From: Jerry Isdale Subject: MISC: VR thoughts & Challenge Date: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 16:37:44 -0800 Message-ID: <3.0.1.32.19980121163744.006b68e4@illusioninc.com> With due respect to Linda, I believe the recent public responses from Stuart, Eben and Bob bear up my points. I also received a number of private responses in agreement. I was certain that Linda would respond strongly to my posting. Indeed, she is paid by SGI to be the VR Evangelist. If she had not responded she would probably be derelict in her duties to her employer. I expect some of my comments below will also get a response. I do agree that the various HMD devices have their application. If the world requires close up work and total immersion, a wearable HMD does provide a solution. I prefer the boom mounted (or the PUSH) devices to the true HMDs in most of these cases. A true HMD is a fairly cumbersome device and not something you can use for extended periods. An HMD with resonably high resolution (800x600 or better) is not an inexpensive device either. Also, an HMD is a single person display. If you want to demonstrate something to several people, they have to wait in line. (Note: having them watch on a monitor blows the argument that you need a HMD in the first place.) A good systems designer will take a close and honest look at the real needs of the application and decide if a HMD, Boom, (partial) Cave or simple desktop display is the best approach. Aside from that, my main point is that the most applications can be adequately served by a PC level machine. Aside from having quite adequate graphics and sound performance, you can also use these machines to write the grant proposals to pay for the team and equipment you want next. Sure the high end industry labs will go for the Big Iron. It looks more impressive and is definately a neat techie toy. But these folks probably have a couple Macs or Windows boxes lying around on which they write their reports and proposals. I was one of the early adopters of SGI equipment and I still like it. Back in 1985, I was working on one of the early Iris 1200 boxes. The animation company I was working for was on the leading edge of development and we in the ranks recognized the value of providing personal graphical workstations to the animators. The corporate management, however, had a significant investment in the Big Iron of the day - a Cray X/MP. They decreed that all development would be geared to serve that beast. A couple months later, they were bankrupt. However, the software system I was working on has lived on and today is one of the major animation systems running on SGI boxes. Indeed, Side Effects PRISMS is one of very few high end packages that is not owned by SGI or Microsoft. (http://www.sidefx.com) Today, SGI has inherited the Big Iron title. (They even bought Cray. ;-) Most of the capabilities of an SGI box can be had for less on an Intergraph, Alpha or high end PC system. Sure the high end real time stuff is still an SGI market, or perhaps one of the real "Image Generators" used in the simulation industry. But for the most part, a PC system is adequate, especially for medium-large market VR applications. Last year I helped create the most advanced (VR) entertainment installation in the world. PC systems were quite adequate. SGI boxes were far too expensive. I'd venture that most apps, even the 'wearable display' ones Linda mentions (equipment/facility design reviews, telerobotics, training systems) could be built using PC-based systems cheaper. Here's a little challenge: Given a modest budget, say $15,000US, and an application with modestly wide market, say a fairly simple virtual physics lab, how much of a system can be built using a PC-base and an SGI-base? That budget won't provide much programmer time to develop an application, but should allow for some with a fair bit of hardware/software. Toss in another $15k to allow for a bit more developer/programmer/artist time. Thats a $30k budget, probably something you might get an educational grant. (quick - somebody give me a sanity check on my procto-numerology) Ok, now double it -> $60k. Create two teams, one PC, one SGI. Both must use commercial pricing. Special discounts or donated equipment/people should be equal to both teams. The systems could be ready to demonstrate at Siggraph '98. Note that the teams should use the equipment/sw purchased for all development *and* documentation (i.e reports, papers, etc.). It would make a great marketing plug for SGI if their team produces a superior system. I'd love to see it happen! Linda - could you find $60k at SGI to make it so? Any developers want to rise to the occasion? Jerry Isdale Illusion Inc. 2660 Townsgate Rd., Suite 530, Westlake Village, CA 91361-2714 Phone: (805 449-4255 or (805) 371-4530 FAX: (805) 371-4533 Internet: jerry@illusioninc.com Corporate URL: http://www.illusioninc.com