Almondsbury, Bristol-based virtual reality system developer Division Ltd has launched the ProVision 100, a fully integrated virtual reality workstation for professionals in fields like computer-aided design, molecular modelling, interior design and entertainment. The ProVision 100 runs under Unix System V and is available in stand-alone or multi-user configurations. It can be networked with other workstations including Silicon Graphics Inc Irises and IBM Corp RS/6000 via Ethernet and has what Division claims to be the first purpose-built virtual reality software environment, dVS. This is a distributed, object-oriented system in which the different elements of the virtual environment are controlled by autonomous parallel servers, each running on a different CPU. It also features acoustic technology from Groveland, California-based Crystal River Engineering Inc, involving high performance signal processors that can localise sounds such as ringing telephones and voices at their visual sources – whether these are moving or still. This also models sound reflections off or through the other objects in the virtual world. Three Intel Corp 80860s, seven Transputers and a 33MHz 80486 CPU provide the core of the workstation which has between eight and 32Mb of memory.
Three-dimensional mouse
It has a 200Mb hard disk, optional SCSI, and 1.44Mb floppy drive. It is based on an EISA bus with accelerator boards for three-dimensional graphics, three-dimensional audio, collision detection and peripheral processing. A headset; video monitor and keyboard for programming; and three-dimensional mouse are also provided. Provision 100 is available in Europe through Division, in Japan from Matsushita Electric Industrial Co and in the US from Redwood, California-based Division Inc, at around UKP50,000. Meantime, Division Ltd is busy working on a number of other projects. It is collaborating with the TNO Physics & Electronics Laboratory in the Netherlands on assessing virtual reality for aerospace and military simulation, for example. Here, Division has been tackling the problem of simulating movement in space where there is zero gravity and friction, and has succeeded in extending TNO’s current space walk system to enable two users to train simultaneously. It is working with Thorn EMI Central Research Laboratories and the London Parallel Applications Centre on a two-year lighting design project aimed at architects and designers wishing to simulate the lighting of buildings. And it is also continuing its research into interactive techniques for molecular graphics and modelling with Glaxo Group Research, the University of York and IBM (UK). This is looking at improving perceptions of molecules through three-dimensional visualisation; manipulating and interrogating structures; and providing a suitable interface for command facilities available in traditional molecular graphics systems.
