IMV is an experimental interactive molecule visualizer based on a ray-tracing engine. Targeting high quality images and ease of interaction, IMV uses the latest GPU computing acceleration techniques, combined with natural user interfaces such as Kinect and Wiimotes.

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One of the limitations of high performance software is that it restricts itself to high-end machines. In a time of tablets and laptops, other solutions are needed. Thanks to its Client/Server architecture, IMV is cloud ready. The client sends information such as mouse and keyboard events to the server. The server takes care of the rendering and sends a stream of images back to client. Transport is optimized using compression technologies, making it possible for every client to enjoy a different and fully customizable view of the protein.

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Microsoft and Nintendo introduced a new way to interact with computers, called natural user interfaces. IMV uses these new devices to ease interaction with proteins, making it a unique experience in the bio-chemical software industry.

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We truly believe that ray tracing is the future of digital imaging and augmented reality, and that’s why we made IPV ready for this revolution. Being able to go much further than rasterization in terms of image quality, ray-tracing also makes it easy to compute, for example, the amount of light received by an object.

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The nature of ray-tracing, and the techniques used for its implementation can be reused to run scenarios such as calculating interactions between atoms or determining what the surface of contact would be between two molecules. In such cases, NUI device force-feedback features can be used to increase the quality of the user experience; IPV is also ready for this.

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IMV provides a cheap way to visualize proteins in 3D, thanks to anaglyph technology. Get a pair of glasses for less than $2 and enjoy an immersive and unmatched experience. But IMV is also able to simultaneously produce images side-by-side, making it ready for nVidia 3DVision. Simply capture the window, play it back in a 3DVision compatible player and enjoy an immersive trip into the heart of your proteins.

IMV is currently at a very early stage of development and should be considered as such.