Virtual Reality News: 26th March 2003

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Users, Applications & Projects
01 Advanced Vision for Commercial Aircraft
02 Airline Orders for Evans & Sutherland
03 RAF's Tornado GR4 Synthetic Training Service
04 Simulation Models in 3D Instead Of 2D
05 Healthcare Company Standardizes on 3D for Design
06 University of Ottawa Adopts 3D CAD
07 War in Iraq Visualized in 3D on TV
08 Sales Opportunity? No 3D yet for New TV Station
09 Crowds Drawn to 3D

Products & Services
10 Graduate in Game Developing
11 Character Animation Plug-In For 3ds Max
12 Effects for Clouds, Smoke, Dust, Liquid and More
13 Absolute Character Tools
14 Oregon3DSM Maya Camp
15 Molecular Modeling Software on Tridef Visualizer
16 Cell Phones & 3D Software

Companies & Markets
17 Strange Bedfellows in Game Chips
18 Games Platform Licensed to British Telecom Company
19 Mechdyne & ModViz
20 TSA & CADKEY
21 OpenSG & ORAD
22 Support for Imaging Satellites
23 Photomodeling and Animation Software Price Cuts
24 Simulation Modeling Toolkits Built On PTC's Granite

Observations
25 Boost for Linux & Red Hat
26 Unigraphics' Future in Question
27 Sun to Invest in India
28 Worth Watching: Indoor GPS

People
29 People: Bentley

Events & Calls for Papers
30 US Army General to Speak at AEC Conference........ NEW
31 VSMM 2003 - Call for Papers........... NEW

224.01 Advanced Vision for Commercial Aircraft

Ascension Technology's laserBIRD motion tracker is being used in the development of advanced synthetic vision displays for commercial aircraft. The Synthetic Vision Systems (SVS) project, part of the NASA Aviation Safety Program, is pioneering technologies to eliminate low visibility conditions as a cause of aircraft accidents. The project's goal is affordable, certifiable displays to provide pilots with intuitive out-the-window terrain and obstacle information. The laserBIRD tracker coupled to a Microvision Helmet-Mounted Display and the Synthetic Vision Image Generators together provide a head-tracked synthetic view of the world. According to Randall E. Bailey of the Crew/Vehicle Integration Branch at NASA's Langley Research Center, the concept is to provide the pilot with an unobstructed view of the world to replicate clear-day flight operations. The displays will show the flight crew terrain, ground obstacles, air traffic, landing and approach patterns, runway surfaces and other relevant data despite weather conditions.

The use of head-tracking will extend the pilot's field-of-view, effectively allowing the pilot to look in any direction and see a representative image of the outside world. Researchers at four NASA field installations have been working with the FAA and aviation industry on the project for three years. In September 2001, a Boeing 757 passenger jet was first transformed into a "flying simulator" equipped with the 3D synthetic vision displays. The aircraft, known as ARIES (Airborne Research Integrated Experiments System) is loaded with a computer database depicting selected flight terrain. The ARIES aircraft allows pilots to test the synthetic vision displays in their design phase. At this point, the first Synthetic Vision display products are entering the marketplace. The advanced Synthetic Vision Concepts, the development of which uses Microvision's HMD and Ascension's laserBIRD, won't be available for several years, although they do offer significant operational advantages over the earlier systems.

URL: http://avsp.larc.nasa.gov
URL: http:// www.ascension-tech.com

224.02 Airline Orders for Evans & Sutherland

Air France has placed two orders for E&S ESIG visual systems. The orders call for E&S to provide three-channel ESIG-3800GT image generators, along with ESCP(R)-2000 projection systems, for two new B777 and A320 full flight simulators, which will be installed as part of a facility development program at Air France's Paris-Charles de Gaulle International Airport training center. These orders represent the fourth and fifth ESIG systems purchased by Air France over the past three years. The B777 simulator, which is being provided by Thales, is expected to be ready for training in September of this year. The A320 simulator, which is being provided by CAE, has a scheduled ready-for-training date of June of this year. Used for commercial airline full flight simulators, the ESIG-3800GT provides up to 1.5 million pixels to each projector at a 60Hz update rate. E&S visual systems support the full range of commercial aircraft and are compatible with systems from all major flight simulator manufacturers. Evans & Sutherland has also received a multimillion-dollar order from Lufthansa Flight Training for its EP-1000CT visual systems. Lufthansa now has ten E&S system used in flight simulators located at the company's training center in Frankfurt, Germany. The simulators, made by Thales Training & Simulation, are scheduled to go into service in 2004.

