I have a feeling that the main advantages of this tech are: 1. It keeps some BMW engineers employed. 2. It gives the body designers even more freedom for how the lights should look. 3. It makes BMW seem even more cool.
They'll probably be able to design cars that don't appear to have any headlights at all (except for a few tiny holes at the front corners).
Wars have many faces. I wonder which face is the best to show to students? Would it be better if they all could see the horror of a front-line charge? Or the result of bombing? Would that be better than explaining how some some "friendly forces" "pushed" some "enemy forces"? What about showing the attempted genocide or other atrocities in order to point out why the charge or bombing was necessary?
I wonder if there will ever be some "cure" for war, or if it will always be the case that man's ambition will push him to seek power over others by any means available? Why is it that those who are driven to become leaders are often also driven to be bad leaders? (I'm generalizing here; not referring to anyone in particular, please.)
Thanks for the extra insights. I wasn't aware of the internal differences between oscilloscope CRTs and TV-type CRTs. I only knew that they have X & Y (deflection) inputs and a Z (intensity) input, ideal for hooking up to a computer's D/A outputs, back in the day.
I was aware of laser film scanners, but the only one I've seen (at Pixar, in fact) was quite a big, ungainly-looking device. I have no idea how common they might be, outside of movie-making houses.
Just to be clear: lacking a framebuffer, the system could not display images in such a way that you could view them with your eyes (unless you used a storage CRT http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storage_CRT ). Rather, it would scan out a single dot at a time while the shutter on the camera was held open. After scanning the 1024x1024 array of pixels (which took about 2.5 minutes), the shutter would be closed, and then the film could be developed, and only after it came back from the film lab would you see your final image (unless you used the Polaroid camera, in which case you'd only have to wait another minute or so).
This long turn-around time is why you'll notice some errors in the hand animation (polygons that are dark when they should be light, etc.).
A DEC PDP-11/45 wouldn't come out until after this film was made. The first PDP-11 was only announced in 1970. There was apparently a PDP-10 at UofU in 1969, though.
We have to remember that "3D graphics" means many different things, especially back in the 70s. The first E & S systems ("Picture System") were vector graphics machines. Their first raster graphics system was in 1974, and it was only 8-bit grayscale (though people later figured out that you could use 3 of them in concert to drive a full-color RGB display).
I see hints on the web that the female face model was Fred Parke's own wife, but nothing definite either way.
Various companies contribued the CG for Tron. A vector-graphics E & S system produced the opening title sequence and the sequence where Flynn enters the computer world.
And yes, I spend far too much time in front of a computer searching the web for stuff. But the stuff I learn this way is very fascinating sometimes...
It depends upon your goals. For many folks, any kind of business degree would be a good second major, assuming you hope to one day make a better-than-average income (either by starting your own business or climbing the corporate ladder as a manager). A legal degree might be another choice along those lines. If you wish to remain an engineer (a laudable desire, some might say), then CS is perhaps the best second choice. If you wish to round out your life, choose a liberal arts degree. The secondary benefits of this are being exposed to a variety of different people and learning how to deal with them (you won't get this as much with a second CS or engineering degree). There are many paths... choose yours with your ultimate goals in mind.
Csuri's work is certainly 3D computer graphics that predates Catmull's film, but it's the particular techniques shown here that make Catmull's film remarkable. Csuri's work from this period (that I've seen) is only rendered points and wireframes without any hidden-surface removal. Catmull shows fully shaded polygons with correct depth ordering (it's likely he used techniques other than Z-buffering to achieve this).
The founders of Pixar are Ed Catmull and Alvy Ray Smith. See: http://alvyray.com/pixar/default.htm . (I would not be surprised if the list of founding employees includes some student's of Csuri's.)
I was wondering that same thing. I'd guess they made a film transfer recorder using a computer-controlled oscilloscope. This is essentially a film camera focused on an oscilloscope display (in a light-proof enclosure), where the computer can vary the position and intensity of the light spot (using D/A converters driving scope inputs). If you use a white phosphor CRT and some color transparencies in between, you can do full-color recording. (This is exactly the same principle used in some modern film recorders.) It takes a while to scan out the image, but you do so with very high resolution (modern recorders typically do 4Kx4K on 35mm film). Have the computer control the camera's frame advance and then you can make movies.
You do realize that the only difference between a VRD and typical screen-based eye-display units are that the viewing plane is virtual for the VRD and real for the screen-based display? The VRD still requires an optical element where the viewing plane is in order to redirect the light into the eye. As mentioned in the wiki article, the only way to avoid this is to put the beam scanner inside your eyeball.
