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Jan. 23rd, 2008 10:29 am
Elite status.
You just can't help being so good.
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Jan. 23rd, 2008
Elite status.
You just can't help being so good.
The LiveJournal Quiz
Take Other Caffeine Nebula Quizzes
Through the end of the last century, we were awed by the promise of cyberpace in movies - virtual 3d worlds we could interact with. But due to the gap between what a movie could do, and what our home computers could do, the idea a such virtual worlds decayed to the point where we can only manipulate 3d worlds, but only on a flat screen using traditional mouse, keyboard and joystick controllers. Sure, there were tools like datagloves and "facehuggers" - helmets with displays and head tracking, but unless you had many thousands of dollars to spare, they were just not affordable.
Then came the Nintendo Wii game console, and it's wireless controller. The controller gives you at least 3 degrees of freedom, which means you can track the position of the remote in a 3d volume of space. This has lead to an explosion of modifications of the remote to enable all sorts of controller applications. The first is to create the "datagloves" and through a multi-touch interface, allow you to manipulate date on the screen in a manner similar to that seen in the movie Minority Report. Watch the video for a demonstration of this...
The next thing that is needed for a virtual reality environment is the ability to create a 3d display that changes the perspective based on the position of the head...technically known as "headtracking". This is what gives you perspective when you look at an object. You move from side to side, and this lets you see more of one side of the object, and then the other. When you can do this on a display, it gives you the illusion of a three dimensional object. Traditionally, you either needed two displays that were very close to the eye, or shutter glasses which turn each eye off and on alternating in sync with a 'left" and "right" images that are slightly offset on the display. But either of the pair, LCD displays or shutterglasses are heavy, and are hard to wear for long periods of time. But another Wii remote hack, this time by Johnny Lee, replaces this will simply a large screen display, and a pair of safety glasses modified with two IR LEDS. This video below shows how this system works.
Because of the 3d tracking and interaction with the display, it gives a very good illusion of a fully immersible virtual world....for a fraction of the cost of a 3d "facehugger" or the weigth of facehugger or LCD shutter glasses.
Their is a great deal of functionality that one can get out of a simple "game" controller. This potentially signals a renaissance in virtual reality due to the low cost of the technology involved.
Then came the Nintendo Wii game console, and it's wireless controller. The controller gives you at least 3 degrees of freedom, which means you can track the position of the remote in a 3d volume of space. This has lead to an explosion of modifications of the remote to enable all sorts of controller applications. The first is to create the "datagloves" and through a multi-touch interface, allow you to manipulate date on the screen in a manner similar to that seen in the movie Minority Report. Watch the video for a demonstration of this...
The next thing that is needed for a virtual reality environment is the ability to create a 3d display that changes the perspective based on the position of the head...technically known as "headtracking". This is what gives you perspective when you look at an object. You move from side to side, and this lets you see more of one side of the object, and then the other. When you can do this on a display, it gives you the illusion of a three dimensional object. Traditionally, you either needed two displays that were very close to the eye, or shutter glasses which turn each eye off and on alternating in sync with a 'left" and "right" images that are slightly offset on the display. But either of the pair, LCD displays or shutterglasses are heavy, and are hard to wear for long periods of time. But another Wii remote hack, this time by Johnny Lee, replaces this will simply a large screen display, and a pair of safety glasses modified with two IR LEDS. This video below shows how this system works.
Because of the 3d tracking and interaction with the display, it gives a very good illusion of a fully immersible virtual world....for a fraction of the cost of a 3d "facehugger" or the weigth of facehugger or LCD shutter glasses.
Their is a great deal of functionality that one can get out of a simple "game" controller. This potentially signals a renaissance in virtual reality due to the low cost of the technology involved.