URL: http://www.es.com

224.03 RAF's Tornado GR4 Synthetic Training Service

The United Kingdom Royal Air Force Tornado GR4 Synthetic Training Service is now certified to train pilots in three mission simulators powered by Evans & Sutherland's Harmony image generator. Two of the training simulators are located at RAF Lossiemouth, Scotland, and one simulator is operated at RAF Marham, England. E&S is under contract to Thales Training & Simulation, which operates the training facilities for the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD). E&S provided three 10-channel Harmony image generators, three 2-channel Harmony image generators for sensors and night vision goggles (NVGs), and three 2-channel Harmony image generators for Instructor Operator Stations (IOS) for the GR4 program. In addition, E&S supplied the simulators' six TargetView 200 projectors, three high-resolution dome display systems and 10 geographical databases.

URL: http://www.es.com

224.04 Simulation Models in 3D Instead Of 2D

Germany's Waterway Engineering and Research Institute (BAW) has invested in SGI technology for high-performance computing (HPC) to meet challenges in future numerical simulation projects. BAW's coastal division in Hamburg, which designs, monitors, analyzes and repairs all waterways and tidal flood zones in the country's coastal areas, has installed two SGI Origin 3000 servers. Using computer modeling and numerical simulation techniques, BAW achieves an increasingly precise understanding of the complex physical processes that govern fluid dynamics and suspended material transport phenomena within tides-influenced coastal waterway systems like the big river mouths of Elbe, Weser and Ems.

BAW's main job is to analyze the consequences of planned constructive measures. Such measures could include deepening a shipping channel, optimally designing and operating a barrier system against dangerous storm floods, or performing other technical operations that may critically impact the dynamic behavior of the river estuary systems. The new systems will allow the BAW team to run a greater number of simulation projects and get more precise answers to its many technical, economical and ecological problems and questions. BAW users will be able to refine its modeling resolutions, to introduce more adequate physics, to run simulation models in 3D instead of 2D and, very importantly, to better take into account the impact of weather and associated stochastic variations.

URL: http://www.sgi.com

224.05 Healthcare Company Standardizes on 3D for Design

KeyMed has standardized on SolidWorks 3D design software to design its life-saving endoscope equipment and workstations found in hospitals worldwide. The UK-based company uses SolidWorks software, including COSMOSWorks analysis and SMARTEAM product data management (PDM) applications company-wide - from research and development to manufacturing. Together, these applications enable the company to streamline the product development cycle and get its medical products into doctors' hands faster. KeyMed, a subsidiary of Olympus Optical Co. Ltd., uses 30 licenses of SolidWorks computer-aided design (CAD) software to design support equipment for a range of endoscopy systems that enable doctors to see internal organs during surgery. Their products include vacuum pumps, sterilization cases, and ultrasonic cleaners, as well as equipment trolleys that carry life-saving utensils down hospital corridors. SolidWorks greatly increases KeyMed's productivity, where each project can involve hundreds of parts, shortening the product development lifecycle, and reducing design errors. The company also uses eDrawings to share designs with its 200 suppliers, allowing them to view 3D CAD files as a simple, self-executing program, without downloading additional software. Suppliers can review and mark up the drawings and e-mail them back to KeyMed in record time.

