From: bm@cs.columbia.edu (Blair MacIntyre) Subject: Re: APPS: VR as Programming Aid Date: 19 Aug 1996 13:58:12 -0400 Message-ID: Organization: Columbia University >>>>> On Thu, 15 Aug 1996 12:23:09 EDT, Jerry Isdale >>>>> said: >> What I'd really like to see from in VR development is a simple (ha ha) >> extention to the viewing area of the CRT. A set of goggles, >> obviously. It would be WONDERFUL if I could have a 180 degree (or so) >> spherical VR display where I could lay out 3 dozen or more pages of >> software and simply turn my head to look at them. The mouse would >> still work of course and, idealy, a corneal-reflective targeting >> subsystem to replace the mouse would be even nicer. Combine this with >> some vocal recognition and the programming environment would be a >> whole new, much more efficient world. Jerry> Check out the work by Steve Feiner, Blair McIntyre, et al at Jerry> http://www.cs.columbia.edu/graphics/projects/wotw/wotw.html Jerry> They built a see through HMD that provides a full X-windows Jerry> overlay on the real world. And wonderful work it is. :-) Seriously, we are still working on this sort of thing. Part of my disertation interest is in integrating multiple displays and creating a hybrid virtual/real environment aimed at helping with just this sort of problem. For the time being, I think that hybrid approaches like ours, in which high quality desktop displays are embedded in the virtual world, are the way to go: the quality of both the tracking systems and the displays are sufficiently poor that it is still a good idea to use a desktop, wall-mounted or hand-held display whenever possible. -- Blair MacIntyre (bm@cs.columbia.edu), Graduate Student (Graphics and UI Lab) smail: Dept. of Computer Science, 1214 Amsterdam Ave, Mail Code 0401 Columbia University, New York, NY 10027-7003