Virtual Reality - History
ECE 8990
Spring 2009
Outline
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Review Course Schedule
Virtual Reality – terms and definitions
VR History
Ivan Sutherland – “Ultimate Display”
Variety of Phrases
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Synthetic Environments
Cyberspace
Artificial Reality
Simulator Technology
Does it require computers?
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Conventional books
Movies
Imagination
Virtual Reality - oxymoron?
Virtual Reality
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Virtual reality is an artificial environment that is created with
software and presented to the user in such a way that the user
suspends belief and accepts it as a real environment. On a
computer, virtual reality is primarily experienced through two of
the five senses: sight and sound. The simplest form of virtual
reality is a 3-D image that can be explored interactively at a
personal computer, usually by manipulating keys or the mouse
so that the content of the image moves in some direction or
zooms in or out. More sophisticated efforts involve such
approaches as wrap-around display screens, actual rooms
augmented with wearable computers, and haptics devices that
let you feel the display images.
Virtual reality can be divided into:
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The simulation of a real environment for training and education.
The development of an imagined environment for a game or
interactive story.
http://searchcio-midmarket.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid183_gci213303,00.html
Virtual Reality
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"Virtual Reality is a way for humans to
visualize, manipulate and interact with
computers and extremely complex
data"
Organization
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Three-Dimensional Display
Virtual Reality Systems
Important Events
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3D Display
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1838-1948 - Early
Systems
1967 - Traub’s
Varifocal Mirror
1979 - LEEP Optics
1970s - Computerbased stereo displays
1985 - Commercial
LC shutter displays
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Early 3D Display
1838 - Wheatstone
Stereoscope
1849 - Brewster
Stereoscope
1903 - Parallax Barrier
1915 – First 3D movie
1948 - Holography
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Volumetric Displays
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1967 - Traub’s Varifocal Mirror
1981 – Larry Sher at BB&N
SpaceGraph
1986 - Patent Number
4,607,255 to UNC Chapel Hill
(Fuchs and Pizer)
RGB outputs interpreted as X,Y and intensity
Vibrating mirror reflects the CRT display
Speaker used to cause the mirror to vibrate
Synchronize vibration and display
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Commercial Shutter Glasses for CRTbased Stereoscopic Display
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Time-multiplexed
stereoscopic
display
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1970s – PLZT
Ceramic Shutters
1985 - Commercial
LC shutter displays
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LEEP Optics
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Eric Howlett, Pop-Optix Labs 1979
Large Expanse, Extra Perspective
(LEEP)
Originally for stereoscopic still photo
viewing
Lenses correct for intentional camera
distortion
Later used in HMDs
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LEEP Optics
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Virtual Reality Systems
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1929 – Link Flight Simulator
1946 – First computer (ENIAC)
1956 – Sensorama
1960 – Heileg’s HMD
1965-68 – The Ultimate
Display
1972 – Pong
1973 – Evans & Sutherland
Computer Corp.
1976 – Videoplace
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1977 – Apple, Commodore,
and Radio Shack PCs
1979 – First Data Glove
[Sayre] (powerglove -89)
1981 – SGI founded
1985 – NASA AMES
1986-89 – Super Cockpit
Program
1990s – Boom Displays
1992 – CAVE (at Siggraph)
1995 – Workbench
1998 – Walking Experiment
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Link Flight Simulator
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1929 - Edward Link
develops a mechanical
flight simulator
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Train in a synthetic
environment
Used mechanical
linkages
Instrument (blind)
flying
http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museu
m/early_years/ey19a.htm
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Sensorama
Morton Heilig, 1956
Motorcycle simulator - all senses
• visual (city scenes)
• sound (engine, city sounds)
• vibration (engine)
• smell (exhaust, food)
Extend the notion of a ‘movie’
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Heilig’s HMD (1960)
Simulation Mask from
Heilig’s 1960 patent
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3D photographic slides
WFOV optics with focus
control
Stereo sound
Smell
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Ivan Sutherland
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The Ultimate Display – more later
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Molecular Docking Simulator
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Incorporated force
feedback
Visualize an abstract
simulation
Used the Argonne
Remote Manipulator
(ARM)
Fred Brooks - UNC
Chapel Hill
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Data Gloves
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Light, electrical or metal
detectors compute “bend”
Electrical sensors detect
pinches.
Force feedback mechanical
linkages
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1983 - Artificial Reality
Responsive Environment
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Is an environment where
human behavior is perceived
by a computer which
interprets what it observes
and responds through
intelligent visual and
auditory displays
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Contained many of the ideas
that define:
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VR
Context Aware
Computing
Video Place
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1985 - Nasa Ames HMD
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McGreevy and
Humphries
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Wearable immersive
HMDs
LCD “Watchman”
displays
LEEP Optics
Led to VIVID, led by
Scott Fisher
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Super Cockpit - Tom Furness
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Wright Patterson Air Force
Base
Visual, auditory, tactile
Head, eye, speech, and hand
input
Designed to deal with
problem of pilot information
overload
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Flight controls and tasks too
complicated
Research only
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Big system, not safe for
ejecting
VCASS - visually coupled airborne simulation system
Tom Furness, Dean Kocian, and Mike Haas at AFRL
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FakeSpace Boom Display early 1990s
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CAVE - 1992
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Virtual Workbench-1995
(Responsive Workbench, Immersidesk, etc.)