URL: http://www.keymed.co.uk
URL: http://www.solidworks.com

224.06 University of Ottawa Adopts 3D CAD

The University of Ottawa has adopted SolidWorks as the 3D CAD software it uses in its unique mechanical engineering design curriculum. Students learn how to finalize mechanical product designs in a simulated real-world business climate, complete with tight deadlines, third-party design collaboration, and weekly project management meetings. Every semester, all fourth-year students spend four months collaborating in teams of three using SolidWorks software to design different aspects of a given product. For the Spring 2003 semester, it's an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) that travels over snow, mud, and rocks. The University is working with SolidWorks' reseller Javelin Technologies for ongoing software implementation, training, and support.

URL: http://www.javelin-tech.com
URL: http://www.solidworks.com

224.07 War in Iraq Visualized in 3D on TV

Viewers of ABC News are getting an eyewitness perspective on the war in Iraq, thanks to technology from Evans & Sutherland. As the events of the war unfold, ABC will use E&S' visualization technology to recreate operations in the Middle East with 3D simulations. These simulations, which will depict actual events within hours of their occurrence, will be featured in ABC News reports of the progress of the war. Evans & Sutherland's Environment Processor, or EP, technology is behind this capability to simulate visual images of real-world events. EP uses imagery from satellites and other sources to create databases that can represent any location in the world with high visual accuracy. Satellite imagery was obtained for this project through Digital Globe Corp of Denver, and GIS Xpress, an imagery service provider for Photon Research Associates of San Diego.

URL: http://www.es.com

224.08 Sales Opportunity? No 3D yet for New TV Station

Channel M., a multicultural television station that will launch in June in Vancouver, Canada has purchased a FOR-A digiWarp EX-II Virtual Studio System for its broadcast center. Although Channel M's physical production facilities will be about the size of a large television news operation, the digiWarp system will reside in an area of less than 400 square feet yet provide a competitive, high-quality on-air look. The ability to facilitate that amount of productivity requires a system as fast and agile as the FOR-A digiWarp EX-II virtual studio system. "We have over 22 languages to accommodate and as such we need versatility in our set to give us as many different looks as possible," said Peter Gillespie, director of operations and engineering at Channel M. "The FOR-A digiWarp system was the easiest entry-level 2D product for us to get into and it has the best migration path to more sophisticated 3D environments, which we plan to use in the future. Without much experience with virtual sets, we were encouraged to walk before we ran with the technology. FOR-A gave us a cost-effective opportunity to do just that."

URL: http://www.for-a.com

224.09 Crowds Drawn to 3D

SEGA Amusements has drawn crowds at the Amusement Showcase International by using StereoGraphics SynthaGram Glasses-Free 3D Monitor to showcase SEGA's newest arcade games. The SynthaGram offers 3D visualization with wide viewing angles and does not require special eyewear. SynthaGram monitors display still and moving images that are bright, vivid and deep. SEGA worked with StereoGraphics to create the 3D content. Arcade game images were converted from 2D to 3D using SynthaGram plug-ins. Several popular SEGA arcade games, such as Crazy Taxi, VirtuaCop 3, and House of the Dead III are featured.

URL: http://www.stereographics.com/

224.10 Graduate in Game Developing

With the growth of the video game industry, finding trained game developers has become an obstacle for some game studios. To respond to this need by companies and individuals in this field, the University of Advancing Technology (UAT) is launching one of the first 100 percent online game design degree programs, through its online division UAT-Online. Students from both UAT-Online and residential game design programs graduate with skills in 3D modeling and animation, game documentation, Maya, 3D Studio Max, game balance, interactive story telling, interface development and more. The University of Advancing Technology is an ACICS accredited private university located in Tempe, Arizona.

URL: http://www.gamedegree.com
URL: http://www.uat.edu

224.11 Character Animation Plug-In For 3ds Max

Kaydara has released HumanIK, a character animation plug-in for 3ds max. With a suite of character animation tools and full integration with 3ds max, HumanIK is claimed to provide a greater degree of control and ease of use than any other character animation plug-in on the market. HumanIK is part of the Discreet Certified 3ds max Plug-in Program, which is marketed through Turbo Squid.

