Cluster for Immersive VR (slashdot.org) --------------------------( today: Dec. 18, 2001 ) | | the folks down at the University of Illinois ... | created a 6-sided CAVE like system called ALICE. | | But, instead of running it off of a SGI Onyx, | they've developed a distributed environment for | visualization called Syzygy. [souce code avialable] | http://slashdot.org/articles/01/12/18/0424225.shtml
6 sided Virtual Realitiy Cube & your NSF ... ---------------------------------------- | | now under construction in the ISL, is the | 6-sided virtual reality cube named ALICE. ... | | Projects supported in the ISL focus on | combining novel engineering research with | psychological studies to determine the | efficacy of the engineered solutions to | human-machine communication. The ISL facility | is supported by the Beckman Institute and the | National Science Foundation. | http://www.isl.uiuc.edu Software ... for Inexpensive VR Via Graphics Clusters ----------------------------------------------------- | | Portability is a key design consideration. | | By keeping the software framework simple and | the library dependencies small and limited to | widely implemented OS services, like | | sockets, threads, and OpenGL, | | porting the software is quite easy. | | The ... system work[s] on SGI Irix, Linux, and Win32. | | [ note: so does VRML with Java3d ;^) -- P.F. ] | | Portability is critical in the heterogeneous, | cash-strapped, networked environment targeted | by this research. | | One wants to be able to repurpose already | existing equipment. | | One wants to have the flexibility to run | any piece of software on | any piece of hardware around the lab. | | [ Um, like: Write Once, Run Everywhere. -- P.F. ] | | Expensive SGI hardware should not go | to waste, and choice of a variety of | PC operating systems ensures that one | will be able to track PC graphics | performance and graphics drivers no | matter which OS forges ahead. | | [ Integrated Systems Lab, University of Illinois ] | http://www.isl.uiuc.edu/ClusteredVR/paper/DGDoverview.htm http://www.isl.uiuc.edu/ClusteredVR/ClusteredVR.htm http://www.isl.uiuc.edu/ClusteredVR/szg-0.3.tar.gz (software) 3d animation with VRML that is portable: SGI, Linux, Win32 ----------------------( Java3d with Sun VRML Loaders ) http://www.frontiernet.net/~imaging/java3d_and_vrml.html So this Immersive V.R. system could support ... Web3d's H-Anim Avatars with Gesture Animations, today ... and still be portable across SGI, Linux & Win32 ! with VRML & Java3d ( perhaps with imperfect synchonization of the 6 views ) This is probably beyond the scope of what many of are working on today ... but some of us like to dream a little about the future, as we work on our smaller 3d problems of the moment. But for some for some of us, it's not really that distant ... http://www.frontiernet.net/~imaging/sc_java3d_vs_plugin.jpg Portability is not just a dream of the radical fringe. Portability is the reality the networked world of today. Portability is what VRML & Java are about. -- Paul, Java Developer & Web Animator ----------------------------------------------------- "Imaging the Imagined: Modeling with Math & a Keyboard" =========================================================================== To unsubscribe, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and include in the body of the message "signoff JAVA3D-INTEREST". For general help, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and include in the body of the message "help".
