As in most areas of computer technology, hardware and software have progressed significantly in recent years. The visualization facilities of the Information Technology Laboratory at NIST continue to be state-of-the-art and heavily utilized in the development of VCCTL models.
One of the newest additions to the visualization facilities at NIST is an Immersive Virtual Reality environment based on a RAVE (Reconfigurable Automatic Virtual Environment) hardware system and appropriate software. The RAVE is a two-wall immersive environment with two 2.44 m x 2.44 m screens flush to the floor and oriented at 90º to form a corner. Using the RAVE environment, the researchers may stand within the cement paste during hydration, to literally "see and feel" what is happening within these complex three-dimensional microstructures.
The visualization also plays an important role in the validation of the algorithms and the correctness of complex systems.