Greetings to Paul Fishwick, Vincent Stanford, & everyone. It's time to converge from our divergent 3d worlds.
CAVES and other networked 3d immersive worlds have had lots of attention and funding, often resulting over-priced, under-utilized systems built on conflicting non-standards, and limited to high end systems, untouched by the poor taxpayer that funded the system. Now modern portable languages, cheap hardware and emerging standards are allowing the realization of the convergence of the professional and hobby systems. VRML with C or Java can combine to provide networked, 3d systems portable across high-end professional unix and linux systems used in research and industry and common, inexpensive home computers running Windows or Linux. Paul & Vincent, have you seen what the other is doing ? Isn't there some commonality where cooperation could benefit ? Paul, you've expressed some interest in Java3d for your VRML animation ... are you still interested ? Has it worked to your satisfaction, do you think it looks promising ? Wouldn't you agree the Java3d community is large, growing, and highly capable, and using the some of the best, most appropriate, and modern tools ? Mr. Stanford, can your Smart Video Conferancing System include 3d virtual objects ? Would you like to ? I saw all the related technologies of video capture and networking but not the inclusion of 3d modeling. We can do that with your Linux implementation, with the open standard of Web3d's VRML, and H-Anim Avatars. Lot's of incompatible systems have been created, some created and abandoned after considerable effort and expense, so it's appropriate we coordinate, cooperate, and, um, network. | 'Smart' Video Conferencing with open standards (Nist) | | Government Computer News ( Today, Feb. 12, 2002 ): | ------------------------ | | NIST delves into pervasive computing | ------------------------------------ | | Pervasive-computing systems could make | conference rooms brainy, according to the | Smart Space Laboratory researchers at the | National Institute of Standards and Technology. | ... | The meeting room generates about 1G per minute | or 60G per hour of data from five steerable | Sony EVI-D30 videoconferencing cameras ... | [and] about 200 low-cost ... microphones ... | The open-source clustering software can harness | up to 24 computers, Stanford said. | | NIST has made the source code and | documentation available for download at | http://www.nist.gov/smartspace/toolChest/nsfs http://www.gcn.com/21_3/tech-report/17856-1.html | http://archives.java.sun.com/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0202&L=java3d-interest&P=R31446 VRML in the CAVE ---------------- | I've been working on viewing and browsing | VRML files in the virtual environment we | developed around here called the CAVE. | | Last spring ('96) I took a course in VR | and decided to develop a browser for VRML1.0 | (which was all that existed then) as a project. | | The approach I took was to write it in IRIS Performer. | ... | Meanwhile, the www-vrml mailing list were | debating on the VRML 2.0 specification. | http://www.evl.uic.edu/swami/cave6u/ NASA's RAVE CAVE ( similar to Fishwick's 'new' NAVE CAVE ) ----------------- | A new facility, the Glenn Reconfigurable User Interface | and Virtual Reality Exploration Laboratory, known as the | GRUVE Lab, at NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, | Ohio, has made that possible. | | The GRUVE Lab features a RAVE (Reconfigurable | Advanced Visualization Environment), which enables | the user to be immersed in a virtual environment | created through computer imaging. | | The RAVE consists of _ three _ large eight-foot by | eight-foot, _ rear-projection _ screens housed in large, | moveable boxes. Each unit is equipped with air casters | and can be raised and _ rolled _ into different viewing | configurations, forming a flat display wall, | a panoramic view or a CAVE (Configurable Automated | Virtual Environment). | | The CAVE configuration is achieved when the two | outer units are moved inward until they are at a | 90-degree angle to the one in the center. Another | projector and a retractable mirror are positioned | to generate an image on the flooring surface of this | three-sided room. | http://nctn.hq.nasa.gov/innovation/4-advtech4.html http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/PAO/pressrel/2001/01-023.html NAVE CAVE -- Paul Fishwick: Caves - a cheaper