peb@uunet.UU.NET (Paul Baclaski) (06/01/90)
In case this has not been mentioned yet, the ACM SIGGRAPH Vol. 24, March 1990 has many interesting papers on virtual reality. The one I want to point out describes a 200 update-per-second helmet tracker that uses cameras and LEDs mounted on the ceiling. This is a significant speed up over the magnetic based system that is used in currently available VR systems. The paper is "A Real-time Optical 3D Tracker for Head-mounted Display Systems" by Jih-fang Wang, Vernon Chi and Henry Fuchs of University of North Carolina. I tried out the VPL system at an open house last year and speeding up the tracking seems to be very important; the magnetic system has about 5 updates per second which makes hand-eye coordination difficult. Paul E. Baclaski peb@acad.com