HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: sclovsky@inf.UFRGS.BR (Luciano Sclovsky)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: WHO: VR in Brazil + help wanted
Date: 28 Aug 92 17:50:11 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Aug31.073820.16396
Organization: University of Washington
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu



I am a Computer Science MSc student at UFRGS (Federal University of
Rio Grande do Sul), which is located in Porto Alegre, Brazil. VR is
incipient in Brazil, and my thesis is an introductory study of VR. I
am the first VR researcher at UFRGS and one of the firsts in Brazil. I
started the study last January reading sci.v-worlds, that has been
very helpful providing precious information and pointers.  The
"theoretical" study is going very well.

Right now I am deciding what to implement. Available hardware
platforms here are: SUN/SPARC, SGI and HP workstations, PCs, MACs and
a CRAY-YMP2E supercomputer. I want to purchase a HMD, not necessarily
with head tracking, and perhaps a DataGlove also.

My questions about HMDs and DataGloves are too basic :-) to waste
bandwidth, so could somebody using this kind of equipment and having a
few free seconds kindly write to me?

Thanks in advance,

Luciano.

    _________        _____________________________________
   /        /\      /\"Trying to be a .signature virus" Me\
  /        /  \    /  \          Luciano Sclovsky          \
 /        /    \  /    \   sclovsky@inf.ufrgs.br  (Brasil)  \
/________/      \/      \____________________________________\
\        \      /\      /          // ||// \\//              /
 \        \    /  \    /           \\ ||\\  ||              /
  \        \  /    \  /            // || \\ ||             /
   \________\/      \/____________________________________/
From: kai@kai.nada.kth.se-dd (Kai-Mikael Jdd-Aro)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: WHO: Searching for Nordic VR researchers
Date: 28 Aug 92 14:26:12 GMT
Organization: Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu



I'm looking for contacts with research (and applications, not least!)
of VR and related technology in the Nordic countries.  In Sweden I
have contacts with the groups at Link|ping University and MultiG (the
latter which I belong to), and have heard rumours of people in
Tampere, Finland and lots of Norwegians working in the area.  Are you
out there and are there any others?  Any Icelandic VR research?


Kai-Mikael J{{-Aro      email:  kai@nada.kth.se     "Don't win, don't lose."
IPLab                   voice:  +46 8 790 91 05         -- Yoshigasaki-sensei
NADA, KTH               fax:    +46 8 790 09 30
S-100 44  Stockholm     telex:  812 6154 7052 SICS
SWEDEN                  teletex:2401-812 6154 7052=SICS
From: TKUSTER@AMERICAN.EDU
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: REQUEST:  LCD monitors and Email addresses.
Date: 28 Aug 92 18:53:46 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Aug31.070354.15356
Organization: The American University - University Computing Center
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu



I'm looking for information on LCD HMDs if anybody out there has any info
could they please send along the specs, price, and email address of any
sets people know about.

I also have the names of several companies that make these things if
anybody knows the corresponding email addresses please send them along.

Leep Systems Inc.
Stereographics Corp.
3D Imagetek Corp.
VPL Research

Thanks in advance for any help.

Todd KustererTkuster@american.edu
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
From: das+@RI.CMU.EDU (David Simon)
Subject: TECH: 3D "projection" display at UNC?
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu
Organization: Carnegie Mellon University
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 19:27:49 GMT



I recently heard that a group at the University of North Carolina
developed a stereoscopic display device which can "project" 3D images
into the real world. I believe that this system uses some type of
heads-up display to superimpose a 3D image onto the user's actual
field of view.  For example, an image of an apple could be
superimposed onto the outstretched hand of the viewer.

If such a device does exist, I would appreciate pointers to papers
or the individuals involved. Please respond by email and I will
summarize.

