Slashdot Mirror

Yes, matrox.com - their niche market is video post-production, so they were never affected by the 3D wars. A good number of the 25+ original 3D chip vendors are still around - most have abandoned the high-performance workstation/desktop market if not chip manufacture and went into either board manufacturing only and/or embedded systems - 3DLabs recently announced they were concentrating on embedded systems and laid off 100 people.

For a while, I tried maintaining a timeline of all the different 3D chip vendors starting from around 1995 (the days of GLint)with buyouts, mergers, lawsuits, but the DDR/SDRAM/RDRAM Samsung/Infineon/Mciron/Hynix patent lawsuit kept things boiling. The latest news article is RAMBUS settles lawsuit.

3D analysis requires stereo-pair of images, like this. Alternative would be to use some kind of radar or sonar, measuring time-differences of bounced signals, etc. Those and other methods for 3d digitizing.

This device, called TWISTER, was at the Siggraph 2002 - it consists of a drum made of of panels of LEDs that spin around the viewer standing in the middle. It was created by Kenji Tanaka, et al at Tachi Lab, University of Tokyo. I would imagine such a device could even be built to do full 3D, perhaps by using shutter glasses of some sort synched to the scanning of the LEDs. What would also be cool is to add a head tracker that could tell which direction you are looking in, and only activate an "arc" of panels such that the view went beyond your peripheral vision, but didn't wrap around, lessening the load on the computer driving the system (why display what you can't see?)...

Anyhow, this image was taken by Jerry Isdale, a long-time graphics/VR researcher, who attended the show (sadly, I was unable to attend - can't afford it).

The rest of his report is also interesting, showcasing other 3D and VR technologies presented...

This device, called TWISTER, was at the Siggraph 2002 - it consists of a drum made of of panels of LEDs that spin around the viewer standing in the middle. It was created by Kenji Tanaka, et al at Tachi Lab, University of Tokyo. I would imagine such a device could even be built to do full 3D, perhaps by using shutter glasses of some sort synched to the scanning of the LEDs. What would also be cool is to add a head tracker that could tell which direction you are looking in, and only activate an "arc" of panels such that the view went beyond your peripheral vision, but didn't wrap around, lessening the load on the computer driving the system (why display what you can't see?)...

Anyhow, this image was taken by Jerry Isdale, a long-time graphics/VR researcher, who attended the show (sadly, I was unable to attend - can't afford it).

The rest of his report is also interesting, showcasing other 3D and VR technologies presented...

The $10K setup described uses polarized projection, which is pretty good but requires a straight optical path. To make a 6' image you need 8-10 feet of throw distance - no mirrors allowed. A full wall (8-10ft) requires even more (I dont have the ratio handy, see projector specs). Front projection means you can cast shadows on the screen, which might be used for tracking/interaction but interfere with the 3d immersion/presence effect. Multi-walled setups require a LOT of space - or active stereo, which means more expensive projectors ($50k+) and gen-lock sync between video sources (not available for nvidia, ati, matrox 3d cards - sorta see links below)

Tracking is another big problem left out in this implemenation. Mag trackers mentioned in another comment are one solution, although the interference problems are a big pain. My choice is the Intersense IS900, but it starts out at around $20k.

For more on low cost immersive projection environments see Dave Pape's course notes

For more info check out my Siggraph2002 report and my vr info site

Jerry Isdale

The $10K setup described uses polarized projection, which is pretty good but requires a straight optical path. To make a 6' image you need 8-10 feet of throw distance - no mirrors allowed. A full wall (8-10ft) requires even more (I dont have the ratio handy, see projector specs). Front projection means you can cast shadows on the screen, which might be used for tracking/interaction but interfere with the 3d immersion/presence effect. Multi-walled setups require a LOT of space - or active stereo, which means more expensive projectors ($50k+) and gen-lock sync between video sources (not available for nvidia, ati, matrox 3d cards - sorta see links below)

Tracking is another big problem left out in this implemenation. Mag trackers mentioned in another comment are one solution, although the interference problems are a big pain. My choice is the Intersense IS900, but it starts out at around $20k.

For more on low cost immersive projection environments see Dave Pape's course notes

For more info check out my Siggraph2002 report and my vr info site

Jerry Isdale

Sam and Blakestah are pretty much correct in this being an EEG type device. The Play Attention is one of several such devices used in ADDS and related treatments. This partcular device uses the helmet to quickly and easily position the electrodes. Other systems have to strap them on. Most use some conductive gel as well (messes up the hair a bit, especially if you already got gel and spikes!)

Generally when you are concentrating on the task at hand your brain settles into some rythms. The systems monitor how long/well you hit the marks. Some systems, like those from NeuroCybernetics use the brainwaves to control video games. The more you conentrate or hit the right frame of mind, the better your scores.

More background and company links can be found at:
http://vr.isdale.com/AlternativeIO_Links.htm#Neura lBackground