VR Products
I eye i-Glasses
Virtual I/O's i-Glasses
are one of the coolest products
I saw at the conference. Even in spite of their low resolution
these are one of the best head mounted displays (HMD)
available for the money, although still somewhat prohibitive
in price for most of us. I tried them out while playing Descent,
a Doom-like 3D Computer Game. They were a real kick. The
i-Glasses were lightweight, unlike many of the other HMDs
I've used. They also provide you with the option of being
fully immersed in your virtual world or, by removing a detach-
able cover, seeing the real world in the peripheral space around
the image screen. I checked this feature out at my local retailer
while simultaneously watching Space Ghost on TV and all of
the other shoppers stare at me. It was a surreal experience. I
highly recommend it. The i-Glasses come in a standard version
for TV and video game viewing ($599) and a PC version with
an optional head tracking module ($799).
Smart Model/Smart Product
Another cool product on view at Siggraph was Multigen's
Smart Model. Smart Model is an amazing new 3D modeling
package that incorporates the use of an HMD and Pinch
Gloves
to construct and manipulate 3D models and move around within
your virtual workspace. I was mesmerized while watching the
demos at the Multigen booth. The demonstrator would simply
reach forward with both hands, press his thumb and finger
together, and pull himself through a scene. And just as easily,
he would reach out, pick up objects and move or modify them.
It was like a scene right out of the Johnny Mnemnonic movie.
Smart Model also has 3D browsers and toolsets that you can
call up and use within your virtual workspace. According to
Multigen, this product is so simple and intuitive to use that "non-
technical" users can begin building models and scenes in no time.
Turbo Kourier
Although not exactly a true VR system in my book, Vivid Group's
Mandala Virtual World system allows you to engage more that
just your eyes and hands while playing it's new title Turbo
Courier. The Mandala system is a Location Based Entertainment
(LBE) system that utilizes video cameras and chroma key tech-
nology to superimpose the player's image onto a videogame
scene which appears on a monitor in front of the player. In
Turbo Kourier, players control a skyboard -- a Jetsons-like
skateboard that flies through the air -- by ducking, jumping,
and moving left and right. The goal is to avoid the bad guys
and collide with others to earn points. I was actually winded
at the end of the game but I had fun playing.
3D Virtual Theater? or not?
Straylight Corporation has a long way to go before their 3D
Virtual Theaters are going to be worth my hard-earned cash.
This virtual experience fell short of the claims that Straylight
made in their promotional materials. Their virtual theater
consisted of about 10 chairs with HMDs. Our virtual exper-
ience titled "U.F.O. - Upon Further Observation" took us
through an alien abduction of a little boy who we watch fry
ants with a magnifying glass in the opening scene. After the
boy is beamed up to the ship, we see the aliens and their
spaceship from the boy's point of view. Actually there were
several times that it was unclear which p.o.v. we were seeing.
The graphics in this virtual film were also less than desirable;
the characters were poorly animated and rendered. But the
most irritating element of this experience was the "motion seat"
which rumbled through the entire animation for no apparent
reason that I could detect. The rumbling never seemed to
coincide with any particular event and it never stopped.
Imagining a virtual theater in which the audience "experiences
a journey through cyberspace together" is enticing. Visions
of the holodeck, or experiences that allow a number of viewers
to control the experience on some level, come to mind. But
don't expect any of this in "UFO." The experience was not
virtual and I have doubts about its definition as theater.
Red Planet/Dead World
Red Planet by Virtual World Entertainment Inc., a software
title that runs on their Tesla LBE virtual reality gaming system,
is another example of a good idea that didn't quite go all the
way. Unlike Straylight's virtual theater, Red Planet is inter-
active. The problem is that it isn't immersive. Unless you
consider sitting in a cockpit and watching a monitor immersive.
Red Planet is a 3D (albeit viewed on a 2D monitor) interactive,
multi-user racing game. The goal in Red Planet is to complete
as many laps as possible in the allotted time through "the canals
of Mars," a race track reminiscent of the Star Wars Death Star
canal scene. They even have huge reactors with energy beams
projecting from them at each end of the race course. A few
simple changes and this video game would have become more
of an experience. The simple addition of an HMD or a larger
screen with a cockpit that moves or provides some sort of
physical feedback would have made this a much more thrilling
experience. I guess as video games go, this one is entertaining.
But as a virtual experience it fails. I probably would have been
more disappointed if I had paid for it.
Venturer S-2
A roller coaster at Siggraph? Yes, you heard it. Venturer S-2
is an LBE system by Thomson Entertainment Systems. This
is more like an amusement park ride a la Star Tours. Riders
enter a small pod which holds two people (larger models hold
up to 14 people). A panel on the dash of the pod has several
buttons used to select your choice of several different rides.
Alas, the demo had only one choice. Once started, the pod
moves in conjunction with images that appear on the monitor/
window to simulate your ride on a futuristic, otherworldly
roller coaster. The best part is when the car flies off the
tracks, and then lands on another set after flying in the air
for a few seconds. This happens at several points along
the course of the ride. It wasn't as effective as Star Tours
but it combined elements of the Tesla cockpit and the Star-
light theater much more effectively.
(continued...)
