From root@newsbf02.news.aol.com Mon May 15 14:47:34 1995 Return-Path: Received: from mx5.u.washington.edu by stein2.u.washington.edu (5.65+UW95.02/UW-NDC Revision: 2.32 ) id AA03592; Mon, 15 May 95 14:47:34 -0700 Received: from hitl-new.hitl.washington.edu by mx5.u.washington.edu (5.65+UW95.02/UW-NDC Revision: 2.31 ) id AA22238; Mon, 15 May 95 14:47:33 -0700 Received: from relay3.UU.NET (relay3.UU.NET [192.48.96.8]) by hitl.hitl.washington.edu (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id OAA03957 for ; Mon, 15 May 1995 14:42:55 -0700 Received: from mail02.mail.aol.com by relay3.UU.NET with ESMTP id QQypwp10762; Mon, 15 May 1995 17:47:27 -0400 Received: from newsbf02.news.aol.com by mail02.mail.aol.com with SMTP (1.37.109.11/16.2) id AA214304445; Mon, 15 May 1995 17:47:25 -0400 Received: by newsbf02.news.aol.com (1.38.193.5/16.2) id AA27221; Mon, 15 May 1995 17:47:24 -0400 Posted-Date: 15 May 1995 17:47:22 -0400 Received-Date: Mon, 15 May 1995 17:47:24 -0400 To: sci-virtual-worlds@uunet.uu.net Path: newsbf02.news.aol.com!not-for-mail From: genreality@aol.com (GenReality) Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds Subject: PROD: Low-Cost DataGlove Available From General Reality Date: 15 May 1995 17:47:22 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Lines: 65 Sender: root@newsbf02.news.aol.com Message-Id: <3p8i5a$qij@newsbf02.news.aol.com> Reply-To: genreality@aol.com (GenReality) Status: OR Contact: Arthur Zwern, President & CEO General Reality Company 124 Race Street San Jose, CA 95126 408-289-8340 Editors: Please Embargo Publication Until May 22, 1995 HEAD: General Reality Company Ships New Low-Cost Virtual Reality Glove SUB-HEAD: Leading VR Peripherals Supplier Assumes Master Distributor Role To Deliver Glove-Based Computer Input Devices To U.S. Market May 22, 1995, San Jose, CA: General Reality Company and Fifth Dimension Technologies today announced that General Reality will act as a master US distributor of the new "5th Glove" DataGlove manufactured offshore by Fifth Dimension. At its introductory price of just US$495, this new glove fills the large price/performance gap that has long existed between multi-thousand-dollar gloves such as the former VPL DataGlove, and toy gloves such as the former Mattel Powerglove. The new glove's breakthrough capability will enable a variety of promising commercial applications such as virtual object manipulation, virtual actor motion capture, telerobotics, and rehabilitation therapy. Following a week-long evaluation, Peter Rothman of DIVE Laboratories indicated that "It works as well as the original VPL DataGlove, and it's very affordable". The patent-pending glove includes fiber-optic bend sensors for each finger, operating at 125 hz/finger update rate, for a net update rate of 25hz/hand. The glove interfaces through a half-size 8-bit ISA bus board that supports data retrieval at typical bus speeds (4.77Mhz/8Mhz). Up to four gloves per board may be connected for simultaneous use. Calibration for each user takes just seconds, and results in automatic division of each finger's total travel into 256 positions (8 bits). The 5th Glove is supplied with a complete software suite, including a Windows DLL with installation & calibration routines, a graphical (polygon) representation of the user's hand, and help files. A sample DOS program includes C code for hardware interfacing. Also included is Kinemusica software developed specifically for the glove, which converts finger bend data to MIDI output and allows playing the violin, piano, or other instruments through many sound cards. User-definable gesture recognition software is also provided. Future releases of Sense8's WorldToolKit, VREAM's VRCreator, Superscape and other popular virtual reality software tools are expected to support the system. The 5th Glove is available in the US immediately from General Reality Company at special introductory pricing of $495 for right-handed users and $595 for left-handed users, with reseller and volume discounts available. Low-cost hand-tracking options are in development for late-1995 release. Introductory pricing is good through June 30, 1995, after which time standard pricing is expected to be marginally higher to account for import duties. For additional information, please contact General Reality Company at 408-289-8340, FAX 408-289-8258, or email GenReality@aol.com. General Reality Company is a leading supplier of high-performance virtual reality peripherals for scientific, commercial, and public entertainment applications, with a customer base that includes the largest AutoCad training center in the world, leading virtual reality researchers, Fortune 500 companies, and government installations.