From jpierce@cs.cmu.edu Thu May 7 15:39:04 1998 Received: from burdell.cc.gatech.edu (root@burdell.cc.gatech.edu [130.207.3.207]) by lennon.cc.gatech.edu (8.8.4/8.6.9) with ESMTP id PAA23978 for ; Thu, 7 May 1998 15:39:02 -0400 (EDT) Received: from wheaten.hitl.washington.edu (PjjCVuMtOUd02P2vPbf3YwcTuVTHg6Ro@[128.95.73.60]) by burdell.cc.gatech.edu (8.8.4/8.6.9) with ESMTP id PAA29602 for ; Thu, 7 May 1998 15:39:01 -0400 (EDT) Received: from ux2.sp.cs.cmu.edu (UX2.SP.CS.CMU.EDU [128.2.198.102]) by wheaten.hitl.washington.edu (8.8.8/8.6.12) with SMTP id MAA17677 for <3d-ui@hitl.washington.edu>; Thu, 7 May 1998 12:38:54 -0700 (PDT) Message-Id: <199805071938.MAA17677@wheaten.hitl.washington.edu> Received: from HITCHCOCK.PC.CS.CMU.EDU by ux2.sp.cs.cmu.edu id aa23273; 7 May 98 15:38 EDT X-Sender: jpierce@ux2.sp.cs.cmu.edu X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Pro Version 4.0 Date: Thu, 07 May 1998 15:36:45 -0400 To: 3D UI list <3d-ui@hitl.washington.edu> From: Jeff Pierce Subject: What is 3D good for? In-Reply-To: <4FD6422BE942D111908D00805F3158DF05B26692@red-msg-52.dns.mi crosoft.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Status: RO At 10:08 AM 5/7/98 -0700, Matt Conway wrote: > >In terms of cost and sheer numbers, I believe that most 3D UIs will appear >on mundane setups, those with a humble monitor plus mouse. These will >outnumber caves, coves, reactive workbenches, head mounts, interactive >holograms (cool MIT stuff!), or even Very Large Screens for the forseeable >future. I'll buy that we probably won't see 6 DOF input devices on the desktop any time soon, but it'd be nice to at least get a 2nd input device for our other hand. If Microsoft would just build an OS that supports it - how much would a 2nd input device be, $40? Of course, "humble monitors" have been getting bigger. Has anyone had a chance to play with one of the thin displays (a la Phillips) yet? Here's a scenario to think about: all of the current TVs are going to be obselete by 2010 or so, correct? I forget the exact date, but around then is when the rollover from analog to digital HDTV is supposed to complete. So with everyone in the US buying new TVs, there's suddenly intense competition between monitor suppliers who innovate like mad and provide us all with cheap, large, thin TVs. Which we then plaster onto the sides of our cubby and form a mini-CAVE. >Games created the need for high quality sound and so we have >soundblasters everywhere. Once again, games are creating a world where PCs >will host pretty impressive 3D hardware. What applicaiton domain will >demonstrate the compelling need for a Cave or Cove or HMD? Location based entertainment. Arcade (sorry Mark, but who're we really kidding? ;) -> Game PC -> off the shelf PC >This is our central problem: aside from games, what is 3D good for? If we >can answer this in a principled way, it will become more obvious on what >sort of platforms we should be doing our 3D UIs. Until then, the desktop >will be the place where we will see most of the 3D UI work. So let's start brainstorming about what 3D is good for. This is actually something I think Mark has made some good points about - we spend our time thinking up new point designs without really stepping back and trying to figure out how they fit together and what the systems we're building are really good for (if anything). It could be that we're all too close to the technology to answer this question; after all, it was D.W. Griffith who started telling stories with movies, not Edison. But what've we got to lose? We might even generate some interesting design ideas in the process. I'll start. - Letting clients walk through prospective homes (tool for architects, real estate agents) - requires HMD (or CAVE?) - Entertainment - letting the guest step into an experience and be a part of the story - requires HMD or CAVE (no, desktop monitors are not immersive) - includes virtual tours - Design of special effects for movies - desktop, HMD, CAVE - Stage / Set / Lighting prototyping (for lighting managers, directors, etc) - HMD (or CAVE?) - Fast prototyping of vehicles (ex. cars) - requires HMD + physical props - ex. quickly experiment with different dashboard layouts - Visualization of (simulated) 3D phenomena - desktop, CAVE, HMD - ex. windtunnel results - Modeling and Painting (3D support tools) - desktop, HMD, CAVE - assumes you accept that 3D is useful first Others? Jeff