SDSC received $6 million over three years from the State of California to acquire the most advanced graphics equipment for its new Visualization Laboratory.

SDSC’s Advanced Scientific Visualization Laboratory (Vis Lab) emphasized visualization research and user-application assistance. The lab, made possible with a three-year, $6 million grant from the State of California, was set up as an integral part of SDSC’s computational science activities and was officially dedicated on May 18, 1990. The lab featured a graphics mini-supercomputer, more than a dozen high-end graphics workstations, fully equipped audio and video studios, output devices to produce color hard copy, video and high-resolution film output, and high-speed communications links.