That's not possible. The typical human eye cannot focus on something an inch away. Optics are required to make it seem further away. Other articles on this device suggest a design of "750-inch virtual screen, virtual viewing distance approx. 20m", which is a function of the optics.
You research what has worked before, then try that & variations upon it. It helps to have lots of free time on your hands, but also a good deal of creativity and good research skills. In most (but not all) cases, it also helps to have a good understanding of the technology involved and procedures typically used to secure things.
this lets you figure out the keys that are necessary to write to the optical drive firmware to pair them up again, because there are boatloads of systems out there that don't work after someone removed and lost track of the paired drive that was in it.
I also learned this back in undergrad (ages ago for me). Our project was to interface a DRAM chip to a simple 8-bit CPU system. The hardware side was just hooking up the right connections. The software side was to write an interrupt-driven refresh routine to make sure all the contents were read every few milliseconds. I was pleased to see my DRAM chip working just fine, and then quite surprised once I realized the refresh routine wasn't running! Some locations would get corrupted right away, but others would hold their contents for a few minutes (maybe longer, but I didn't keep testing).
Oh, and that reminds me of DRAM testing. One type of test that's hard to do is to verify that refresh is working properly. Since reading DRAM refreshes it, you've got to write the test pattern, wait some questionable length of time, then go back and verify it later. Doing this for many test patterns takes a long time! And you can't be sure of the results, since maybe if you had waited just a bit longer, it might have failed. In theory, though, once you've waited past the required refresh period, it should have been read already by the refresh function.
Well, I was going to say "go have kids", but that seemed globally irresponsible. As far as why raise kids at all, if I have to explain it, then the point is probably moot.
[Start with a 80x24 text-only 1200-baud CRT terminal.] 1. Got an account at the university: was able to email other folks at the same university. 2. Heard about Bitnet: you could email people at some different universities! 3. Heard about Internet: you could email people at many different universities! [Upgrade to a 9600-baud CRT text terminal.] 4. Heard about FTP: you could get files from people at other universities. 5. Heard about newsgroups: you could socialize or ask questions with folks at universities. 6. Oh, btw, you can send email to those people on Compuserve, AOL, etc. [upgrade to X11-based monochrome Sun workstation!] 7. Heard about Archie, a way to search FTP sites. 8. Heard about Gopher, a hyper-text program that runs across the Internet. 9. Oh, btw, there are a few big companies on the Internet now. 10. Now there's Veronica, a way to search Gopher sites. 11. Somebody wanted to unify FTP, Archie, Gopher, and such; they're calling it WWW. [Oh, this WWW thing can show you images as well, so you'll want to use one of the rare, 8-bit color workstations.] [All images are 8-bit only, though, since that's all the workstations support (except for those very rare 24-bit workstations).] 12. This WWW thing can be pretty cool now that more computer companies are on it. 13. Some people at computer conferences are starting to mention URLs. 14. Heard about AltaVista: a way to search the Internet. 15. Some non-computer companies are starting to get on the web. [I can get a PC with a 24-bit VGA card & 13" color CRT.] 16. Yahoo search seems to work better than AltaVista. 17. Wow, the first mention of a URL outside of a computer-related context. 18. Google search seems to work better than Yahoo. 19. I can imagine a day where everyone will know about the WWW. 20. Wow, that day is here. How'd I get so old so fast? [I can hook up an internet-browsing cell phone to display video on a 50" deep-color HDTV.]
As a kid I enjoyed trying all different kinds of patterns: - back & forth stripes (at various angles) - going round the outside & spiraling in - starting in a circle in the middle & spiraling out. - randomly cruising around... Usually, though, it seemed like spiraling in was the fastest way. There was always the issue of pocket areas that get cut off from the rest, and exactly how do you finish up that irregular part left in the middle of each area (without a zero-turn radius mower).
Which way the clippings should go depends upon several factors. - If the lawn is moist --> toward mown side - If the lawn is tall (and being cut short) --> toward mown side - If the mower is a mulcher --> not relevant (no discharge chute) - If you don't care, but want to save gas --> toward mown side - Otherwise, toward unmown side, but... Continuously sending the clippings toward the unmown side can lead to build-up, which can stall the mower or lead to poorly cut grass. If the grass is short enough, though, you'll just end up mulching most of it. It can be a balancing act sometimes. If you rake, you can leave it in nice lines to rake up.
Slashdot Mirror
Generally, people sending a fax know that it has arrived because they'll call up and ask "Did you get my fax?"
I have a feeling that the main advantages of this tech are:
1. It keeps some BMW engineers employed.
2. It gives the body designers even more freedom for how the lights should look.
3. It makes BMW seem even more cool.
They'll probably be able to design cars that don't appear to have any headlights at all (except for a few tiny holes at the front corners).
