From: Kenneth Pimentel (kp@well.sf.ca.us)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: TECH: Sense8 announces new i860 product
Date: 26 Jan 93 14:34:31 GMT
Article-I.D.: shelley.1k5d9tINNigr
Organization: University of Washington
NNTP-Posting-Host: stein.u.washington.edu
Originator: hlab@stein.u.washington.edu



********************************************************
*                                                      *
*       Sense8 announces new i860-based product        *
*                                                      *
********************************************************

Sense8 has recently begun shipping a PC-based graphics accelerator
that provides a 3-4x increase in rendering peformance over previous
solutions. This new PC-based product, WorldToolKit-860 version 1.5,
delivers features and performance never before available for under
$3,000 per channel. And in a departure from a growing trend, this
isn't a pre-announcement or something that will "shortly" be available
-- over a dozen of these have already been shipped to customers. Here
are a few key features:

o       Performance (based on a 486-50DX PC)
        10,700 polys/sec*
        7,700 Gouraud-shaded polys/sec*
        7,700 texture-mapped polys/sec**

o       24 bit color

o       Up to 14Mbs of fast texture storage:
        57 256x256 texture sources or
        229 128x128 texture sources or
        916 64x64 texture sources

o       Compatible with Windows 3.1

o       RGB, PAL and NTSC ouput

o       Display resolutions from 380x256 up to 800x600

o       Support for StereoGraphics CrystalEyesVR

o       Support for two channels (stereo) in a single PC

o       Supports Crystal River Engineerings Beachtron (3D       
        sound)

Available in ver2.0:

o       Anti-aliased polygons and textures

o       Perspective-corrected textures

o       2D polygons, lines, textures, fonts (in foreground)

General-purpose hardware
------------------------

Since its inception, Sense8 has delivered tools for virtual
environment development based on industry standards rather than
expensive custom solutions. With WorldToolKit-860, Sense8 makes use of
SPEA's popular Fire 860 board as the graphics accelerator. Because the
Fire board comes with drivers for Windows, AutoCAD and 3D Studio,
customers aren't limited to using their hardware for a single
application. In addition, SPEA is one of Europe's leading graphics
board manufacturers so customers can take advantage of their
world-wide support and continuous product development.

WorldToolKit
------------

Over 250 functions form the basis of WorldToolKit's powerful API that
allows rapid development of virtual environments (customers purchasing
version 1.5 will receive a free upgrade to version 2.0 that has over
150 new functions). Geometry can be read in from industry- standard
formats such as DXF, Wavefront, and others.WorldToolKit also supports
the widest range of third party devices available for virtual
environment, or use its simple serial functions to write your own
device drivers.

The professional's choice
-------------------------

At the 1992 San Jose Meckler conference, VR professionals chose
WorldToolKit as the "VR Software of the year". This was in recognition
of the customer support and leading-edge applications developed with
WorldToolKit all across the world. Customers include NASA Ames,
Rockwell, Sandia National Labs, Mitre Corp, NTT, IST, Naval Research
Labs and many universities like CMU, LSU, etc. In addition,
WorldToolKit is distributed in seven countries across the world and is
the only virtual environment development product available on PC, Sun
and SGi workstations.

Cost effective capabilities
---------------------------

With version 1.5, a complete PC-based VR system could be built for
under $25,000:

        (2) Fire boards         $5,600
        (1) 486-50DX PC         $2,000
        (1) WTK v1.5            $3,500
        (1) Misc. SW            $2,000
        (1) Spaceball           $1,600
        (1) HMD                 $6,000
        (2) NTSC encoders       $800
        (1) 3D sound/MIDI       $2,000
        (1) 6 DOF sensor        $1,500

This combination represents the best price/performance VR system
available. It has all the features needed for sophisticated virtual
environments without the compromises of other approaches. If you need
a powerful, cost-effective and flexible tool for 3D simulations then
contact Sense8 or one of its dealers to arrange for a demonstration or
to discuss your needs.

Sense8
4000 Bridgeway, Suite 101
Sausalito, CA, 94965
ph: (415) 331-6318
fx: (415) 331-9148
email: well!sense8!kpiment

 * 10x10 3D, unlit, independent, 4-sided polygons

** 10x10 3D, unlit, independent, bilinear-interpolated,
   non-transparent, 4-sided polygons


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