URL: http://www.turbosquid.com/dcp
URL: http://www.discreet.com
URL: http://www.kaydara.com

224.12 Effects for Clouds, Smoke, Dust, Liquid and More

Turbo Squid has added AfterBurn 3.0 by Sitni Sati to the Discreet Certified 3ds max Plug-in program. AfterBurn has been used in numerous movies, IMAX films, games and commercials. The solution enables rendering of realistic effects ranging from clouds, pyroclastic smoke, dust, and explosions, to liquid metals, water and various procedurally defined "hard" objects.

URL: http://www.turbosquid.com/dcpstore
URL: http://www.discreet.com/products/3dsmax/dcp
URL: http://www.afterworks.com

224.13 Absolute Character Tools

Turbo Squid has released Absolute Character Tools: Modeling Tool Set (ACT-MTS) from Snoswell Design. ACT-MTS permits you to model characters while producing high quality character meshes. ACT-MTS sells for $345.

URL: http://www.turbosquid.com/

224.14 Oregon3DSM Maya Camp

Oregon3D Inc is holding an Oregon3DSM Maya Camp. The four-week Maya Camp will take place May 5 through May 30, 2003 at Oregon3D and provide a look at the process of creating 3D animation and storytelling. Taught by certified instructors and industry professionals, this course is designed to provide a solid foundation for those new to Maya and explore more challenging concepts such as storyboarding, modeling, animating, character rigging, project development, and rendering.

URL: http://www.oregon3d.com

224.15 Molecular Modeling Software on Tridef Visualizer

DDD Group plc, in conjunction with CAChe Group (a division of Fujitsu America), has debuted TriDef Visualizer. Using TriDef Visualizer, CAChe's molecular modeling software has been presented on a 20" 3D LCD and a 42" glasses-free 3D plasma display. TriDef Visualizer enables the CAChe software to output to glasses-free stereoscopic 3D displays in real-time, thus enabling scientists to visualize the true spatial relationships of molecular models without the need to wear 3D glasses.

URL: http://www.ddd.com

224.16 Cell Phones & 3D Software

HI Corporation has released its BREW version of Mascot Capsule Engine Micro3D Edition for use on the model A5304T (manufactured by Toshiba), the first BREW-embedded mobile telephone handset released by KDDI and Okinawa Cellular. Mascot Capsule Engine is 3D rendering engine software capable of driving real-time display and motion of 3D mascot figures on the PC desktop, Web pages, embedded devices, mobile gaming devices, mobile telephones, etc. The software runs in operating environments with constrained resources, for any CPU capable of 32-bit integer operations with a clock speed of 10MHz or higher (floating point and division operations are not required). This engine is compatible with commercially available 3D graphics formats including 3D Studio MAX and LightWave, and has an unlimited display capacity (proportional to allocated memory size).

URL: http://www.hicorp.co.jp

224.17 Strange Bedfellows in Game Chips

IBM is rumoured to have reached an agreement Wednesday to manufacture a high-end graphics chip for NVIDIA. IBM already makes a chip for Nintendo and is currently working on a design with Sony for, perhaps, PlayStation3. NVidia supplies chips for Microsoft's Xbox.

224.18 Games Platform Licensed to British Telecom Company

Entertain Ltd has licensed LithTech's Jupiter games platform to BTexact Technologies, BT's advanced communication technologies business. Jupiter can be used to build populated virtual environments, accessible on-line or in the home, for a variety of marketing and entertainment applications. The Jupiter platform will initially be used by researchers in BTexact's multimedia laboratory to develop a virtual data centre and an interactive model of a science park - both for use by other parts of BT Group. The work is a part of the laboratory's research into new ways of delivering highly engaging and interactive content over broadband networks.

224.19 Mechdyne & ModViz

Mechdyne Corporation and ModViz have agreed to provide immersive visualization solutions for a range of industry customers. The agreement opens new doors for both companies in the emerging advanced immersive visualization industry. ModViz's software enables off-the-shelf PC clusters to generate and support dynamic, real-time 3D visual imagery on a variety of displays, including fully immersive environments. "Viz clusters" are finding wide application in the oil and gas industry and the manufacturing industry. Late in 2002, Mechdyne and Fakespace Systems Inc signed a letter of intent to merge their businesses. The merged company will be called Fakespace Systems. ModViz is a recent spinout from Siemens AG.

