Interactive navigation for scientific visualization of microscopy images

We present a new application of virtual reality realized in the scientific visualization field. Using real images obtained from several microscopy techniques, we offer a journey into the matter. A first collection of eleven movies has been made on mineral topics (concrete, wood, ceramic, ...) giving the sensation of a dive in one direction (zoom). Then a second collection has been realized for biological structures, adding a lateral displacement to the unidirectional zoom. The movies give an idea of the microscopic structures inside the macroscopic one. They have an artistic dimension in addition to a scientific signification. A multi resolution database has been created with these real 2D images with an in-house software, using openGL, to get an interactive edition and to produce the camera path. Each layer rendered has the same camera trajectory. During the final compositing, the different layers are superimposed and digital effects are added (shadow, blurredness, etc...) to give the depth illusion. This allows the realization of a one shot film of three minutes, without any interpolation or dissolve, in order to preserve the images exact information. This project has been produced by a scientific museum (Cite des Sciences et de l'Industrie, Paris) and Altomedia.