From: edlantz@aol.com (Edlantz)
Subject: CONF: Spatially Immersive Displays
Date: 2 Jul 1996 21:42:42 -0400
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)


Hi.  SIGGRAPH 96 is upon us.  I am chairing the panel "The Future of
VR: HMDs Versus Spatially Immersive Displays."  This is a final call
for comments, discussion, and other participation in this topic (yes,
the panel has already begun on USENET).  Also, I am considering
distributing an industry guide of SID-type display manufacturers and
research programs.
If you would like to be included in this guide, please email me
personally (edlantz@aol.com).

Here is a draft description of our panel topic:

"Since its inception, the field of virtual reality (VR) has revolved
around the head-mounted display (HMD) as the essential visual display
device.  VR futurists depicted VR as a personal experience wherein the
user interacts with a virtual environment (VE) in a manner synonymous
with reality: looking, pointing, walking, physics, etc.  Early on,
some even declared the classic HMD with data glove to be the only true
VR.  "However, our concept of VR continues to broaden.  An emerging
alternative to the HMD is the (walk-in) spatially immersive display
(SID).  These displays physically surround the viewer with a panorama
of imagery, typically produced by video projection.  The first
application of a SID to VR systems is the CAVE, developed at the
University of Illinois at Chicago [Cruz-Neira 93].  More advanced
SID's are now in development utilizing domed video projection
technology which could eventually replace the rectilinear CAVE
configuration [Bennett 95, McCutchen 91].  Dome SID's have been used
for many years in military flight simulators [Reno 89].  SID's offer
advantages over HMD's including group viewing and interaction, wide
field of view, high resolution, no cumbersome headgear, and low user
fatigue.  Also, angular viewing is accomplished without head rotation
tracking and its associated response time requirements.  Stereoscopic
displays are also possible using eye-sequential glasses.  "A number of
technical challenges remain in the development of both HMD's and
SID's.  Currently, VR researchers are consumed with refining the HMD.
Advances are being made in wide field-of-view, high resolution HMD
technology.  Very little research is currently underway on SID
implementations.  This panel compares the ultimate utility of HMD's
versus SID's in emerging VR applications such as entertainment,
education, computer-aided design, simulators, scientific
visualization, 3D animation production, biomedicine, and other
potential markets.  Important issues include cost, size, user
mobility, single and multi-user interactivity, stereoscopic viewing,
applicability to augmented reality, special hardware/software
requirements, physiological concerns, visual quality, and sense of
presence."

I contend that SIDs are superior in many real-world applications to
HMD type displays.  I also contend that attempts to exactly simulate
physical reality (i.e. walking, hand waving, etc.) is tiring and of
limited use in practical applications where one is working 8-hours a
day in VEs.  Care to argue?  Why wait for SIGGRAPH?  Post your opinion
here.  Give our panelists something to chew on!  Thanks.

Ed Lantz
Spitz, Inc.
edlantz@aol.com

References:

[Bennett 95]  David Bennett, "Providing Solutions Using Virtual Reality,"
Press Release, Alternate Realities Corp., Research Triangle Park, NC,
email davidb@arc.nctda.org, http://www.virtual-reality.com.

[Cruz-Neira 93]  Carolina Cruz-Neira, Daniel J. Sandin, and Thomas A.
DeFanti, "Surround-Screen Projection-Based Virtual Reality: The Design and
Implementation of the CAVE," Computer Graphics, Annual Conference
Proceedings Series, 1993

[Jasek 95]  Jasek, M., N. Pioch and D. Zeltzer, "Effects of Enhanced
Visual Displays on Collision Prediction for Air Traffic Control," Proc.
6th IFAC/IFIP/IFORS/IEA Symposium on Analysis, Design and Evaluation of
Man-Machine Systems, Cambridge MA. (1995)

[McCutchen 91]  David McCutchen, Method and Apparatus for Dodecahedral
Imaging System, U.S. Patent #5,023,725, June 11, 1991

[Reno 89]  Capt. Brian A. Reno, "Full Field of View Dome Display System,"
Proceedings of AIAA/FSTC, pp. 390-394, 1989