224.20 TSA & CADKEY

Tech Soft America (TSA) and CADKEY Corporation have announced the CADKEY V21 Viewer, built on the HOOPS 3D Application Framework (HOOPS 3d/AF), further extending CADKEY's use of HOOPS technologies.

URL: http://www.cadkey.com/webstore
URL: http://www.hoops3d.com

224.21 OpenSG & ORAD

OpenSG has been ported to the DVG scalable visualization cluster. OpenSG is a freely available scene graph rendering middleware developed by the OpenSG Forum, Fraunhofer IGD and other institutions. It is a general system that supports applications in all areas, from CAD and Design Review to Visualization. OpenSG's flexible cluster capabilities now allow any application to use the DVG's features, including sub-pixel sampling for anti-aliasing and frame-interleaving for high frame rate, with minimal code changes. The company also prepared the inclusion of dynamic split-screen load balancing for low-latency high-performance rendering and will add it together with the stereo rendering support to OpenSG as soon as the next version of the ORAD firmware becomes available. The DVG is a scalable graphical computer. It provides libraries of authoring, control and rendering codes giving access to the DVG's open environment.

URL: http://www.opensg.org
URL: http://www.orad.tv

224.22 Support for Imaging Satellites

Z/I Imaging Corporation, an Intergraph company, has extended its suite of ImageStation software applications to include support for several imaging satellites. Using the ImageStation suite of photogrammetric products, customers can now process satellite imagery from Space Imaging's IKONOS, DigitalGlobe's QuickBird, SPOT Image's SPOT, Indian Remote Sensing's IRS 1C/1D, and EOSAT's Landsat sensors for earth imaging applications. Z/I Imaging's ImageStation provides a softcopy production environment for the end-to-end photogrammetric workflow from triangulation to 3D feature and DTM collection to orthorectification.

224.23 Photomodeling and Animation Software Price Cuts

bioVirtual has reduced prices for the 3DMeNow family of photomodeling and animation software.

URL: http://www.biovirtual.com/3DMeNowDesigner

224.24 Simulation Modeling Toolkits Built On PTC's Granite

Simmetrix Inc., a provider of component software for simulation-based design, has signed an agreement with to offer simulation modeling toolkits built on PTC's Granite to software vendors for building simulation-based applications. The recently shipped Granite release 2.0 is a licensable interoperability platform based on the geometry, feature and data exchange capabilities at the core of Pro/ENGINEER, PTC's product design and development software.

URL: http://www.simmetrix.com

224.25 Boost for Linux & Red Hat

HP and Red Hat have signed an agreement making HP a preferred vendor for delivery of single-point fulfilment and service of the complete Red Hat Enterprise Linux product line on HP hardware. Under the terms of the agreement, HP becomes a global services provider for the entire Red Hat Enterprise Linux line of certified solutions, which includes Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS, Enterprise Linux ES and Enterprise Linux WS. The new agreement also details further collaboration between the two companies across their respective global services organizations. Red Hat reduced its losses for its fiscal fourth quarter and enjoyed a 39% jump in revenue. For the quarter ended February 28, the provider of software and services for Linux reported a net loss of $56,000 compared with a net loss of $42.3 million a year earlier. Revenue rose to $25.9 million from $18.6 million a year earlier.

URL: http://www.redhat.com
URL: http://www.hp.com

224.26 Unigraphics' Future in Question

Michael Jordan has replaced Richard Brown as CEO at EDS following the news that EDS was losing US$430 million on a contract. In some quarters the management change is thought to put EDS ownership of Unigraphics Solutions in doubt and Microsoft and HP are reported to be interested in acquiring parts of EDS.

URL: http://www.eds.com

224.27 Sun to Invest in India

Sun Microsystems plans to invest in research, development education and training in India. "Compared to Japan, the United States and Germany, whose growth was flat for the last few years, India and China have the potential to be the growth engines with their remarkable growth rates," Scott McNealy, Sun's CEO. According to India's Disinvestment Minister, Arun Shourie, Sun has offered to donate $300 million worth of free software to non-profit Indian institutions to enhance cooperation.

