Vizard R3 beta release

[tobin]

Vizard R3 will be officially released mid-summer this year. This release involves a major overhaul, including an entirely rebuilt core, which will boost the performance and reliability of your simulations without skipping a beat or changing the way they run. Thanks to Vizard’s high-level programming approach and the Python programming interface, you can ignore the nuts & bolts of the underlying 3D pipeline and instead focus on making interactive content. While there’s much in this update we hope you never notice, there are also many added features we hope you do. The release includes tons of new ways to build worlds or extend Vizard’s functionality like never before. For those of you who are hardcore Vizard programmers, you’ll be pleased to see how much Vizard object handing of structures has matured and how the syntax has been nicely polished. For novice programmers, there are many new shortcut methods for building interactions faster than ever before.

Below is a list that highlights some of the features that will be rolled out in Vizard R3. Starting May 1, WorldViz would like to invite current users to join our BETA test program to test drive our new features and to verify for us (and yourself) that your current simulations under R2 work even better under R3. We’re committed to ensuring a smooth transition for our current customers so your input is invaluable. The features listed below are those we feel confident in mentioning at this point. We are working on even more items that will make this a truly exciting release but will postpone their announcement until further development has completed. If you have some requests that you don’t see addressed on this list, now may be your last last chance to mention them, so speak up!

Announced Vizard R3 features available for BETA testing May 1, 2006:

1. New high-level Physics interface based on OPAL physics editor
2. Action-scripting for quick and easy high-level behavioral programming
3. Generic link contruct for connecting objects and views without delving into the low-level matrices yourself
4. Improved hand module that returns fingertip locations and has more degrees of freedom to connect to newer glove hardware
5. Avatar/bones functions completely rewritten to provide intuitive and accurate control of limb movement
6. Avatar animation sequencer has been enhanced to include fine-grained control over animations and comprehensive event triggering for responding to completed motions
7. Unified event handler providing extensible structures and fine grain control over queue priorities
8. Improved and extensible plug-in architecture for interfacing to external devices
9. Added hardware support for lots of new VR tracking/peripheral devices (see list below)
10. Asset optimization (generate binary 3D model files that include geometry and texture for ultra-fast loading)
11. Improved mouse and keyboard navigation (walk thru, explore, standard gamekeys)
12. Python 2.4 and easy installation of 3rd party Python packages
13. VCR record model to create “vector-based” dynamics “snapshots” of simulations
14. Improved 2D GUI user tools adding hierarchical menus, edit text boxes, drop lists, and progress bars
15. 2D GUI themes
16. CAVE (or powerwall) configure utility
17. Powerful 3DMax 8.0 (and earlier) scene export into Vizard native binary format
18. Video textures controllable at the frame level during playback
19. Depth map occlusion for blending panoramic and realt-time CG imagery
20. Infinite and arbitrary terrain generator
21. Render-to-texture based lens distortion
22. OpenGL VBO, VAR, and latest extensions
23. Built-in OpenGL Shading Language support-
24. Built on OpenSceneGraph 1.0: User feedback is that performance matches or surpasses that of much more established scene graphs such as Performer, VTree, Vega Scene Graph and Java3D!

To become a Vizard BETA tester, please send an email to beta@worldviz.com. Include your name and describe your current use of Vizard.


Supported hardware under R3:

• Ascension Flock of Birds and Motion Star
• Polhemus Fasttrak, Patriot, Liberty
• Emagin built-in HMD 3DOF tracker
• Motion Analysis
• Measureand Shapetape
• AuSim 3D sound
• Elumens Domes
• Immersion Cyberglove
• Cedrus reponse boxes
• Connexion Spaceball
• ThoughTechnologies physiological measurement sytesms
• X-sens inertial trackers
• Intersense inertial trackers
• 5DT data gloves
• SensAble Phantom / Omni
• WorldViz PPT optical tracker
• VRPN 6.06
• Vicon motion capture
• LabJack
• DirectX Joysticks and Controllers

[tobin]

Thank you all who have expressed interest in testing the first beta release of R3. The release date has been shifted to May 26.

[tobin]

Vizard R3 beta 1 is now available. If you're interested in participating in the beta launch and have not been notitied, please contact beta@worldviz.com.

[Gladsomebeast]

Vizard 3.0 Beta 2 is now avalable on the Vizard Download page:
http://www.worldviz.com/download/?id=9

[tobin]

Vizard 3.0 Beta 3 is now avalable on the Vizard Download page:
http://www.worldviz.com/download/?id=9