thomas@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Thomas Summerall) (08/21/89)
I can't believe all of the comments that there was nothing interesting at MacWorld this year! Either nobody saw this or I am vastly overestimating its potential. What I am talking about is called HyperSpace. It is a new product and had a very small booth near the Aaps exhibit. It is no less than a revolution in input technology. It is like a 6 dimensional mouse used for inputting data from actual 3d models. It consists of a large circuit box, a small base, and a pen connected to the small base by a cable. According to the programmer of the software driving it, there are three magnets in the base that allow the computer to know very precisely where the pen point is in 3D space and also to know the pitch, yaw, and roll of the pen (hence 6d). The uses of this product are infinite. He had it working with this amazing object oriented 3d modeling software. The ease of 3d data entry was astonishing. This is something the world of solid modeling has been waiting for. Once you had used the pen to enter the data you could set it to be the camera. Then you just moved it around the object while pointing it at it and the object on screen would move and rotate in real time. You could also use it to set the light source, etc. Pretty impressive on an unaccelerated MacIIcx. The name of the company is something like MiraImages. A 10$ demo disk is available. The cost of the hardware alone is $3500, but it would be fairly useless without the $5000 software. The whole package is available for $7500. I don't have the literature with me right now, but if anyone wants their address they can write me. This product could really revolutionize user environments. It could also be programmed as a 2d pen to simulate a graphics tablet or a mouse, or whatever. It will be fun to see what they do with it, even though it is expensive. -Thomas Summerall thomas@eleazar.dartmouth.edu -------- I am in no way affiliated with the company described above, just an incredibly impressed spectator.
roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith) (08/21/89)
In <15124@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> thomas@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Thomas Summerall) writes: > [HyperSpace] is a new product [...] like a 6 dimensional mouse used for > inputting data from actual 3d models. [...] is available for $7500. This may be new as a commercially available product, but the idea certainly goes back many years. I can remember having lunch with Richard Feldman (of the NIH computer modeling lab) when he described what he called a joystring. It was a 6 degree of freedom gizmo which you could grab with your hands (he envisioned a pair of them being used to manipulate molecules for docking studies). The handles that you held were supported by 6 strings. As you moved the handles, the various strings were pulled and released. By doing some snazzy calculations, you could translate the linear motion of the 6 strings into the 6 degree of freedom motion of the handle. But, the really neat part was that it was an output device as well. Under program control, you could adjust the tension in the strings. The idea was that as the potential energy increased as you pushed two molecules together, you would feel it get harder and harder to move them. A proof-of-concept pair was built, I believe, but the cost was pretty high, like several $10k. Not out of line with the $7.5k you mention (without programable feedback). I don't remember exactly when we discussed this, but I also remember talking at the same lunch about the newly announced 68000. Richard couldn't wait to get his hands on a 68k board to plug into his Apple-II! -- Roy Smith, Public Health Research Institute 455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016 {att,philabs,cmcl2,rutgers,hombre}!phri!roy -or- roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu "The connector is the network"
jrg@Apple.COM (John R. Galloway) (08/21/89)
In article <15124@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> thomas@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Thomas Summerall) writes: >What I am talking about is called HyperSpace. It is a new product and had a >very small booth near the Aaps exhibit. It is no less than a revolution in >input technology. It is like a 6 dimensional mouse used for inputting data >from actual 3d models. > >The name of the company is something like MiraImages. A 10$ demo disk is >available. The cost of the hardware alone is $3500, but it would be fairly >useless without the $5000 software. The whole package is available for $7500. (Glad to see this technology becoming available. For those interested in what may be the source of the base technology Mcdonnell Douglas made/makes a device that works this way called the 3Space Tracker and 3Space Digitizer, my literature from them is dated 1984. Their address is Polhemus Navigation Sciences Division Mcdonnell Douglas Electronics Company PO Box 560 Colchester, Vermont 05446 (812)-655-3159 (keep in mind that this info is 5 years old). apple!jrg John R. Galloway, Jr. contract programmer, San Jose, Ca These are my views, NOT Apple's, I am a GUEST here, not an employee!!
d88-jwa@nada.kth.se (Reply via mail or intl. +46 8 258 268...) (08/22/89)
In article <15124@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> thomas@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Thomas Summerall) writes: [ Re: HyperSpace, 6D input ] >mouse, or whatever. It will be fun to see what they do with it, even though >it is expensive. Just wait a few years. Ten or so... :-) I * REALLY * like the idea, though. What if I could get one of the math/modeling researchers here interested in this... Hummm... Have a nice day! -- This is your fortune from h+@nada.kth.se: The attention span of a computer is as long as its electrical cord.