version = ==================================================== | | I am seeking solutions to the problem of viewing | | VRML worlds on a NAVE. | | The overview of the NAVE can be found at | | http://www.digitalworlds.ufl.edu/research/nave/default.asp | | There is one host PC that sends position and orientation | information (of the avatar) to each of 3 PCs, each of | which projects an image onto a panel. | | With 3 panels, one obtains a panoramic view. | | The only problem that we have now is that the | default software to make this work revolves | around a package called "SVE" (which uses OpenGL). | | We'd like to make the NAVE available to the | display of VRML (and X3D). This would open the | NAVE to many more applications. | | http://www.web3d.org/www-vrml/hypermail/2002/01/0423.html http://archives.java.sun.com/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0202&L=java3d-interestP=70206 Paul, Networked 3d worlds can and have been done with Java and that's a very good way of doing it, the portablity of VRML shouldn't be made less portable with non-portable OS specific kludges tied to one particular plug-in viewer. Don't artifically limit your performance & portability, & relevance. Networked Multi-player 3d worlds & Games, VRML with Java3d ---------------------------------------------------------- http://www.frontiernet.net/~imaging/sc_tanks_and_robots.jpg http://www.frontiernet.net/~imaging/games_with_java3d.html http://archives.java.sun.com/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0202&L=java3d-interest&P=70206 Black Hole CAVE, NSF Money Goes in, No Light comes out ------------------------------------------------------ | Immersive Technology on the World Wide Web: VRML | | Margaret Corbit, Cornell Theory Center, USA | | Life at the Bleeding Edge ... | | we are working on at just about the time that someone | (Netscape or Microsoft) announces full support for | multi-user VRML. Then the fun will really begin. | | Acknowledgments: National Science Foundation, NIH, | NY State, IBM, Corporate Partners Development Team at CTC | http://www.tc.cornell.edu/~corbitm/vrml.html | The CAVE has the current capabilities and | engineering characteristics: | | * Multi-person Virtual Environment | * Back projection onto 10' x 10' x 9' room ... | * Inside-out surround 3-D video presentation | * Co-existing real and virtual objects ... | * SGI Onyx with 3 Reality Engine 2s | * Two adjoining walls and the floor ... | | * Expensive | http://www.cs.uic.edu/~kenyon/NASA/Workshop_Noor.html http://www.evl.uic.edu/pape/CAVE/prog/cc | CAVERNsoft G2 is an Open Source C++ ready2ware | toolkit for building collaborative networked | applications. CAVERNsoft's main strength is in | providing networking capabilities for supporting | high throughput collaborative applications. | These applications need not be CAVE applications. | In addition CAVERNsoft provides modules for accelerating | the construction of Tele-Immersion (or collaborative | virtual reality) applications. | | SOURCE CODE AVAILABLE | | These capabilities work across | | SGI, Linux, Solaris and Win32 (Windows 9x, NT, 2000) | | Higher level modules ... are designed mainly for | | SGI computers. | | They use the CAVE library and Iris Performer. | | * Basic avatar classes without graphics. | * Performer articulated avatars. | * Performer navigation and collision detection. | http://www.openchannelsoftware.org/projects/CAVERNsoft_G2/ | CAVE and ImmersaDesk Applications | --------------------------------- | http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/VR/cavernus/shared.html | DIVERSE | | Device Independent Virtual Environments- | Reconfigurable, Scalable, Extensible | | DIVERSE is free (GNU LGPL and GPL) software, ... | utility and example programs. It runs on | GNU/Linux and IRIX systems. | | [ but the graphics interface only works with SGI Performer ? ] | http://thor.sv.vt.edu/diverse/ http://www.sv.vt.edu/future/cave/software/software.html | CAVE Library | | http://www.evl.uic.edu/pape/CAVE/prog/ | | developers: Thomas DeFanti, Dave Adamczyk, ... | | funding: NSF, DoE, Industrial Partnerships | | start date: 09/01/91 | end date: ongoing | http://www.evl.uic.edu/research/template_res_project.php3?indi=171 | CAVE Library | | http://www.evl.uic.edu/pape/CAVE/prog/ | | developers: Thomas DeFanti, Dave Adamczyk, ... | | funding: NSF, DoE, Industrial Partnerships | | start date: 09/01/91 | end date: ongoing | http://www.evl.uic.edu/research/template_res_project.php3?indi=171 | A CAVE program should include the appropriate | CAVE header file - either cave.h for IrisGL | programs or cave_ogl.h for OpenGL programs. | | IrisGL programs will need to be linked with the | CAVE library, the IrisGL library, and the math | library (-lcave -lgl -lm). OpenGL programs will | need to be linked with the OpenGL CAVE library, | the OpenGL library, the math library, and the | X libraries (-lcave_ogl -lGL -lX11 -lXi -lm). | http://www.evl.uic.edu/pape/CAVE/prog/CAVEGuide.2.5.6.html#programming | The SAS cube, a 3- by 3-meter portable cave | developed by Z-A, Barco, and ClartE, can | function with two, four, or eight PCs running | Windows 2000 or Linux, or with an SGI Onyx. | http://cgw.pennnet.com/Articles/Article_Display.cfm?Section=Articles&Subsection=Display&ARTICLE_ID=126854 | This website tells you how to add sound to an application | written in C or in C++ (as most CAVE applications are). | http://www.isl.uiuc.edu/software/vss_tutorial/ | Features: Ein Verwaltungsprogramm f�r das | Immobilienangebot, ein Server, der die | relevanten Daten der Immobilien f�r die | Client-Applets zur Verf�gung stellt, | interaktive Auswahl von Immobilien im | 3D Modell, e-mail Konsole im 3D-Modell | | Realisierung: PC , VRML (Dynamik mit Hilfe von EAI), Java | | Diplomarbeit: Potentials and Limitations of CAVE Technology | Blue Window Pane (Interiors): | Implementierung der CAVE-Applikation im Rahmen eines | Forschungsaufenthaltes am Electronic Visualization | Laboratory der University of Illinois at Chicago. | | Features: Interaktive, k�nstlerische CAVE-Applikation, | nach Ideen von Margaret Dolinsky. | |Realisierung: SGI, IRIS Performer, xP, C++ | www.evl.uic.edu/dolinsky/interiors/index.html | | Seit Oktober 1998 im Futurelab: | Entwicklung, Implementierung und Test von | CAVE-Applikationen gemeinsam mit den 3D - | Modellern des Labs. | Features: Industriesimulationen, | Pr�sentationsapplikationen, Kunstapplikationen | Realisierung: SGI, IRIS Performer, xP, C++, | u. a. Libraries und Tools | http://futurelab.aec.at/homepage/show_one.asp?wid=155 http://www.tc.cornell.edu/news/releases/2001/educluster.asp http://futurelab.aec.at/homepage/show_one.asp?wid=155 'PC' based commercial 'Cave' like system. | | Sometime called virtual reality software, | or cluster visualization, or multiwall projection, | thus type of software allows for the synchronization | of a multiple of PC workstations, such that a scene | is looked at by the various PC, rendered on each | workstation independently, then shown as one | seamless image. | | It can be implemented into a CAVE-like VR environment, | or as one very large Virtual Wall comprised | of many screens. | http://www.viz-tek.com/immerse.html | CAVE library upgrades. EVL successfully ported | CAVE libraries to the R10000 Infinite Reality | systems and the Onyx2 (for the CAVE, ImmersaDesk, | and Infinity Wall). | | The CAVE library was also ported to the | SGI Indigo Maximum Impact and the O2/Octane | systems for the ImmersaDesk. | | New initiative: | | NASA collaborations for virtual prototyping. | EVL is collaborating with Dr. Ahmed Noor of the | University of Virginia/ NASA Langley on virtual | prototyping for spacecraft design. The CAVE | and ImmersaDesk provide designers with a | visualization platform to view computational | models created using supercomputers. | http://cslu.cse.ogi.edu/nsf/isgw97/reports/defanti.html | Vomit Mountain | --------------- | Vomit Mountain is a roller coaster ride created for the CAVE | http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/VR/cavernus/VOMIT/Vomit.html | The two big CAVE programs here | ( one of it driving a 6 wall CAVE ) use | OpenVRML based VRML import or VRML Browser. | | [ Joerg Scheurich wrote to compl.lang.java.3d ] | http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&th=584644b051d4718c "or" ? Do you mean both use both ? Or you're not sure ? If they used Java3d, that solution would portable across Windows, Linux and the Unix-es from SGI, IBM, etc. and be 'accessable' to millions of Java programmers, a larger community than the Perl programming community. But if it runs on Linux, I like it either way. ;^) Java3d gives you animation of H-Anim Avatars in a browser, or out, with portabilty from Windows to Linux and other Unixes with the Sun VRML Loaders. -- 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".