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Effectiveness of VE
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UNC Pit Experiment
Fear of Heights a Strong
Response
Thousands of visitors
Compelling Experience
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Haptics
Low Latency
High Visual Quality
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VR Events
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1985 - VPL Founded
1987 - VR in Scientific American
1990 – SIGGRAPH Panel Session
1991 - ICAT (International Conference on Artificial
Reality and Telexistence) in Japan
1995 – IEEE Virtual Reality Annual International
Symposium (VRAIS 95).
1995 – Beginning of Clinical VR
1998 – DisneyQuest opens
1999 – VRAIS replaced by IEEE VR Conference
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VR Comes to the Public’s Attention
1987 Article by Jim Foley that
features the VPL Data Glove
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Siggraph 1990
Special Session: Hip, Hype and Hope – The Three Faces of Virtual
Worlds
Chair:
Bob Jacobson, University of Washington
Panelists:
John Barlow, Author and Songwritter
Nolan Bushnell, Aaps, Inc.
Esther Dyson, Editor, Release 1.0, Analyst
Tom Furness, Human Interface Technology Lab
Timothy Leary, University of Pittsburgh
Warren Robinette, University of North Carolina
Randall Walser, Autodesk
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1995 - First IEEE Virtual Reality Annual
International Symposium
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(now IEEE VR)
VRAIS 93 in Seattle
Research Frontiers in VR workshop at
Visualization 93
“Timothy Leary Wasn’t Invited”
http://www.cs.uncc.edu/~lfhodges/UNCCVR/Fall03/VRAIS95.gif
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1995 - Effectiveness of computer-generated (VR)
graded exposure in the treatment of acrophobia in
American Journal of Psychiatry
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Ivan E. Sutherland
ACM Turing Award Winner 1988
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Biographical Information
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General Background
Education
Early Work and Teaching
Sun Microsystems
Summary of Accomplishments
Summary of Publications
Summary of Patents
Ivan E. Sutherland
ACM Turing Award Winner 1988
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Turing Award Lecture:
MICROPIPELINES
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Clocked-Logic Conceptual
Framework
Transition-Signaling Conceptual
Framework
Micropipelines without Processing
Micropipelines with Processing
Impact on Computer Science
Bibliography
General Information:
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Born: 1938, Hastings, Nebraska
Parents: Mom – Teacher, Dad – Ph.D. Civil Engineering [2]
High School: In the 1950s, he was one of a very few high
school students who had written a computer program
Hobbies: Motorcycles, Ballroom and Square dancing
Proudest Accomplishment: Four Grandchildren
Education:
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1959 B.S. EE Carnegie Institute of
Technology (Carnegie Mellon
University)
1960 M.S. EE California Institute of
Technology
1963 Ph.D. EE Massachusetts
Institute of Technology
»
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Studied under Minsky [6]
Ph.D. Thesis: “Sketchpad: A Manmachine Graphical Communications
System” [2]
Education:
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Sketchpad
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First major Interactive Graphics System, first GUI
Used coding techniques similar to OOP
Memory structures to store objects
Zoom in and out [2] using clipping algorithms
Rubber-banding of lines
Perfect lines, corners, and joints[4]
Display file for screen refresh
Recursive methods for geometric transformations
Later additions included
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Polygon clipping
Hidden surface removal
Elegant algorithms for registering digitized views [9]
Education:
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Sketchpad
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The concept of the constraint as a method of specifying details of
the geometry of the picture
The ability to display and manipulate iconic representations of
constraints
The ability to copy as well as instance both pictures and constraints
Some elegant techniques for picture construction using a light pen
The separation of the coordinate system in which a picture is
defined from that on which it is displayed
Implications of some of these innovations are still being explored
by Computer Science researchers today [4]
Early Work and Teaching
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1963-64 Army and NSA
1964–1966 D.O.D. Advanced
Research Projects Agency
(ARPA)
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Director of Information Processing
Techniques
1966-1968 Harvard
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Associate Professor [2]
Quint Foster wearing the Head-Mounted Display circa 1967
Sutherland and Sproull
1965 - The Ultimate Display
paper by Ivan Sutherland
1968 - Ivan Sutherland’s HMD
- consisted of two cathode ray
tubes (CRTs) mounted along the
user’s ears
- heavy, so needed support
Early Work and Teaching
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1968-1974 Utah
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Co-founder Evans and
Sutherland Computer
Corporation
Part-time Computer Science
Professor at University of
Utah [2]
Early Work and Teaching
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1974-1980 California
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RAND Corporation
California Institute of
Technology
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Chairman of Computer Science
[2]
Sun Microsystems
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1980-1991 Sutherland,
Sproull and Associates
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Vice President and
Technical Director
1991-Present
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Sun Microsystems
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Vice President [2]
Summary of Accomplishments
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Honors & Professional Societies (partial list):
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IEEE John von Neumann Medal, 1998
Smithsonian Computer World Award, 1996
ACM Turing Award, Association for Computing Machinery, 1988
First Zworykin Award, National Academy of Engineering, 1972
Member, National Academy of Sciences (NAS), since 1978
Member, National Academy of Engineering (NAE), since 1973
Member, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)
Fellow, Association for Computing Machinery
Summary of Publications
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"Sketchpad--A Man-Machine Graphical Communication System," Sutherland,
I.E., Proceedings of the Spring Joint Computer Conference, Detroit, Michigan,
May 1963, and MIT Lincoln Laboratory Technical Report #296, January 1963.
