“Origami,” a virtual studio that allows actors to interact with computer-generated characters and creatures in real time, has been developed by the BBC. It should lead to a new generation of programs and films made with advanced special effects at relatively low cost.
It overcomes the limitations of chromakey. The action takes place within a virtual landscape created inside a computer amd projected onto the walls and floor of… read more
A virtual reality hand, complete with vital veins, that “feels” could help trainee nurses learn more effectively than with plastic mannequins, which give little idea of the pressure needed to puncture the skin and are not too realistic.
Different research groups such as those at the University of British Columbia and the University of Toronto are converging on similar methods to achieve realistic walking for robots.
It’s now possible to use the laws of physics — no humans necessary.
Disney and Google have announced Walt Disney World Resort in 3-D.
All four theme parks and more than 20 Disney Resort hotels of the Orlando, Fla., tourist destination have been placed on Google Earth.
Users “can zoom down Main Street, USA, fly around Cinderella Castle, explore Spaceship Earth and climb the Tree of Life,” and plan a vacation.
It will soon be possible to inhabit a virtual world, even while out and about in the real one.
Computer game company Artificial Life has announced that it will launch a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) for third generation (3G) phones before the end of 2005.
The game will let players assume a virtual persona and travel through a futuristic cityscape, the company says. They will be… read more
A computer game played by thousands of enthusiasts over the Internet has spawned an economy with a per-capita income comparable to that of a small country, according to new research by a US economist.
The online fantasy game EverQuest lets players create and control characters–or avatars–within a fantasy world called Norrath.
Characters gain skills and possessions that they can then trade with other players using the game’s currency of… read more
A simulated world that can be explored simply by thinking about putting one foot in front of the other might offer new rehabilitation possibilities for disabled patients.
This is the vision behind a project that connects a brain-computer interface (BCI) to an immersive virtual world.
Project Entropia, a 3D futuristic role-playing game set in a virtual online world in which players can earn and spend real money, will launch on January 30.
The first professional scientific organization based entirely in virtual worlds, the Meta Institute for Computational Astrophysics (MICA), has been formed by scientists from the California Institute of Technology, Princeton, Drexel University, and MIT.
In addition to getting people together in a free and convenient way, virtual worlds can offer new possibilities for multi-dimensional data visualization.
Experts agree that virtual worlds have a big future for business collaboration and as a new channel for conducting business, despite factors holding back virtual worlds, including poor proprietary front-end interfaces, difficult sign-up processes, limited bandwidth, and processing power needed on users’ computers.
William Sims Bainbridge — co-director of Human-Centered Computing at the National Science Foundation (NSF) — wrote in a review paper published in last week’s Science that virtual worlds would be ideal for performing sociological experiments.
Cited benefits include tapping into an unusually large population of subjects, acquiring lots of quantitative data about everyday activities, and repeating experiments under near identical circumstances.
A few pioneering researchers, such as Mary… read more
The U.S. Air Force is developing a body suit for pilots who fly remote-controlled aircraft such as the Predator. Using a system of electromagnets and magnets that apply pressure to the suit, it will give pilots feedback from the plane’s motions. The technology could also be used in the future for improved arcade games.
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Crew Station Evaluation Facility
A new virtual-reality simulator — including sophisticated 3D graphics and tactile feedback — provides allows neurosurgery trainees to practice essential skills and techniques for brain cancer surgery.
The prototype system, called “NeuroTouch,” uses 3D graphics and haptic (sense of touch) technology to provide a realistic look and feel for practice in performing common tasks in brain cancer surgery. Lead author Sébastien Delorme, PhD, of the National Research Council… read more
Scientists are using a virtual-reality, three-dimensional video game that challenges spatial memory as a new tool for assessing the link between depression and the hippocampus, the brain’s memory hub.