Wars have many faces. I wonder which face is the best to show to students? Would it be better if they all could see the horror of a front-line charge? Or the result of bombing? Would that be better than explaining how some some "friendly forces" "pushed" some "enemy forces"? What about showing the attempted genocide or other atrocities in order to point out why the charge or bombing was necessary?
I wonder if there will ever be some "cure" for war, or if it will always be the case that man's ambition will push him to seek power over others by any means available? Why is it that those who are driven to become leaders are often also driven to be bad leaders? (I'm generalizing here; not referring to anyone in particular, please.)
Thanks for the extra insights. I wasn't aware of the internal differences between oscilloscope CRTs and TV-type CRTs. I only knew that they have X & Y (deflection) inputs and a Z (intensity) input, ideal for hooking up to a computer's D/A outputs, back in the day.
I was aware of laser film scanners, but the only one I've seen (at Pixar, in fact) was quite a big, ungainly-looking device. I have no idea how common they might be, outside of movie-making houses.
Just to be clear: lacking a framebuffer, the system could not display images in such a way that you could view them with your eyes (unless you used a storage CRT http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storage_CRT ). Rather, it would scan out a single dot at a time while the shutter on the camera was held open. After scanning the 1024x1024 array of pixels (which took about 2.5 minutes), the shutter would be closed, and then the film could be developed, and only after it came back from the film lab would you see your final image (unless you used the Polaroid camera, in which case you'd only have to wait another minute or so).
This long turn-around time is why you'll notice some errors in the hand animation (polygons that are dark when they should be light, etc.).
A DEC PDP-11/45 wouldn't come out until after this film was made. The first PDP-11 was only announced in 1970. There was apparently a PDP-10 at UofU in 1969, though.
We have to remember that "3D graphics" means many different things, especially back in the 70s. The first E & S systems ("Picture System") were vector graphics machines. Their first raster graphics system was in 1974, and it was only 8-bit grayscale (though people later figured out that you could use 3 of them in concert to drive a full-color RGB display).
I see hints on the web that the female face model was Fred Parke's own wife, but nothing definite either way.
Various companies contribued the CG for Tron. A vector-graphics E & S system produced the opening title sequence and the sequence where Flynn enters the computer world.
And yes, I spend far too much time in front of a computer searching the web for stuff. But the stuff I learn this way is very fascinating sometimes...
The lead-in for the video itself mentions Futureworld, which is probably what you were thinking of.
It depends upon your goals. For many folks, any kind of business degree would be a good second major, assuming you hope to one day make a better-than-average income (either by starting your own business or climbing the corporate ladder as a manager). A legal degree might be another choice along those lines.
If you wish to remain an engineer (a laudable desire, some might say), then CS is perhaps the best second choice.
If you wish to round out your life, choose a liberal arts degree. The secondary benefits of this are being exposed to a variety of different people and learning how to deal with them (you won't get this as much with a second CS or engineering degree).
There are many paths... choose yours with your ultimate goals in mind.
Csuri's work is certainly 3D computer graphics that predates Catmull's film, but it's the particular techniques shown here that make Catmull's film remarkable. Csuri's work from this period (that I've seen) is only rendered points and wireframes without any hidden-surface removal. Catmull shows fully shaded polygons with correct depth ordering (it's likely he used techniques other than Z-buffering to achieve this).
The founders of Pixar are Ed Catmull and Alvy Ray Smith. See: http://alvyray.com/pixar/default.htm . (I would not be surprised if the list of founding employees includes some student's of Csuri's.)
I was wondering that same thing. I'd guess they made a film transfer recorder using a computer-controlled oscilloscope. This is essentially a film camera focused on an oscilloscope display (in a light-proof enclosure), where the computer can vary the position and intensity of the light spot (using D/A converters driving scope inputs). If you use a white phosphor CRT and some color transparencies in between, you can do full-color recording. (This is exactly the same principle used in some modern film recorders.) It takes a while to scan out the image, but you do so with very high resolution (modern recorders typically do 4Kx4K on 35mm film). Have the computer control the camera's frame advance and then you can make movies.
You do realize that the only difference between a VRD and typical screen-based eye-display units are that the viewing plane is virtual for the VRD and real for the screen-based display? The VRD still requires an optical element where the viewing plane is in order to redirect the light into the eye. As mentioned in the wiki article, the only way to avoid this is to put the beam scanner inside your eyeball.
That's not possible. The typical human eye cannot focus on something an inch away. Optics are required to make it seem further away.
