CompuServe Messages

Oops. I realized that I said there's a 512×512 map limit – I wish! It's actually 256×256 – not great, especially when you're close to walls. dVS and dVISE are the major VR authoring systems that can import .3ds files. There are others as well but these are the most flexible in terms of creating complex world interaction. They do render worlds in true real time with certain limitations – gouraud shading only, no bump or reflection maps and a serious limit on the total number of triangles (VR lingo for faces of polygons). We use SGI gear to run them. Modified PCs can be used but are slow. Either way you must have a dedicated graphics engine to do fully immersive work (stereo headset, full motion tracking and object interaction, etc.) which we are. I did get a SIGGRAPH demo from Gary Yost (through the forum – thanks!) and was very impressed – especially with the Russian stuff and the last french piece, the lighting of which could go toe to toe with anything out there. All in all it's great stuff. It's especially cool and useful that so many of the folks who contributed are on this forum! Back to PAR, I guess my real question is this (not being able to see one of these bloody things in person as I'm in Pittsburgh): how good is the quality? Near BetaCam? Near SVHS? Does it alias or artifact like the other JPEG systems I've seen (albeit last year)? I'd be very interested to hear more about what you're working on. Cheers, John