Shark bytes

A virtual shark cage which allows the public to come face to face with a five-metre white pointer shark has been created by software experts from ANU.

Visitors to Questacon, the National Science and Technology Centre in Canberra, are being offered a rare opportunity — the chance to dive witha five-metre long white pointer shark.

Volunteers are herded into a shark cage and lowered into the realm of one of the world’s most lethal predators. As the cage sways with the sea’s current, they are reminded that this is the shark’s home and they are only visitors. Soon they are joined by seals, then with terrifying speed a shark cuts through the water…

How is such an experience possible in the nation’s landlocked capital?

You need not don a wetsuit or even get your feet wet for this shark encounter, which uses some of the world’s most sophisticated virtual reality technology to provide the experience of a shark encounter without the risk of teeth marks.

Just a small number of software experts in the world have the ability to generate this quality of computer animation — and most work in big budget Hollywood studios.

Visualisation programmer Drew Whitehouse achieved a near-perfect three-dimensional animation of the white pointer, seals and fish on a shoestring budget in a small room at the ANU Supercomputer Facility, known as the Vizlab.

Mr Whitehouse designed special software to meet Questacon’s specifications, which required a film that could be projected through four projectors across two side-by-side screens, without visitors seeing the join. The six metre wide screen would then allow a life-sized close up of the five-metre long shark.

Find out how to bring a virtual seal to life

“To achieve a higher quality image than is normally seen in these kinds of productions, software was written that allowed us to display moving images at the same resolutions used in feature films,” Mr Whitehouse explains.

“The software allowed Questacon to tile the large image across two separate screens. Since the content was in stereo we made two movies, one for each eye.”

With one movie for each eye, that favourite accessory of 1950s horror filmmakers, 3D glasses, has made a reappearance, literally adding a new dimension to the experience and making the dive as close as possible to a real meeting with a shark.

So far the dive has been getting rave reviews fromits target audience.

“The movie has been enthusiastically received. The typical audience at Questacon are primary school children, so the content steers away from a ‘scary’ sensational approach, instead concentrating on giving a realistic portrayal of the shark’s predatory characteristics. In particular it includes an illustrative section which portrays the sharks sensory systems (smell, pressure and electrical). When a virtual seal is eaten at the end of the movie, children seem to be less taken aback than adults for some reason.

“A common complaint from teenage participants seems to be that it isn’t scary enough — which we see as a good thing. The idea wasn’t to enhance people’s already unrealistic fears of sharks.”

According to Mr Whitehouse (left), entertaining and educating school groups is just one of the benefits of the Vizlab helping develop exciting exhibitions.

“The software we develop feeds back into our day-to-day visualisation projects, “ he says.

“For example, the movie playback software has already been used to display stereographic scientific visualisation content at high-profile international conferences.”

The shark encounter is not the first time the Vizlab’s talents have been used to bring public exhibitions to life. The lab’s work can also be seen at the Powerhouse Museum Wedge, the CSIRO Discovery Centre Virtual Reality Theatre and the National Museum of Australia’s ‘kSpace’ exhibit.

The shark encounter is just the latest collaboration in what Federal Science Minister Peter McGauran recently described as a ‘magnificent partnership’ between Questacon and ANU.

When the Japanese Government helped fund a national science centre as a bicentennial gift to the Australian people, ANU physics lecturer Professor Mike Gore became its first director. Professor Gore has since returned to the University as Chair of Outreach at the National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science.

Last year, 80,000 potential scientists across Australia attended the Science Circus — another important collaboration between the ANU and Questacon. Each year, Science Communication students perform interactive science shows at primary and secondary schools around the country in a unique program which is fast becoming a national institution.

“The National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the original graduate program, but now that’s only a part of what we do,” says the Centre’s Director, Dr Sue Stocklmayer.

The two organisations have signed a memorandum of understanding formalising the cooperation that is the envy of the scientific world.

“There is really strong recognition that the coming together of two national institutions related to science research and science outreach is a very strong alliance. We are actually a kind of an axis that is very strong because we can bring different things to the partnership,” says Dr Stocklmayer.

“There isn’t anywhere in the world that can you can see two national institutions linked in this extraordinarily effective way.”

http://anusf.anu.edu.au/Vizlab

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