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New "Power Glove" for the PC
friedmud writes "I just saw an interesting technology demo over at Essential Reality. It is of a "glove-like" device that allows you to interact with your computer. In particular the demo(which is very viewable using the CrossOver plugin) having to do with 3D Studio Max was just incredible (almost too incredible - but hey, we'll have to see) - they put together a model of a mouse in seconds by "molding" it using the "glove". It looks like the SDK is out, and the product is supposed to ship soon. News blurbs can be found at: PCWorld, Yahoo"
Watching the demo of it in use, I was especially impressed with the 3DSMax portion of it. Its a common saying in the industry that trying to model something on a computer is like trying to sculpt clay with boxing gloves on. This could change that old axiom. From the looks of it, this thing would be far easier to use than any of the LogiCad3D devices
Currently, most models are first carved out of clay, then scanned into a computer using a progressive laser and manipulated digitally. A product like this, that actually lets you accurately manipulate 3D space without having to break work flow and check your positioning in relation to axes, could do wonders for the modeling industry.
In my opinion, if its as easy to use as it looked in the demo, this thing will sell like crazy.
A glove interacting with a computer has quite a long way to go before it will be able to compete with the humble wad of clay.
The kinds of tools available to a sculptor, the tactile feedback of the medium is far, far superior to a single glove acting on air and the artist looking at a computer screen.
The glove has it's uses: it is not a replacement for a 3D capture device, however.
Potato chips are a by-yourself food.
What if it were not intended to replace clay, but use a combination of clay and the gloves to bypass the scanning step? The sculptor could put on the gloves, start working with some standard lump of clay, initialize the glove tracking program, and manipulate the 3D model with the gloves as their actual hands manipulate the real clay model. When the real-world sculpture is finished, the 3D model would be done, as well.
Then all that's left is to hook up the fabricator, hit "copy", and start cranking out toys...