                                Thanks - David


---------------------------------------------------------------------------

  David Simon       The Robotics Institute         Voice: (412) 268-3084
                    Carnegie Mellon University     Fax:   (412) 621-1970 
  das@ri.cmu.edu    Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
From: mango@nova.esd.sgi.com (Eric Manghise)
Subject: Re: CULTURE: Movies other than Lawnmower Man...and that too!
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc., Mountain View, CA, USA
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 20:51:45 GMT



In article <1992Sep1.143849.468@unocal.com>, stgprao@st.unocal.COM
(Richard Ottolini) writes:

|> In article <1992Sep1.075654.8344@u.washington.edu>
|> mango@nova.esd.sgi.com (Eric Manghise) writes:
|> 
|> >        I dont think we should overlook one of the best VR films in my
|> >        opinion and that is BRAINSTORM. Direct feed to your brain.
|> >        Emotions,
|> >        respiration the whole nine yards. It is a interesting concept being
|> >        able to record and reproduce your thoughts as well as others, and
|> >        then being able to share the same sensory experience. A little far
|> >        fetched maybe but so was TV 100 years ago.
|> 
|> I don't consider it VR because there was no interactive control by the
|> user in computer generated peceptions.  Essentially it was just a tape
|> recording.

        I would tend to challenge your definition of VR. I think constraining
        it to interactive control of computer generated perceptions is much
        to narrow. I would tend to broaden the definition to include any
        world in which you are interacting or sharing, whether artifical 
        or not. I might even go so far as to include scuba diving as a
        virtual world. Maybe we should put it out there for discussion and
        find out what peoples perceptions of VR really are?


         ______          ______ | Discover the best two thirds of the world...
    _  o(_||___)________/___    | Eric "mango" Manghise
  O(_)(       o  ______/    \   | (mango@esd.sgi.com)    1-415-390-1588
*______/------o-'            \  | PADI DM #51370  NACD #1263   ANDI #2807 



[MODERATOR'S NOTE: Here we go again...!  :-) It's a good idea to check
our moorings every so often as our field warps and wends.  Okay, so
what do people think?  Will the next respondent please start a new
topic thread?  Thanks. -- Bob Jacobson]
From: Patrick Devine <pdivine@unixg.ubc.ca>
Subject: APPS: Correct address for Castle Wolfenstein 3-D
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu
Organization: University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 23:14:26 GMT



Apoligies for the incorrect address I gave for the ftp sight to get
Castle Wolfenstien 3-D .. the correct address is "ccu.umanitoba.ca",
and not "ccu.umanitoba.edu" as I stated earlier.


-- 
|  The Postman Pat Show                featuring  o industrial strength noise |
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|  White Rock, BC                                   favorite tv shows!        |
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Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
From: mrettig@well.sf.ca.us (Marc Rettig)
Subject: Re: TECH: OIFF an object interchange file format
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 14:02:11 GMT



> OIFF is a tagged file format...

I didn't study the proposal in detail, though I like the idea of
tagged files.  Consider making OIFF an SGML document type. You'd have
the advantage of a growing number of tools that know how to parse your
files (including, I understand, some object database tools). Since
SGML documents include a header--the Document Type Definition--that
desribes its own structure, it isn't too tough to write a program to
read the header, construct an appropriate class definition (we're
talking Lisp or Smalltalk here), then read the document as a series of
instances.

There may also be benefit to gain from the HYTIME effort, which
describes a set of SGML tags for modeling time-dependent information
like music and video.

- Marc Rettig
  marc@well.sf.ca.us
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
From: stgprao@st.unocal.COM (Richard Ottolini)
Subject: Re: CULTURE: Movies other than Lawnmower Man...and that too!
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu
Organization: Unocal Corporation
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 15:04:45 GMT



In article <1992Sep3.073220.23973@u.washington.edu>
mango@nova.esd.sgi.com (Eric Manghise) writes:

>In article <1992Sep1.143849.468@unocal.com>, stgprao@st.unocal.COM
>(Richard Ottolini) writes:


>|> I don't consider it VR because there was no interactive control by the
>|> user in computer generated peceptions.  Essentially it was just a tape
>|> recording.
>
>        I would tend to challenge your definition of VR. I think constraining
>        it to interactive control of computer generated perceptions is much
>        to narrow. I would tend to broaden the definition to include any
>        world in which you are interacting or sharing, whether artifical 
>        or not. I might even go so far as to include scuba diving as a
>        virtual world. Maybe we should put it out there for discussion and
>        find out what peoples perceptions of VR really are?

