Brainstorm-Machine Display

I was brainstorming on a project that requires an eye catching way to demonstrate machine statistics. I wanted to jot some notes on my thinking method during this phase of a design. Basically, I want to open up any and all possibilities unhampered by what's possible. I ask, "What's the coolest thing I can think of", once I have a picture in my mind then I can look at technologies to enable that vision. When the vision matches a new or unusual technology is when you get that peak coolness factor because both the vision and means of conveying the vision are something most people haven't seen.

BRAINSTORM FLOW

Back in the day the SGI Origin 2000 had an LCD display that powered up the machine. The Youtube video didn't capture one thing that I thought was cool. The display showed a bar graph for each of the processors as they came up.

That got me thinking about Performance Copilot 3D visualization that we also used on the SGIs to visualize all sorts of machine statistics. Perhaps a custom plugin for PCP could be useful.

The above is well and good, but is it eye catching enough for say a tradeshow booth or launch demo? High power LED displays are all the rage, and extremely bright. Here's a small panel that could be tiled.

That would work, I've seen that before. So initial idea is a small Arduino board that fetches machine stats via XML and drives the LED panel as a bar graph. OK what would be cooler?

I'm really having fun exploring Unreal Engine. What if I could make an app that took the stats and put them in a 3D rotating view. This would be a prettier version of the PCP 3D visualization. But it's still basically a flat 2D display of a 3D image.

I've done an exhibit using projectors and a quarter dome to give an eyecatching display. The company who provided the projector also had a globe with projection from inside. Maybe I could do a mini projector, but I don't think I have the space. If I want to rack mount this with the machine I have about 8 inches to fit.

That's when I found the enabling technology to provide the peak coolness factor, and it's based on technology from 1862!