A lot of your message rings true for sure. I'd like to add a couple of comments...
They read the marketing blurb and find out that XYZ toolkit claims to support the device, but then invariably not he file format they have of this. A classic case of this is the VRML work we do. They have a heap of data, use VTK to massage it, then drop it as a VRML file, but there's not a single VRML browser that runs on a CAVE that supports the spec well enough to be useful (there are several partial efforts, but none that support enough of the spec to be useful, or that they only support VRML 1.0).
I didn't realize the situation was so bad! We use Java3D in a CAVE, and the latest Xj3D. How does Xj3D stack up to the rest?
Contributing to all of this that these places rarely have the funds or the desire to hire a graphics programmer to run the device. Yes, as odd as it seems, they can find $200K for a CAVE, but not $40K for a developer/admin to run them or the $20K a year for a support contract to run any sort of software on them. We've lost count of the number of times we've turned up to some site to see exactly this situation.
Very true. Especially when it comes to academic grants, it's easier to get equipment than people.
The universities that really make use of their high-end equipment are the ones that have active 3D graphics programs, which means that they have a heap of grad students actively developing software for them.
Ah yes, the joys of slave labourers. :-)
With a fixed budget, visuals are far more important than the underlying toolkit. If you can't propose to them a toolkit that "just runs out of the box", then you're not even in the running. For example, rolling into a proposal and saying "we can custom code you an application that runs on Java3D and Sun hardware"
This last statement seems a little funny to me. If it was in Java3D, why would it only run on Sun hardware? Perhaps it was just an off the cuff example. I hope that the renewed Java3D commitment, and the ability to fix some really annoying bugs (DOT3 texture blending, J3DTimer and Alpha object transparency bugs come to mind) will help us make our developments here more polished and more portable!
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