The "definition of VR" is a recurring thread in this news group.  I
agree and have proposed in the past that much of human culture
concerns constructing artificial realities.  This particular news
group implicitly assumes the words "computer-assisted" in its
definition of VR.  Then in defining VR, some people have focused on
the content of VR while others describe the tools bringing it about.
From: kai@kai.nada.kth.se-dd (Kai-Mikael Jdd-Aro)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: WHO: Searching for Nordic Virtual Reality researchers
Date: 28 Aug 92 14:26:12 GMT
Organization: Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu


Crossposted from sci.virtual-worlds


I'm looking for contacts with research (and applications, not least!)
of VR and related technology in the Nordic countries.  In Sweden I
have contacts with the groups at Link|ping University and MultiG (the
latter which I belong to), and have heard rumours of people in
Tampere, Finland and lots of Norwegians working in the area.  Are you
out there and are there any others?  Any Icelandic VR research?


Kai-Mikael J{{-Aro      email:  kai@nada.kth.se     "Don't win, don't lose."
IPLab                   voice:  +46 8 790 91 05         -- Yoshigasaki-sensei
NADA, KTH               fax:    +46 8 790 09 30
S-100 44  Stockholm     telex:  812 6154 7052 SICS
SWEDEN                  teletex:2401-812 6154 7052=SICS
From: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu (Human Int. Technology Lab)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: TECH: New volumetric display (vs. Reality Engine?)
Date: 26 Aug 92 15:19:10 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Aug26.152140.2029
Organization: HIT Lab, Seattle WA.
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu



Crossposted from the WELL (192.132.30.2), the   vr   conference


Topic 49: Hardware for VR
#191: Kenny Meyer (kennym)      Tue, Aug 25, '92 (13:27)   13 lines


August 1992 PHOTONICS SPECTRA has a picture and squib about
a volumetric display built by Lambda systems of Highland Park, IL:

        "A new multiplaner display that presents nonholographic
        color images in real-time fills the need for volumetric
        imaging...  In this system, images are contained inside
        a clear acrylic shell that is 36 cm high and 30 cm in
        diameter, but future displays...will vary from minature
        to large scale."

Among the possible applications listed are medical imaging, air
traffic control, and objective 3D theater for VR.  This could make
the RealityEngine look cheap.
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
From: magick@iastate.edu (Magick Man)
Subject: TECH: Programming the Mac and Amiga for VR?
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 18:37:52 GMT



Greetings, I am just getting started in the VR field, and am trying to
find some C source code (although any language would do, I'm pretty
well versed in C) to help me get started.

The two platforms I have available to me are Mac and Amiga. It seems
the amiga would be a better choice for VR, as some of the larger (and
money making!)  systems like Virtuality are using them.

If anyone has or knows where I can get source code for 3-D objects,
bitplane (or byteplane) manipulation, Sega Glasses or PowerGlove code,
please let me know.

One other thing, if anyone has or can get ahold of Virtual Reality
Studio or Virtual Reality Toolkit for the Mac or Amiga, please let me
know. I'd love to know how these programs work! Thanks in advance.

Robert Gooch (magick@iastate.edu)
From: broehl@sunee.uwaterloo.ca (Bernie Roehl)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: TECH: Freescape
Date: 28 Aug 92 13:46:38 GMT
Organization: University of Waterloo
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu



A couple of people have asked me lately if I'm familiar with the
Freescape system.  All I really know about it is that it was used in
Virtual Reality Studio. Does anyone else know much about it?  The fact
that VRS is called a "commercial version" of the Freescape system
suggests that the original Freescape is (as its name implies) free.

Any pointers would be useful.

