The MAGIC Center features a wide array of hardware and software that we use in constructing our digital media experiments. The main lab features 22 stations equipped with dual-screen (one touchscreen) Alienware workstations with the Adobe Creative Cloud, Autodesk Entertainment Suite, Visual Studio, Eclipse, Unity, and numerous other software and development environments. Each station is dual-boot capable between Windows and Red Hat Linux, and is connected to our development infrastructure for file storage, SVN, GIT, server development, etc. A unique feature of the lab is the construction of virtual machines on the fly for deployment in media-centric applications and testing. Through the Mobile Zone initiative, the lab also has numerous mobile devices and one-of-a-kind hardware solutions available for check out and development access.
In addition, the MAGIC Center features a round meeting area that seats approximately 100 people that doubles as our holodeck: there are three round curved walls that define the outside of the space, across which 9 HD projectors are seamlessly aligned. These projectors are driving by a machine with numerous nVidia graphics cards using customized software to create a seamless desktop that wraps around the entire space at extremely high pixel density. The applications for this are endless, but some that come to mind are shared media experiences, data visualization, medical simulation, data analytics display, and media-centric artistic and expressive performances.