Press Room

PANORAM REPORTS ON SIGGRAPH 2002 SUCCESSES
August 9, 2002

Games and gorgeous images-all part of the trade show scenario. Siggraph 2002 was no exception.

At the Panoram Technologies booth, two PV230 DSK desktop displays, showcasing the new Matrox Parahelia Video Card, and mounted back-to-back on what the company calls a "Game Pole," attracted visitors like kids lining up for free ice cream.

It was fun for all.

The message was a viable "At last, a three-headed AGP, OpenGL video card that delivers performance and features ideally suited for Panoram's PV Series displays." But the star of the show for Panoram was the world's first look at our most advanced display ever - The DIT!

The DIT (Digital Imaging Table) kept the serious browsers' interest and sent waves throughout the show. Graphic images exhibited as never before-in 4.23 million pixel resolution (2300x1840) on the 65-inch diagonal light table's screen-blended to seamless perfection from four projectors.

Observers saw the unprecedented acuity of a range of "stills" at Siggraph, while learning about the DIT's capabilities in graphic animations and video. Images included excellent photography, extreme resolution images from NASA, maps - perhaps one of the most challenging image categories for electronic displays - and satellite images of locations from around the world. They deftly illustrated the product's numerous features, including full automatic calibration of the four projector array (geometry +- one pixel, auto color match, auto blending) as well as a new optical technology used in the display's screen that allows extreme angles of view without altering the perfection of the four seamlessly arrayed projectors. This is a absolute requirement for a table format display.

Other features are: an imaging computer capable of storing over 5,000 extreme resolution stills, a touch panel for systems operation, software to manage image storage and selection via a user configurable database system, overlay markups with a variety of tools for measurements and manipulation of the images, and systems maintenance management including not only the auto calibration, but also configuration & diagnostics, and systems operations.

Although the Digital Image Table, with near print quality resolution, was developed and aimed at critical imaging applications such as intelligence, mapping, mission planning, navigation, and command & control, there are a number of potential applications which relate to the graphics community. This extends to the field of scientific computing for research and "virtual" study of valuable artifacts such as art, archeology artifacts and ancient manuscripts.

"Imagine giving many scientists the ability and access to carefully study The Dead Sea Scroll parchments, without endangering the artifact themselves at this kind of unprecedented resolution and at an original size scale," says Theo Mayer, Panoram's President and CEO

"We brought this technology to SIGGRAPH because Some of the world's brightest and smartest people attend this show. I wanted to know what this new genre of display would trigger in them! I believe there are many amazing applications that this audience will be pointing out to us on seeing the DIT. There have already been several inquiries in areas we never thought of."

Also on the menu at Siggraph was an introduction to the company's new Pure Digital I/O Series of electronics.

PanoMaker V, set for a September 2002 ship date, is the fifth generation of Video Panoram® edge-blending systems, created for high brightness digital projectors. The PanoMaker V combines edge blending with digital geometry correction, image warping and Panoram's unique Black Level Technology to manage the dark image areas in the overlap region. The all-digital system accommodates SXGA resolutions at up to 120 frames per second, to meet the most demanding stereographic visualization applications.

The PanoFX Digital Image Processor is feature-packed and designed specifically for use in staging and special venues. The unit can switch between and combine two real-time image sources, which can be combined in a number of ways-switching, overlay, variable transparency mixing and even digital chroma key. The PanoFX also features two additional sources with full resolution, 24-bit still frames sent to the unit over Ethernet, permitting an image source to be switched to, even when the two real-time sources are combined. This is a powerful function not available on any other effects processor. And, with Panoram PixelMapping, the system can accept a high-resolution single channel source from computers or HDTV and process it into two, native projector resolution channels complete with overlap. This product is scheduled for release in mid 2003.

The Pano3D Active to Passive Stereo Processor is also due out in 2003. It takes the high frame rate stereo signals generated by graphics computers for active matrix stereo and processes them into two parallel channels-one each for a left eye and right eye projector. This is ideal for passive stereo applications using lightweight polarized glasses, such as single screen displays in venues where the cost of the stereo glasses is critical-including entertainment, museum, trade events and various auditorium and university applications.