Other articles on this device suggest a design of "750-inch virtual screen, virtual viewing distance approx. 20m", which is a function of the optics.
You research what has worked before, then try that & variations upon it.
It helps to have lots of free time on your hands, but also a good deal of creativity and good research skills.
In most (but not all) cases, it also helps to have a good understanding of the technology involved and procedures typically used to secure things.
this lets you figure out the keys that are necessary to write to the optical drive firmware to pair them up again, because there are boatloads of systems out there that don't work after someone removed and lost track of the paired drive that was in it.
I also learned this back in undergrad (ages ago for me). Our project was to interface a DRAM chip to a simple 8-bit CPU system. The hardware side was just hooking up the right connections. The software side was to write an interrupt-driven refresh routine to make sure all the contents were read every few milliseconds. I was pleased to see my DRAM chip working just fine, and then quite surprised once I realized the refresh routine wasn't running! Some locations would get corrupted right away, but others would hold their contents for a few minutes (maybe longer, but I didn't keep testing).
Oh, and that reminds me of DRAM testing. One type of test that's hard to do is to verify that refresh is working properly. Since reading DRAM refreshes it, you've got to write the test pattern, wait some questionable length of time, then go back and verify it later. Doing this for many test patterns takes a long time! And you can't be sure of the results, since maybe if you had waited just a bit longer, it might have failed. In theory, though, once you've waited past the required refresh period, it should have been read already by the refresh function.
Well, I was going to say "go have kids", but that seemed globally irresponsible.
As far as why raise kids at all, if I have to explain it, then the point is probably moot.
It will if you can place the antenna on the end of the cable next to said device. Of course, it might also kill the impression you're trying to make.
[Start with a 80x24 text-only 1200-baud CRT terminal.]
1. Got an account at the university: was able to email other folks at the same university.
2. Heard about Bitnet: you could email people at some different universities!
3. Heard about Internet: you could email people at many different universities!
[Upgrade to a 9600-baud CRT text terminal.]
4. Heard about FTP: you could get files from people at other universities.
5. Heard about newsgroups: you could socialize or ask questions with folks at universities.
6. Oh, btw, you can send email to those people on Compuserve, AOL, etc.
[upgrade to X11-based monochrome Sun workstation!]
7. Heard about Archie, a way to search FTP sites.
8. Heard about Gopher, a hyper-text program that runs across the Internet.
9. Oh, btw, there are a few big companies on the Internet now.
10. Now there's Veronica, a way to search Gopher sites.
11. Somebody wanted to unify FTP, Archie, Gopher, and such; they're calling it WWW.
[Oh, this WWW thing can show you images as well, so you'll want to use one of the rare, 8-bit color workstations.]
[All images are 8-bit only, though, since that's all the workstations support (except for those very rare 24-bit workstations).]
12. This WWW thing can be pretty cool now that more computer companies are on it.
13. Some people at computer conferences are starting to mention URLs.
14. Heard about AltaVista: a way to search the Internet.
15. Some non-computer companies are starting to get on the web.
[I can get a PC with a 24-bit VGA card & 13" color CRT.]
16. Yahoo search seems to work better than AltaVista.
17. Wow, the first mention of a URL outside of a computer-related context.
18. Google search seems to work better than Yahoo.
19. I can imagine a day where everyone will know about the WWW.
20. Wow, that day is here. How'd I get so old so fast?
[I can hook up an internet-browsing cell phone to display video on a 50" deep-color HDTV.]
As a kid I enjoyed trying all different kinds of patterns:
- back & forth stripes (at various angles)
- going round the outside & spiraling in
- starting in a circle in the middle & spiraling out.
- randomly cruising around...
Usually, though, it seemed like spiraling in was the fastest way. There was always the issue of pocket areas that get cut off from the rest, and exactly how do you finish up that irregular part left in the middle of each area (without a zero-turn radius mower).
Amen, brother.
An issue is that 180 degree (or otherwise tight) turns are not as efficient as less tight turns.
Which way the clippings should go depends upon several factors.
- If the lawn is moist --> toward mown side
- If the lawn is tall (and being cut short) --> toward mown side
- If the mower is a mulcher --> not relevant (no discharge chute)
- If you don't care, but want to save gas --> toward mown side
- Otherwise, toward unmown side, but...
Continuously sending the clippings toward the unmown side can lead to build-up, which can stall the mower or lead to poorly cut grass. If the grass is short enough, though, you'll just end up mulching most of it. It can be a balancing act sometimes. If you rake, you can leave it in nice lines to rake up.
If you care about the texture of the mown lawn, then you've got too much time on your hands. Go adopt some kids or something.
Once you get enough shade, the grass stop growing.