-- 
        Bernie Roehl, University of Waterloo Electrical Engineering Dept
        Mail: broehl@sunee.UWaterloo.ca
        BangPath: uunet!watmath!sunee!broehl
        Voice:  (519) 885-1211 x 2607 [work]
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
From: skr@castle.edinburgh.ac.uk
Subject: TECH: VR and Laser Displays
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu
Organization: University of Washington
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 16:40:30 GMT



VR and Laser-Displays
---------------------

Theres been mention here and elsewhere of using lasers in place of
LCD/CRTs in HMDs.

We perceive a host of problems with this approach mainly due to human
optics and natural perception. There would seem to be two options for
creating the viewed image:

i) The laser can scan onto a surface infront of the viewer to create
the equivalent of a natural optic array. This array is then brought
into focus by the human lens - This is just an expensive way of
replacing the current LCD/CRT or fibre optic displays:

ii) The suggestion that you can "write directly onto the retina".
This requires that you fire the light through the optical centre of
the lens to avoid prismatic displacement (which may constantly
fluctuate due to human accommodation), which in turn means that to
write a 40deg FOV the incident ray must move through 40deg at very
high speed (e.g. this is not like a CRT with a fixed gun, but because
the laser must fire through the lens centre -the source has to move).
In addition, however, our eyes constantly move/tremor (stabilized
images quickly fade) so that the system would need to be eye-movement
responsive.  Current light-weight eye-trackers have poor resolution &
stability - very accurate ones fill a good sized work bench and cost
you more than your VR system!

So how is this laser system meant to work - does anyone have any
serious suggestions on the geometry/optics/mechanics of this proposal
or is this another VR red-herring ?

Perception & Action in VR Project
Dept. of Psychology, Univ. of Edinburgh.

---------------------------------------------
[ isn"t the HIT lab doing some of this stuff Bob?  can you
tell us about it?]


[MODERATOR'S NOTE:  Not being at the HIT Lab on a regular basis, I
can only refer you to HIT Lab researcher Joel Kollin who is working
on this (jkollin@hitl.washington.edu). -- Bob Jacobson]
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
From: barker@qut.edu.au
Subject: TECH: Use of EMG as input to VR systems?
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu
Organization: Queensland University of Technology
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 17:38:14 GMT



G'Day Netters,

I have been keenly reading all the various combinations of apparatus
and display systems which are discussed in this group.

Just wondering if any has used EMG signals (monitoring of electrical
signal produced by active muscles) as inputs to their VR systems.

One that comes to mind is the use of EMG signals from the muscles
which control the eye to give an indication of where the subject is
looking.

Look forward to your reply.

Tim
From: u925599@postoffice.utas.edu.au (Chris Stapelberg)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: Re: SURVEY: Interaction in VR
Date: 26 Aug 92 03:43:19 GMT
Organization: University of Tasmania (Australia)
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu



In article <1992Aug26.011601.22217@u.washington.edu>,
steiner@bert.eecs.uic.edu (Karl Steiner) writes:

> That's where I need your help.  I'm hopeful that some multi-player
> game participants will take the time to complete this survey of 45
> questions and possibly correspond via e-mail.  I'd also appreciate any
> information from MPG moderators, programmers, and support personnel.
> Please note that my final goal will be the publication of my findings.
> No participants names will be used, but the collected data and
> anecdotes may be included in my written research.

Hi Karl.

Before I start, please don't get your hopes up - I have not answered
your survey and in fact I have never played a truly interactive game.
I have however, read your survey, and found it rather interesting.

It is nice know that there are people besides William Gibson (sorry to
bring the dreaded science-fiction genre into it) who are actually
considering the effects of the technology as such and not the
technology itself.

I have been doing some reading and a lot of thinking on the same
questions that you are interested in, albeit very non-professionally.

There are a few interesting possibilities that emerge from long bouts
of "mulling" over questions.

I realise that your time may be limited, so if you wish, take no
notice of my letter. But if you want some personal ideas on how this
technology may affect most of our concepts of ourselves and our
environment, feel free to write to me.

If you do reply, please inform me where I might get hold of your work,
if it is published.

