"We named the dog Indiana"*

The NDSU Archaeology Technologies Laboratory has received funding through the "Computer and Information Science & Engineering" (CISE) directorate of the National Science Foundation and the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) in order to purchase advanced visualization equipment dedicated to archaeology-anthropology research and education. The equipment will be purchased in two phases.

The first phase has already been completed with the acquisition and installation of an SGI Onyx 300 InfiniteReality3^TM (IR3) visualization system. Our IR3 (pictured above), known as "Junior", will be used in a variety of research and education projects. Though Junior's main function will be to process, develop, and distribute virtual museum exhibits to North Dakota museums, it will also be made available for collaborative research using SGI's OpenGL Vizserver software.

The second phase of equipment acquisition has been funded and will occur during the 2002-2003 fiscal year. The equipment purchased in this phase will be mainly comprised of a portable Digital Light Projector (DLP) and its support equipment. This 6x8 foot DLP will allow for research into the delivery of active and passive three-dimensional virtual museum exhibits, and provide a visualization environment for visiting researchers.

Virtual Archaeologist, Like-A-Fishhook Reconstruction, Native Dancer, DANA, and the biomechanics projects will all benefit from the use of Junior's software. This software includes, but is not limited to, the Irix versions of Alias/Wavefront's Maya Unlimited and InnovMetric's Polyworks Modeler. TGS's Amira 2.3 CT/MRI visualization software is scheduled to be added in the future.

*From the film: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade