A 16th-century work of artistic genius is being studied by scientists once again, but this time researchers came to Baltimore to demonstrate how computer technology can help examine its tiniest details.

Michelangelo's David - its exact measurements recorded by state-of-the-art laser scanners in 1999 - was reduced to a computer model and projected onto a theater screen in 3-D at the Convention Center yesterday while viewers with special glasses admired the lifelike reproduction.

Software engineers say developments in visualization technology allow for a closer-than-ever examination of David - and just about anything else that can be photographed or scanned.

The 23-foot masterpiece was followed on the theater-sized screen by images of polar icecaps and protein molecules as scientists and sales representatives showed the latest in visualization technology at SC2002, the industry's supercomputing and high-speed networking show. The technology is being marketed to hospitals, universities, government agencies and a variety of businesses.

Chris Johnson, a computer science professor at the University of Utah, was able to use a system from Silicon Graphics Inc. to manipulate the "Digital David" on screen and zero in on details as small as a pockmark next to the statue's right eye.

"We think this is the future of where scientific computing is going," Johnson said.

Technology firm representatives said the visualization gear has become a highly sought-after sector of their market.

"It is a very competitive area," said Jonny Akerberg, product manager for Sun Microsystems Inc., which was selling a competing high-performance visualization system for $100,000.

Potential customers include automakers and oil companies that could use the technology to see three-dimensional designs of anything from a sports car to an oil rig, Akerberg said.

Equipment makers say visualizing a potential product can help a firm decide whether it should continue research or begin marketing.

"It's a technology that allows researchers and the decision-makers to sit down in the same room, look at the same set of data and project a lot of 'what-if' scenarios," said Colin J. Holmes, SGI's medical marketing manager.

Johnson, the Utah professor, said he uses SGI's visualization technology to study the effects of simulated gas-fueled explosions and fires as part of a Department of Energy-funded program.

He said he uses David for demonstrations because data were available from laser scans taken of the masterpiece three years ago. In that project, Stanford University researchers spent months in Florence, Italy, using high-resolution laser scanners to record the tiniest details of the Renaissance master's sculptures.

Data from that project, known as Digital David, reduced the statue to a computer model with accompanying digital images that could be projected onto a screen and manipulated.

"Being able to move around the image, closely examine it, and zoom in and zoom out, on a big screen is invaluable," Johnson said.

The technology is only a few years old, but is used by the Navy to measure the effects of global warming on the polar icecap. It also helps scientists examine the structure of complex proteins, weather forecasters predict storms and doctors with MRI brains scans to examine tumors before they operate.

"It has tremendous potential," said Paul Adams, a researcher with the Army Corps of Engineers research center in Vicksburg, Miss.

Adams said the Corps shares its visualization technology with the Navy, which uses it to help decide where it is safe for a nuclear submarine to surface in Arctic waters.

The Navy has long been able to calculate where the Arctic ice might be thin, he said, but seeing a three-dimensional map of the icecap helps, he said.

"They may know where the point of the crack in the ice is, but the visual aspect will show you the length of the crack and the area you're working with," Adams said.