10:21
Tech
ArsTechnica runs an article about the new lego robotics kit, the Lego Mindstorms NXT.
It has “a 32-bit NXT control brick, ultrasonic sensors, a revamped set of pieces, a new piece of visual programming software, and Bluetooth support (..) 577 pieces, the four sensors, the three motors”.
“The NXT brick can communicate with three other Bluetooth devices at any one time. This means that if you had four Mindstorms kits, you could create a mega-robot with four brains, twelve motors, and sixteen sensors—all of it coordinated through Bluetooth.The setup also works with cell phone and PDA Bluetooth systems, meaning that you can use your phone as a remote control or an output device.”
Tags: Tech
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16:54
VR Devices, Virtual Reality DIY
The Gametrak system is a real 3DOF tracker. Well two actually, one for both hands.
Strings attached to your hands help the system measure
the distance and angles from the base item on the ground.
It then determines the x,y, and z position of both your hands.
They claim the latency is really low (0 actually), but I’ll wait to have my hands on one of these before assuming it’s true =)
Anyway this seems like a good toy to play with, I’ll try it =). At 30€, it may be very worth it !!
Tags: gametrak, Virtual Reality DIY, VR Devices
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14:22
3d
Pretty cool video of the upcoming Warhammer Online.
Tags: 3d
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11:39
Tech
Now that’s great !! Look at the video *right now* 
“It all started when my friend Jesse told me that if you get a strobe light fast enough, you can make it look like dripping water is going in slow motion or even backwards. This phenomenon happens because strobe lights can ‘capture’ an instant in time and allow your eyes to see it as lasting longer than an instant.”
Tags: Tech
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21:12
VR Applications, Virtual Reality DIY
QuickWrite is an input method created by Ken Perlin so that “you shouldn’t ever need to pick up the pen (ie: no clicking, only gliding).”
I really like this input method and think it might be useful for symbolic input in VWs.
So today I played in Virtools with the idea of using Natural Point’s TrackIR as an input device. Of course any 3DOF (it needs only 2DOF) tracker would fit (the Wii-mote for example).
Here’s a video (slightly higher quality (6.4mb) ) of my experiment. I’m quite a beginner at this input method but it’s really easy to learn and write fast.
The 3rd dimension could be used to switch the output characters (uppercase, numerical, punctuation etc).
Read on for more infos about QuickWrite.
Read more…
Tags: quickwrite, symbolic-input, Virtools, VRPack
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11:01
Tech
15:48
3d
Thanx to CGSociety, a three part video coverage ( 1, 2, 3 ) of Siggraph 2006.
Tags: 3d
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14:51
Tech
From this article at ArsTechnica, entitled “Coming soon: an external video card near you?”
“NVIDIA has just released a monster external graphics solution for people who have exceedingly high demands for pushing pixels. The Quadro Plex 1000 is a set of graphics processors enclosed in its own box, capable of rendering 80 billion pixels per second and powering multiple monitors with a combined resolution of up to 148 million pixels. It doesn’t come cheap: prices start at $17,500, and it is intended primarily as a networked rendering solution. It requires one or two free PCIe slots (yes, you can buy two and run them in SLI mode) to connect it to your computer.”
Tags: Tech
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13:17
Game, Virtual Reality
This article at TechEBlog talks about MetaMersion, a company that wants to bring games into VR. The video is really cool. Also check out the photos
From the website :
“The backpack (..) contains software that is read by a 6-by-6-foot grid of motion sensors attached to the ceiling over-head and telles the computer where and how the player is moving”
“Because the most popular games are “first person shooter games”, according to Ebersole, the system includes a realistic replica AR-15 machine gun”.
Damn they stole my idea =)
Tags: Company, Game, metamersion, Virtual Reality
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