Virtual world a reality at Mac

Kacper Niburski

Assistant News Editor

In a three-dimensional world, expressions of art from novels to paintings are often limited by their two-dimensionality. A page, a canvas or a screen all fail to capture the world as it is, becoming instead a representation of how it appears to be.

That is until now, thanks to McMaster’s Origins Institute. Following the trend of 3D entertainment that characterizes much of the modern movie and media industry, McMaster’s Origins Institute 3D theatre opened its doors to the public on Nov. 9.

The theatre originally opened in 2006, based on a proposal by Dr. Ralph Pudritz, director of the Origins Institute.

It was suggested that the MDCL 1110 lecture hall, which was under construction at the time, should be retrofitted for use as the theatre.

After receiving various sources of funding, the theatre opened with the movie Our Sun: What a Star!, for which all the shows were sold out.

The high demand has only continued with the recent opening of the 3D theatre, where all showings are sold out until January.

The theatre works through a combination streaming and emission of data. The data are generated at the Swinburne University of Technologies Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, which is then transformed into the animation used for 3D processing.

The Origins theatre makes use of this processed data by screening it through two projectors, one of which emits horizontal light waves, while the other emits vertical. The two congeal on a perforated screen, and emit the light back to the viewers and their 3D glasses, creating an illusion of three-dimensionality.

“The 3D theatre brings topics of great interest and at the forefront of research within astronomy to the general public and school groups,” said Robert Cockcroft, PhD Candidate in Physics and Astronomy and coordinator of the Theatre.

This much is certainly true, as people young and old have been drawn to the mysteries of the Universe that unravel before their eyes.

One such mystery is the existence of exoplanets, a heavily debated and thoroughly interesting topic in astronomy. The current film, Extreme Alien Worlds, is an exploration of such exoplanets beyond humanity’s solar system.

The theatre, however, will not solely be used for public amusement. It has also been designed to serve as a research and teaching tool, which Cockcroft suggested will “allow researchers to visualize their data in 3D, revealing features that otherwise might not be seen in 2D.”

Thus, the theatre itself serves as both a means of education and entertainment.

It is the composition of the two, which are often opposed, that has changed the meaning of “wishing on a star,” because not only can one understand the stars, but through 3D, they can also attempt to catch one for themselves.