Virtual Tour Technology - Essay Example

Human—machine interfaces consist of the multimodal devices used to present information to VT users. For multimodal VT applications, advances in peripheral connections to the computer are the single largest issue. When an input device is connected, such as а body or limb tracker, а serial port is generally utilized, а port typically designed for character input and not high-speed data transfer. А solution to the input device connectivity issue that is available on commodity computing is the great unsolved problem.

At some point, this input-port speed problem needs to be solved, and that resolution must be included on mass-marketed PCs or their descendents. Visual displays, especially head-mounted displays (HMDs), have come down substantially in weight but are still hindered by cumbersome designs, obstructive tethers, suboptimal resolution, and insufficient field of view, see the “HMD/VR—Helmet Comparison Chart, ” Bungert, 2001. ) Recent advances in wearable computer displays (е.g., Microvision, MicroOptical), which can incorporate miniature LCDs directly into conventional eyeglasses or helmets, should ease cumbersome design and further reduce weight (Lieberman, 1999).

There are several low- to mid-cost HMDs (InterSense's InterTrax i-glasses, Olympus Eye-Trek FMD, Interactive Imaging Systems' VFX3D, Sony Cybermind, Sony Glasstron, and Kaiser ProViewXL) that are lightweight (approximately 39 g to 1,000 g) providing а true resolution of only about 60 K pixels.. For multimodal VT applications, advances in peripheral connections to the computer are the single largest issue. When an input device is connected, such as body or limb tracker, serial port is generally utilized, port typically designed for character input and not high-speed data transfer.

solution to the input device connectivity issue that is available on commodity computing is the great unsolved problem. At some point, this input-port speed problem needs to be solved, and that resolution must be included on mass-marketed PCs or their descendents. Visual displays, especially head-mounted displays (HMDs), have come down substantially in weight but are still hindered by cumbersome designs, obstructive tethers, suboptimal resolution, and insufficient field of view, see the "HMD/VR-Helmet Comparison Chart, " Bungert, 2001. ) Recent advances in wearable computer displays (.g., Microvision, MicroOptical), which can incorporate miniature LCDs directly into conventional eyeglasses or helmets, should ease cumbersome design and further reduce weight (Lieberman, 1999).

There are several low- to mid-cost HMDs (InterSense's InterTrax i-glasses, Olympus Eye-Trek FMD, Interactive Imaging Systems' VFX3D, Sony Cybermind, Sony Glasstron, and Kaiser ProViewXL) that are lightweight (approximately 39 g to 1,000 g) and provide horizontal field of view (30 to 35 degrees per eye) and resolution (180 K to 2.4 M pixels/LCD) exceeding predecessor systems. While the resolution range looks impressive, most consumer-grade HMDs (those around 180 K pixels/LCD) use three pixels (red, green, and blue) to produce one colored pixel, providing true resolution of only about 60 K pixels per LCD (Bungert, 2001).

Virtual Retinal Displays (VRDs) may bring truly