SGI Showcases Visualization Systems at American Association of Museums Meeting, May 6–10

Highlights Include Virtual Walk-Through of Jerusalem as It Appeared 2,000 Years Ago

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (May 4, 2001)—A virtual walk-through of ancient Jerusalem is among the highlights of SGI's (NYSE: SGI) booth at the American Association of Museums (AAM) annual meeting and MuseumExpoTM in St. Louis, May 6–10.

Jacob Fisch, director of external affairs and traveling exhibitions for the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), will guide participants through a highly visual computer model depicting the Jerusalem of Biblical times. The tour re-creates a dazzling visualization system at the recently inaugurated Davidson Center within the IAA's Jerusalem Archaeological Park.

Using the real-time, interactive capabilities of the Silicon Graphics® Onyx2® InfiniteReality3TM workstation, Fisch will guide visitors through ancient Jerusalem's Temple Mount and neighboring areas, projected in high resolution on a large screen. Each presentation is unique and will feature different parts of the model, based on questions and interests from each new audience.

SGI's booth at the MuseumExpo will include a theater area displaying archaeological reconstructions, virtual time travels, virtual re-creations of famous cultural monuments and scientific visualizations, all powered by Silicon Graphics Onyx2 systems. Kiosk-based applications on display will include:

  • The 3D Virtual Palette, which uses the Silicon Graphics Zx10TM visual workstation and Alias|Wavefront Maya® Paint EffectsTM software to enable virtual finger painting; children and adults alike can instantly paint realistic landscapes or imaginary worlds, all with the touch of a finger
  • The Virtual Roller Coaster, which allows visitors to design and build roller coasters on a Silicon Graphics® O2® visual workstation and then ride them using the graphics power of a Silicon Graphics Onyx2 workstation

Fisch's presentations re-creating ancient Jerusalem will take place on Monday and Tuesday, May 7–8, at noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., as well as Wednesday, May 9, at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. For further details about the Davidson Center, visit www.sgi.com/newsroom/press_releases/2001/april/mount_temple.html.

For more information about SGI's involvement with museums, science centers and planetariums, visit www.sgi.com/go/museum. SGI provides a broad range of high-performance computing and advanced graphics solutions that enable customers to understand and conquer their toughest computing problems. Headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., with offices worldwide, the company is located on the Web at www.sgi.com.

Silicon Graphics, Onyx, Onyx2 and O2 are registered trademarks, and SGI, InfiniteReality, the SGI logo, InfiniteReality3 and Silicon Graphics Zx10 are trademarks of Silicon Graphics, Inc. Maya is a registered trademark, and Maya Paint Effects is a trademark of Silicon Graphics, Inc., exclusively used by Alias|Wavefront, a division of Silicon Graphics Limited.