia Tech University on discoveries made using the iDaVIE software suite. iDaVIE has been built by the Vislab to visualise and interact with multidimensional data within a volumetric cube in virtual reality space. Click image to find out more.

About The Vislab

Ongoing Research
(See Research for details)
Multiband mosaic image of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster from the WISE Extended Source Catalogue (WXSC, Jarrett et al. 2019).
Ongoing Research (See Gallery for details):
From the Iziko Planetarium and Digital Dome, the cosmic web of the local universe, galaxy groups highlighted with spheres.
Ongoing Research (See Research for paper details):
Lambert et al (2020) uses cutting-edge visualisation techniques in the Vislab to interrogate galaxy group substructures in a new galaxy group catalogue for the recently-completed 2MASS Redshift Survey
Ongoing Research (See Gallery for details):
From the Iziko Planetarium and Digital Dome, cosmological simulations of the Universe, with particle motion vectors
Ongoing Research (See Gallery for details):
Volumetric Rendering of a mouse brain in the Iziko Planetarium and Digital Dome
Ongoing Research (See Gallery for details):
Visualising Andromeda using the Cobra Panorama
Ongoing Research (See Gallery for details):
Experimentation with Virtual Reality visualisation
Ongoing Research (See Research for details):
The LMC from the The WISE Extended Source Catalogue (WXSC, Jarrett et al. 2019)
Ongoing Research (See Gallery for details):
The Iziko Planetarium and Digital Dome as a powerful Educational Tool
Ongoing Research (See Gallery for details):
Visualising Big Data using high-resolution video wall WALIE
Ongoing Research (See Research for details):
The SMC from the The WISE Extended Source Catalogue (WXSC, Jarrett et al. 2019)
Ongoing Research (See Gallery for details):
From the control desk of the Iziko Planetarium and Digital Dome, the 2MASS Galaxy Redshift Catalogue
New Paper! Marichetti et al. (2020)
In Marchetti et al. 2020, we present the beta release of iDaVIE-v, a new Virtual Reality software for data cube exploration.
New Paper! Naluminsa et al. (2021)
Naluminsa et al. 2021 presents the global scaling relations between the neutral atomic hydrogen gas, the stellar disk and the star forming disk in a sample of 228 nearby galaxies that are both spatially and spectrally resolved in HI line emission.
New Paper! Yao et al. (2020)
Yao et al. 2020 present a detailed study of emission-line systems in the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) G23 region, making use of Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) photometry that includes carefully measured resolved sources. Click the image to read more.
New Paper! Bok et al. (2020)
Using mid-infrared star formation rate and stellar mass indicators in WISE,
‍Bok et al. 2020 construct and contrast the relation between star formation rate and stellar mass for isolated and paired galaxies.
New Planetarium Film! Rising Star
(24 minutes, VR or Fulldome, 4K or 8K unidirectional) Rising Star takes you on an astronomical journey from our beginnings through the development of astronomy research in South Africa and looks at what the future of astronomy holds for the country.
Click here or contact the Vislab for more details.
New Papers Released! 
Jarrett et al (2020) and Marchetti et al (2020)
 VR research conducted by the IDIA VisLab
and the beta release of iDaVIE-v
In Jarrett 2020, we present development and results from custom-built interactive VR tools, called the iDaVIE suite (Marchetti 2020) , that are informed and driven by research on galaxy evolution, cosmic web large-scale structure, galaxy-galaxy interactions, and gas/kinematics of nearby galaxies in survey and targeted observations.

In partnership between UCT Astronomy and the IDIA, a laboratory for visual analytics has been created to develop and test hardware and software solutions for interactive visualisation of large astronomical data sets.
 
Two facilities comprise the laboratory, one is located at the RW James building (UCT upper campus; astronomy department) and the other is the Iziko Planetarium & Digital Dome, located in the heart of Cape Town. 

Click below to see how we visualise data.

View The Gallery

What We Do

As scientific data sets become larger and more complex, it is necessary to migrate to new technologies to facilitate scientific analysis and exploration. With the advent of big data, cloud technologies provide a clean solution for managing and processing data sets that would otherwise be unmanageable.
 
As we shift paradigms to having our scientific data living in the cloud, it is necessary to develop the tools and techniques  to enable science on these large data sets.

See below for the latest video of our visualisation work or click the button to see more.

View The Gallery

Demonstrating how the painting mode in the iDaVIE Software Suite can be used to create and edit a custom mask of your target of interest, in this case the galaxy NGC1365 in an HI data cube.

The Tools We Use

RW James, UCT

WALIE toolVirtual Reality HeadsetCobra panorama
Iziko Museum, Company Gardens
UCT/IDIA: (+27) 21 650 5273
Email: vislab@idia.ac.za
Contact Us
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