"Ten Unsolved Problems in Computer Graphics," Sutherland, I.E., Datamation,
May 1966, Vol. 12, No. 5, pp. 22-27.
"On the Design of Display Processors," Myer, T.H., and Sutherland, I.E.,
Communications of the ACM, June 1968, Vol. 11, No. 6, pp. 410-414.
"A Clipping Divider," Sproull, R.F., and Sutherland, I.E., AFIPS Conference
Proceedings, Vol. 33, Part I, 1968, p. 765-776.
"A Head-Mounted Three-Dimensional Display," Sutherland, I.E., AFIPS
Conference Proceedings, Vol. 33, Part I, 1968, pp. 757-764.
"Computer Displays," Sutherland, I.E., Scientific American, Vol. 222, No. 6,
June 1970, pp. 56-81.
Backups
Major Reinvigoration:
Hardware Evolution
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High expense
PC performance surpasses Graphics
supercomputers
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SGI RealityEngine (300k tris – 1993)
XBOX (150 mil tri/sec - 2001)
XBOX360 (500 mil tri/sec - 2005)
Large Volume Displays
VR Estimated $3.4 billion industry in 2005
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First IEEE VR in 1999
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Announced at VRAIS 98 in Atlanta
First IEEE VR held in Houston in 1999
http://www.cs.uncc.edu/~lfhodges/UNCCVR/Fall03/VR99.pdf
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2003 – Los Angelos, CA
2004 - Chicago
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VPL Founded - 1985
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First VR Company
VPL Research by Jaron
Lanier and Thomas
Zimmerman
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Data Glove
Term: Virtual Reality
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3D Display
1838 - Wheatstone Stereoscope
1849 - Brewster Stereoscope
1939 World’s Fair –Viewmaster
Sensorama – Morton Heilig, 1956
• 3D video (side by side 35mm
cameras), motion, color, stereo
sound, aromas, wind effects (using
small fans), and a seat that vibrated
• example: simulate a motorcycle
ride through NYC (feel wind, bumpy
road and potholes, smell food, …)
• Heilig also designed a headmounted display (HMD) in 1960
Sutherland and Sproull
1965 - The Ultimate Display
paper by Ivan Sutherland
1968 - Ivan Sutherland’s HMD
- consisted of two cathode ray
tubes (CRTs) mounted along the
user’s ears
- heavy, so needed support
Ivan Sutherland
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The Ultimate Display (FIPS 1965)
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Data Visualization: “A display connected to
a digital computer…is a looking glass into a
mathematical wonderland.”
Body Tracking: “The computer can easily
sense the positions of almost any of our
body muscles.”
Ultimate Display
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Virtual Environments that mimic real environments:
“A chair display in such a room would be good
enough to sit in. Handcuffs displayed in such a
room would be confining, and a bullet displayed in
such a room would be fatal.”
VEs that go beyond reality: “There is no reason
why the objects displayed by a computer have to
follow ordinary rules of physical reality with which
we are familiar.”
Major
VR
Companies
Computing
Display
Interaction
Locomotion
Power
80s
Evans &
Sutherland
HMD
Gloves,
Joysticks,
Custom Built
Electromagnetic
(4’ radius)
90s
Silicon
Graphics
Inc.
HMD,
CAVE
Gloves,
Joysticks, Force
Feedback
Electromagnetic
Optical
(room sized)
Curren
t
PC
HMD,
CAVE
Real Objects
Force Feedback
Electromagnetic
Optical
(room sized)
Future
Tablet,
PDA, PC
HMD,
CAVE
Projectors
Real Objects
Natural
interaction
Anywhere,
Outdoors
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1985 - Nasa Ames VIVED
Virtual Visual Environment Display
• LCD-based HMD (from Sony
Watchman TVs)
• DEC PDP 11, Picture
System2 graphics computer
(from Evan & Sutherland),
and a Polhemus noncontact
tracker (used to measure
head motion)
• Scott Fisher integrated data
gloves into the system
By 1988, four 3D virtual sound sources were added. VIVED evolved
into VIEW (Virtual Interface Environment Workstation)
FakeSpace Boom Display early 1990s
CAVE - 1992
Virtual Workbench-1995
(Responsive Workbench, Immersadesk, etc.)
VPL Founded - 1985
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First VR Company
VPL Research by Jaron
Lanier and Thomas
Zimmerman
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Data Glove
Term: Virtual Reality
VR Comes to the Public’s
Attention
1987 Article by Jim Foley
that features the VPL
Data Glove