From: Robin Hollands Subject: Re: TECH: Auto-focus VR helmet Construction Date: 4 Sep 1995 12:14:18 GMT Organization: University of Sheffield , UK From Robin Hollands peter.joseph.kovach@medtronic.com (Peter Kovach) wrote: >In article <41v0bb$h15@hippo.shef.ac.uk>, Robin Hollands says: > >..deletion... > >>CyberMaxx 180K >> >>.. comments about the CyberMaxx 180K >And it still looks like you are looking through two Coke bottles. It >makes absolutely no difference what display device you use >(resolution, etc) if you live to poor optics. The CyberMaxx gets >'better' FOV via a very distorted image. I found myself trying to >"look around" the rounded edge of the optic to see the rest of the >image. "Binocular vision / display" isn't supposed to mean I feel >like I am looking through a set of binoculars! :> > Once again, I suspect that Peter is talking about the 120K CyberMaxx. One of the many refinements that the 180K has is that it uses *rectangular* lenses, and therefore it would be hard to look around the 'rounded edge'. One of the sacrifices made in the new design was to drop the field of view down to 56 degrees (from over 60 degrees previously), in order to reduce distortion to a minimum, I suspect. >>For the uninitiated - a piece of equipment like this is already under >>development called the Retinal Scanner. A similar(ish) device is also on >>the market called the Private Eye HMD (from Reflection Technology) which >>vertically scans a horizontal array of LEDs. This is the same technology >>as is in the bizarre Nintendo Virtual Boy (?) HMD >> > >Apparently this is a different "Private Eye" display from what I have >used. It was nothing more than a set of eye glasses with a reflected, >see-through image, displayed on the lens of the sunglasses the display >was mounted to. The idea was that you could jog, etc. while watching >TV. A unique device, kind of fun, but NOT an HMD. Certainly this >technique is usable for a side reflected display HMD, and various >renditions of these have been done by universities, etc. Hmmm..., this sounds like a barely disguised suggestion that I don't know what I'm talking about! The Reflection Technology Private Eye has been around for a number of years now, and looks like a small, matchbox sized plastic box, with a rectangular hole in the side. The image appears as a high contrast red on black picture. The display unit has been used in many systems, such as the CamNet expert-over-the-shoulder system, and written up in many of the VR books (see 'The Science of Virtual Reality and Virtual Environments' by Kalawasky for a good description). Incidentally, it seems a little arrogant to make sweeping statements about what consitutes an HMD. By definition *any* display mounted on the head is a Head Mounted Display (HMD). The term in no way makes any statement about its quality or suitability for VR or any other application. Cheers, Robin Hollands r.hollands@sheffield.ac.uk (Chairman UK VR-SIG, Fellow of the Virtual Reality Society, VR Research Associate, Author of 'The Virtual Reality Homebrewer's Handbook' {out soon!}, Journalist for VR News, VR World, Virtual, PCVR and Audio Visuality) :-)