Sorry I could be of no help so far.

regards,
Chris.
            address : u925599@postoffice.utas.edu.au
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
From: stgprao@st.unocal.COM (Richard Ottolini)
Subject: Re: CULTURE: Movies other than Lawnmower Man...and that too!
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu
Organization: Unocal Corporation
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 14:38:49 GMT



In article <1992Sep1.075654.8344@u.washington.edu>
mango@nova.esd.sgi.com (Eric Manghise) writes:

>        I dont think we should overlook one of the best VR films in my
>        opinion and that is BRAINSTORM. Direct feed to your brain. Emotions,
>        respiration the whole nine yards. It is a interesting concept being
>        able to record and reproduce your thoughts as well as others, and
>        then being able to share the same sensory experience. A little far
>        fetched maybe but so was TV 100 years ago.

I don't consider it VR because there was no interactive control by the
user in computer generated peceptions.  Essentially it was just a tape
recording.


[MODERATOR'S NOTE:  Thanks for the BRAINSTORM comments.  We're ready
for new films. -- Bob Jacobson]
Xref: sparky sci.virtual-worlds:2894 comp.sys.amiga.hardware:14527 comp.sys.amiga.misc:13085 comp.sys.amiga.games:12104 rec.games.misc:16959 rec.games.design:1591
From: geac@uunet.UU.NET
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds,comp.sys.amiga.hardware,comp.sys.amiga.misc,comp.sys.amiga.games,rec.games.misc,rec.games.design
Subject: TECH: "Virtuality" --- Amiga 3000... Some observations and Questions.
Summary: Saw "Virtuality" at CNE... Turns out that it's an Amiga 3000?
Keywords: amiga virtuatlity game observations questions
Date: 24 Aug 92 15:53:09 GMT
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Organization: Environment Canada --- Atmostpheric Environment Service


	Only a small percentage of the readership of UsNet will be going
to the "CNE" (Canadian National Exhibition) in Toronto, but I would
think that this display must be popping up at most major fairs of this
type.  If you're like me, you don't often go to fairs... but I was
dragged there by my girlfriend.  Right near the East gate, however,
was a display that really caught my fancy.

	First I'll discribe the hardware...

	You step into a circular inclosure that appears to have a joypad
on the bottom for you to stand on.  You then don a backpack that is
attached to a "visor" and a trigger.  You hold the trigger in your
hand.  The visor probably a somewhat standard (among the virtual
reality crowd) sterio colour monitor deal.

	At first, I thought this might be SGI showing off.  Not that I
don't like SGI, I just don't have any hope of affording one. Then I
noticed the keyboard on top of the box was a standard Amiga keyboard.
I was very intregued.  Apparently, then whole thing is run on an Amiga
3000.  In fact, since you are fighting against one other player, there
are two Amiga 3000's to each setup --- connected together in some
way... but I could not tell how as the cabling was obscured.  My
interest was definately piqued here, though, as I can definately
afford a 3000.

	In terms of the simulation, it's what you'd expect.  Polygon-style
graphics updated fairly frequently.  The game is a "war" game... you
try to blast away the other opponent, without getting blasted.  There
are computer generated things too... including teridactyl-like birds
that carry you off.  It seems to use most of the bandwidth and power
of the 3000, though.

	Now some questions:

	How many of these have been seen?  This can't be local to
Toronto...

	I see there is a delay between head movement and computer
response.  It's not too bad, but it would break the spell for me.  Is
there a way to (possibly) avoid some of this?  How much is normal for
more sky-high priced systems?

	I was told that the system was about $80,000.  Now the 3000 is
about $5000-$10,000 depending on what's required.  Is this type of
hardware normally that expensive (visor, joypad, etc...) ?

Dave.

--
David C. L. Gilbert                        |  Something witty should be here. |
dgilbert@aeshq.uucp -> this term           |                                  |
dgilbert@snowhite.cis.uoguelph.ca -> next  |-->Only Amiga makes it possible   |
    Environment Canada               term  |                                  |