From: diego@minerva.st.dsi.unimi.it (Diego Montefusco)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: Re: INDUSTRY: Dimension International
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 16:22:41 CET
Organization: University of Washington
NNTP-Posting-Host: stein.u.washington.edu
Originator: hlab@stein.u.washington.edu



In <9301242101.AA16582@ghost.dsi.unimi.it>, on Jan 24, you wrote:

> From: John Styles <hpengwyn@cix.compulink.co.uk>
> Subject: Dimension International
> Date: Tue, 19 Jan 93 19:10 GMT
> ...
> b) is relatively cheap UKP3500 (double this if you want to program it
> in 'C' as well as its built in language [see c below])

My product list is maybe old, but gives the following prices:

Realtime VISUALIZER (to USE the worlds):     UKP  4500

Virtual Reality Toolkit:

   Shape Editor
   World Editor
   Standard shape and obj libraries
   Utilities                                 UKP 10500

I think it is an EXCELLENT product for desktop VR. It is just not AS
CHEAP as you thought, that's all.

> c) it runs under DOS on PCs. Dimension were a games company before and
> I suspect the software has large amounts written in assembler so I don't
> forsee them porting it in the near future (I have no connection with them
> so this is just an educated guess).

I don't think this is the reason why the use PCs, see below.

> f) supports flat-screen (SVGA with some subset of SVGA cards) only. The input
> device is typically Space-Ball. I realise that whether this sort of thing
> is 'really' VR is a theological issue in this conference but I have to say
> that...
> g) on flat screen it looks a hell of a lot better than WorldToolKit in terms
> of frame rate and that's with WorldTookKit using a special display with
> RISC procesor. Needless to say a 486DX2 66MHz helps (!)

The hard-core of the Desktop VR system is NOT a 486: it is a SPEA FGA4
graphic board, which mounts a TI34020 graphic processor. That's why I
don't think they are using assembler routines from the games. Maybe
they're using assembler routines on the TI processor, but that's
another thing, and I don't think this is the reason why they don't
port the system on other computers.  Anyway they ALSO (not only
Sense8) use ADDITIONAL HARDWARE.

Sense8's system, WorldToolKit does NOT use a RISC: it uses Intel DVI
ActioMedia boards, and sure it is slower than Dimension's system, but
it also GIVES TEXTURE MAPS. It is slower since the math geometrical
transformations are performed by the CPU (a 486 usually) and not by a
special purpose processor, like the TI 34020 in the Dimension system.

> This is not to say that WorldToolKit lacks merit...

This is not to say that Superscape lacks merit... it is just for
information sake.

Diego

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   | Diego Montefusco     |         Computer Science Department          | 
   | Via Pirano 4         |         University of Milan - Italy          |
   | 20127 Milano         |                                              |
   | Italia               |     P L E A S E   R E P L Y   M E   T O :    |
   | +39 (0)2 27001467    |         montefus@ghost.dsi.unimi.it          |
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------