ium Pro processor, as well as workstations from Hewlett-Packard (Palo Alto, CA), Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI, Mountain View, CA), Sun Microsystems (Mountain View, CA), and others, will continue to deliver increasing power at decreasing prices.
Another key trend: VR development software is getting easier to use and less expensive. Software from vendors such as Division, Sense8 (Mill Valley, CA), Superscape (Palo Alto, CA), and others let nonprogrammers build 3-D worlds via menu selections. "This is extremely important, because it means you no longer have to be a VR expert to build a 3-D virt
ual world," says Schiff.
VR development tools are also immersing the developers themselves. New tools slated for release in May on SGI platforms from MultiGen (San Jose, CA) let developers build, stretch, and color 3-D scenes literally by waving their hands around (
see the photos
).
Although VR development tools can still be pricey (e.g.,
MultiGen's SmartScene
will likely sell for over $10,000), prices for other toolkits and components are dropping. For example, Apple recently eliminated royalty fees from its $495 QuickTime VR authoring tool. A turnkey development system from Division that costs $75,000 would have cost $250,000 two years ago. Dive Labs' (Santa Cruz, CA) $150 C++-based VR development toolkit, called Amber, runs on Windows 95 and NT. A version for SGI and other workstation platforms costs just $199. Another Dive toolkit, vrTrader, lets business managers monitor financial data in animated 3-D scenes (see
"Assets in Wonderland,"
July 1995 BYTE). Company officials say they expect to release a toolkit for Visual Basic developers later this year. And Polhemus (Colchester, VT) now sells its two-input body-motion tracking unit for PCs at $999, down from $2200.
Patricia Glovsky, an equity analyst with Kaufman Brothers (New York, NY), says that digital media--the blending of graphics, animation, and video--will eventually supplant graphics-only VR environments. "Three-dimensional worlds will soon evolve from computer-generated, graphics-only-based environments into full digital-media worlds. These new environments will be quite compelling for developers and users alike," she says.
An especially intriguing new development will be the merging of VR technology with the Internet. For example, Virtual Reality Markup Language (VRML) allows designers to create entire 3-D environments, such as a downtown shopping district, that users can explore over the Internet (for more information, see
"Put the Space in Cyberspace"
).
Microsoft's Internet Studio (aka Blackbird), a Web and multimedia toolkit, will enable developers to create virtual 3-D worlds. Java-based development environments will allow developers to build applets that have the ability to interact with objects within these worlds.
In addition to navigating 3-D Internet worlds with
avatars
, computer reincarnations of yourself (for more information, see
"Agents and Avatars,"
February BYTE), you will also interact with other avatars in a shared virtual environment. Such interaction might be based on the DIS (Distributed Interactive Simulation) protocol, which enables thousands of entities (e.g., tanks, planes, and people) to interact in a huge virtual space. Another exciting possibility is distributed gaming.
"Three-dimensional worlds on the Internet will be popular because it's a metaphor that everybody can relate to," Glovsky says. "This is exactly what is needed to bring non-computer-literate mass markets on-line."
photo_link (93 Kbytes)
Future VR applications might not even require a mouse or a keyboard. Using MultiGen's SmartScene software, developers and end users can interact with 3-D scenes by manipulating objects using both hands.
screen_link (114 Kbytes)
One exampl
e of how VR is changing business is at Ford Motor Co., where researchers use Division's dVise and dVS VR software to evaluate new arrangements for instrument panels.
screen_link (46 Kbytes)
Pressing together your forefinger and thumb
(top)
lets you manipulate objects, such as this fence. Or you can put your arms together and fly through a model.
MultiGen's toolkit lets you stretch and manipulate objects
(middle)
. Here the designer is stretching the picket fence to cordon off a lawn.
A partially completed scene as viewed from the street
(bottom)
, showing the fence. Models created with MultiGen have intelligence: Fences can snap to the lawn, but not to the middle of the pavement, making object manipulation easier.
Virtual Reality Goes to Work