224.28 Worth Watching: Indoor GPS

Arc Second, Inc., the provider of mobile engineering solutions and Indoor GPS technology, has launched its Team 3Di Software developer program to enable developers to tap into the emerging field of Position Based Services (PBS). Similar to Location Based Services, PBS combines real-time position information with graphical data and enterprise systems to deliver a range of new capabilities to end users. Unlike Location Based Services, PBS is focused on indoor applications in manufacturing, robotics, precision mapping and other applications where highly accurate coordinate information is required. The Team 3Di program includes an SDK based on the Microsoft .NET Framework, allowing the applications to be server-based, PC-based or PocketPC-based. The re-architecting of Arc Second's product line, including PocketCAD for the Microsoft .NET Compact Framework, allows for a new range of mobile client-based opportunities for developers.

URL: http://www.arcsecond.com/team3di.htm

224.29 People: Bentley

Bentley Systems has appointed Anthony Flynn to the position of chief marketing officer. This appointment follows the campaign launch of "managed environment" for users. It also comes as the company has now formed vertical teams to serve its four vertical markets: building, plant, civil, and geospatial. Mr Flynn was moved to CMO from his position of director of marketing for Bentley's building team, Flynn's previous executive and management roles include heading corporate and product marketing for Viewlogic Systems Inc.

URL: http://www.bentley.com

224.00 Events & Calls for Papers

To make the VREfresh file smaller for you to download, you will find new event announcements in each issue. Expanded details are available at the VREfresh Web Site.

URL: http://www.VREfresh.com

224.30 US Army General to Speak at AEC Conference

Lieutenant General Robert B. Flowers, Commander and Chief of Engineers of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, will deliver a keynote address at the 2003 Bentley International User Conference on Tuesday, May 20, at the Baltimore Convention Center in Maryland. During his address, General Flowers will discuss the work of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and its ongoing efforts to maximize its use of mission-critical systems, including CAD and GIS. By deploying interoperable systems, the Corps' information technology can support engineering projects well throughout their life cycle of programming, design, construction, and operation. The Corps uses Bentley software in planning, designing, building, and operating civil works and military projects, as well as public facilities and infrastructure. Bentley also supports the Corps in environmental restoration and preservation, disaster response, and wartime engineering support.

2003 Bentley International User Conference: May 18-22, 2003

URL: http://www.bentley.com/biuc

224.31 VSMM 2003 - Call for Papers

This year marks the ninth edition of the VSMM International Conference with the theme "Hybrid Realities: Art, Technology and the Human Factor". VSMM 2003 will be held for the first time in Canada, in the city of Montreal. Hosted by Hexagram, the Institute for Research and Creation in Media Arts and Technologies, VSMM2003 will take place on October 15-17, 2003. Manuscript & proposals should be submitted by June 30, 2003.

Email: mailto:vsmm2003@vsmm.org
URL: http://www.vsmm.org/2003

For details of the following events, click here.

April 1-2: OpenSG, Darmstadt, Germany
April 3: 3Dims VR workshop, Frankfurt, Germany
April 3-4: CARVI 2003, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
April 27-30: 2003 Symposium on Interactive 3D Graphics: California, USA
May 7-9: Casa'2003, New Jersey, USA
May 13-18: Laval Virtual Reality International Conference, Laval, France
May 18-22: 2003 Bentley International User Conference, Maryland, USA
May 22-23: Joint IPT/EGVE '03 Workshop, Zurich, Switzerland
June 3-5: EurographicsUK 2003, Birmingham, England
June 30: Closing Date for Papers for VSMM2003
July 10-11: Vision, Video and Graphics 2003, Bath, UK
July 27 - 31: Siggraph 2003, San Diego, California, USA
September 1-6: Eurographics 2003, Granada, Spain
October 15/17: VSMM 2003, Montreal, Canada

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For extensive information about events relevant to the European VR/i3D community, see the events pages on El.pub: for Europe: base05.htm, for the rest of the world: connone.htm

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