nigel@hfserver.hfnet.bt.co.uk (Nigel Cliffe) (08/22/89)
In article <3948@phri.UUCP>, roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith) writes: - In <15124@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> thomas@eleazar.dartmouth.edu - (Thomas Summerall) writes: = [HyperSpace] is a new product [...] like a 6 dimensional mouse used for = inputting data from actual 3d models. [...] is available for $7500. - - This may be new as a commercially available product, but the idea - certainly goes back many years. I can remember having lunch with Richard - Feldman (of the NIH computer modeling lab) when he described what he called - a joystring. It was a 6 degree of freedom gizmo which you could grab with - your hands (he envisioned a pair of them being used to manipulate molecules - for docking studies). - - The handles that you held were supported by 6 strings. As you - moved the handles, the various strings were pulled and released. By doing - some snazzy calculations, you could translate the linear motion of the 6 - strings into the 6 degree of freedom motion of the handle. But, the really - neat part was that it was an output device as well. Under program control, - you could adjust the tension in the strings. The idea was that as the - potential energy increased as you pushed two molecules together, you would - feel it get harder and harder to move them. [.......] I seem to recall an issue of a magazine of about a year ago covering this, I think it was Scientific American, with a front cover picture of a data-glove (glove covered in movement sensors that could control software). Also discussed was a "data suit" for a whole body. No doubt someone else can fill in the details of exactly which issue (I don't have a set here, and it's a long walk to our library). -- Nigel Cliffe - British Telecom Research Labs, Martlesham Heath, Ipswich, IP5 7RE, UK voice: +44 473 645275 fax: +44 473 637557 email: nigel@hfnet.bt.co.uk
bmartin@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu (Brian Martin) (08/22/89)
In article <3948@phri.UUCP> roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith) writes: >In <15124@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> thomas@eleazar.dartmouth.edu >(Thomas Summerall) writes: >> [HyperSpace] is a new product [...] like a 6 dimensional mouse used for >> inputting data from actual 3d models. [...] is available for $7500. > > This may be new as a commercially available product, but the idea >certainly goes back many years. I can remember having lunch with Richard >Feldman (of the NIH computer modeling lab) when he described what he called >a joystring. It was a 6 degree of freedom gizmo which you could grab with >your hands (he envisioned a pair of them being used to manipulate molecules >for docking studies). > > The handles that you held were supported by 6 strings. As you >moved the handles, the various strings were pulled and released. By doing >some snazzy calculations, you could translate the linear motion of the 6 >strings into the 6 degree of freedom motion of the handle. But, the really >neat part was that it was an output device as well. Under program control, >you could adjust the tension in the strings. The idea was that as the >potential energy increased as you pushed two molecules together, you would >feel it get harder and harder to move them. A proof-of-concept pair was >built, I believe, but the cost was pretty high, like several $10k. Not out >of line with the $7.5k you mention (without programable feedback). In summer of 1986 I was on a medical school rotation at the NIH and was fortunate enough to see a demonstration of Richard Feldman's joystring. He used it to manipulate three dimensional representations of membrane-bound molecules in real time, to attempt to visualize potential ligand-receptor binding interactions. Depth perception was provided by piezo-electric goggles which alternately darkened the visual field of each eye at something like 30Hz. Each eye received an image of the molecular model generated from a slightly different view angle, by synchronizing the display of the left/right eye's view angle to the transmission on light through the lens covering the left/right eye. With these goggles on, you felt as if you could actually reach out and touch the molecular represenations. The software ran on an Apollo workstation, with rendering calculations offloaded to an FPS array processor. Although I don't remember the exact figures, he was able to achieve MFLOPs performance equivalent to or possibly better than a Cray, at a small fraction of the cost of a Cray. -- Brian ==== Brian K. Martin, M.D. ARPA: uhccux!bmartin@nosc.MIL UUCP: {uunet,dcdwest,ucbvax}!ucsd!nosc!uhccux!bmartin INTERNET: bmartin@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu
pepke@loligo (Eric Pepke) (08/23/89)
In article <3948@phri.UUCP> roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith) writes: >In <15124@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> thomas@eleazar.dartmouth.edu >(Thomas Summerall) writes: >> [HyperSpace] is a new product [...] like a 6 dimensional mouse used for >> inputting data from actual 3d models. [...] is available for $7500. > > This may be new as a commercially available product, but the idea >certainly goes back many years. 6 d digitizers have been commercial products for some years now (at least 4). Perhaps this is the first time they have been connected to the Mac, but they have been used in the high-end graphics world for a long time. Eric Pepke INTERNET: pepke@gw.scri.fsu.edu Supercomputer Computations Research Institute MFENET: pepke@fsu Florida State University SPAN: scri::pepke Tallahassee, FL 32306-4052 BITNET: pepke@fsu Disclaimer: My employers seldom even LISTEN to my opinions. Meta-disclaimer: Any society that needs disclaimers has too many lawyers.