A4422DAE@AWIUNI11.BITNET (Konrad Neuwirth) (02/15/89)
hi, has anyone got any experince with the Haitex 3d glasses for the amy? I think it is a nice gadget, but does it really work? how disturbing is the flicker? short: DO YOU RECOMMEND THEM? -konrad p.s.: im only a poor student so i have to think before i buy.
bvk@hhb.UUCP (Brett Kuehner) (02/16/89)
In article <8902141850.AA28389@jade.berkeley.edu>, A4422DAE@AWIUNI11.BITNET (Konrad Neuwirth) writes: > hi, > has anyone got any experince with the Haitex 3d glasses for the amy? > I think it is a nice gadget, but does it really work? how disturbing > is the flicker? > > short: > DO YOU RECOMMEND THEM? > > -konrad > > p.s.: im only a poor student so i have to think before i buy. They are quite a neat device. They come with five or so 3d pictures, a 3d molecule display program, a program to take a 'Left' and a 'Right' IFF file and display them in stereo, a program that displays cubes rotating and translating, and "Space Spuds", an arcade game. The hardware is a box that plugs into joystick port 2 (with no passthrough, so no 2 joystick 3d games) and the LCD shutter 'visor'. The visor is fairly comfortable and looks good, but it isn't something you'd want to wear at a business meeting. The pictures include a 3d digitized cat, a bunch of propellors, and the picture seen in their ads. There's also a 3d picture-ad for Perry Hoberman, who did all of the pictures on the disk. The molecule display program comes with a bunch of molecule data files, and displays and rotates them (not under user control, though). The file format isn't documented anywhere in the package, and I haven't looked at the data files yet. The program that allows you to make 3d pictures is pretty good. It lets you load a left and right image separately or from a stereo image file, and slide the images around with the cursor keys (increasing or decreasing the stereo separation, for instance). The manual that comes with the XSpecs gives tips on how to make images into 3d pictures. I managed to make the Sachs fighter plane picture look like it was floating in front of the screen without too much trouble. It still looked flat, though. Making something look realistically 3d seems to be pretty tough, but between the manual and the example pictures it should be possible to figure it out. The cubes program has two cubes that start 'in' the screen and grow larger and rotate until they are 'in front of' the screen. The program lets you play with focal length and separation. Changing the focal length too much will crash the system. This is documented in the manual, but it seems like a really trivial thing to fix (bounds checking can't be that hard...). Space Spuds is a really good game to show off the XSpecs' capabilities. John Schultz did a great job. It would be good even without the 3d effects. Your goal is to save the universe from calorie overload, while not gaining weight. You are piloting a ship that you see from behind, with sights 'deeper' in the screen. You have a choice of three weapons, Liposuction (like lasers in most games), FatBombs, and Bolos (really neat. they revolve around, when they hit something they wind up and explode). You cycle between the weapons with the right mouse button, and fire with the left. Moving the mouse moves your ship and sights. Mouse control is really good, unlike a lot of other mouse-based games, and the sensitivity is adjustable. You use the weapons to destroy assorted enemies, most of which are 'Spuds', potatoes which come towards you from 'deep' in the screen. There are other things like burgers, donuts, etc, which take more shots to kill (they change into a lesser foe after being hit). There are also evil star things that shoot at you, and are tough to kill. If you get hit by a Spud or a shot, you gain weight, as shown on a picture at the bottom. If you gain too much weight, you meltdown. To help you lose weight, there are 'capsules' which activate a fat vacuum or a diet pizza. If you lose too much weight, you become anorexic and die. Other capsules give you more Lipo, FatBombs, or Bolos. The game also has digitized stereo sounds, which are pretty good. I especially like the one that says "Buyyyy Space Spuds!". Haitex is almost done with their developer's package, including (from what they say) a library that will make generating 3d graphics easy. They are taking orders for it now, but as of last Monday, they weren't shipping (I don't know the price). I'm planning on ordering it as soon as they start shipping, but I wish they had included source to their Cubes program, or at least something in the manual that gave a hint as to how to write programs using the XSpecs. For now I can make static 3d pictures and play Space Spuds, but I want to write programs! Overall, great fun. The flicker is noticible, but it's easy to ignore. Not nearly as annoying as interlace flicker. Many rendering programs (Forms In Flight II, Opticks, CLight, and some others) are supporting X-Specs, so you can make stereo ray-traces. Everyone that I've shown the X-Specs to has been impressed. In short: I recommend them. Brett -- ...!princeton!hhb!bvk bvk%hhb@princeton.EDU
tope@enea.se (Tommy Petersson) (02/17/89)
In article <177@hhb.UUCP> bvk@hhb.UUCP (Brett Kuehner) writes:
<
<They are quite a neat device. They come with five or so 3d
<pictures, a 3d molecule display program, a program to take a 'Left' and a
<'Right' IFF file and display them in stereo, a program that displays cubes
<rotating and translating, and "Space Spuds", an arcade game.
<
(the rest deleted, for brevity)
THANK YOU FOR A VERY GOOD REVIEW ON AN INTERESTING PRODUCT!
I just called Germany and ordered one together with some other
things I was about to get anyway, and I think I got a good price
on them, $101.
Tommy P.msg@dretor.dciem.dnd.ca (09/24/90)
I know that this question has been asked before, but... DOES HAITEX REALLY EXIST?? I have called Shawn Glisson (the PRES) in South Carolina twice in the past week and have had no reply. The phone is always answered by an answering service. The first time I called, they said that that they would page him and he would call right back - no call. I called a few days later, and they waid they would FAX my message to him - no call. We are in Toronto. Maybe he doesn't want to make long distance calls. Has anyone in SC been able to reach him? Some months back, after HAITEX moved to SC, we tried to order the programmer's tool kit. They took the order but nothing ever showed up. Some time later, they actually called us and asked if we still wanted it. We said yes, but still nothing. Does this company actually exist and produce product? Mose retail stores up here think that they are out of business. We have a great idea for a stereo product, but there is no point if we can't get a reliable source of glasses. If you have had recent experience or contact with HAITEX, let me know and I'll summarize. I'd be especially interested in knowing if anyone has actually received the tool kit and what their experience has been. Thanks.
jlange@oracle.com (Jim Lange) (09/27/90)
In article <3564@dciem.dciem.dnd.ca> msg@dretor.dciem.dnd.ca writes:
We have a great idea for a stereo product, but there is no point if we
can't get a reliable source of glasses.
If you have had recent experience or contact with HAITEX, let me know and
I'll summarize. I'd be especially interested in knowing if anyone has
actually received the tool kit and what their experience has been.
Thanks.
I don't have any experience with Haitex, but when Impulse introduced
Turbo Silver SV (SV = Stereo Vision), they developed their own
interface that works with the Sega 3D glasses for Sega's video game
system (available in toy stores everywhere) because availability of
the Haitex product was questionable. Impulse's system is fully
compatible with the Haitex system. Perhaps Impulse would be willing
to share their software secrets with you (I don't know if they will
sell their interface as a stand alone product, however).
NOTE: I didn't purchase their stereo interface, but I considered it.
Jim Lange
Oracle Corporation