Daily Stereoscopic 3D News

Earlier Stereo3D-NEWS
First Half of 1998

June, 27: Stereoscopic applications-page restructured and updated.

June, 25: H3D Eyewear is now also available from Mindflux, Australia.

June, 25: The initial version of the Imagek Electronic Film System will have a 100 ASA rating, which is a bit low for poor Loreo/Argus. The price should be somewhere below $1000. Release date: 4th quarter '98.

June, 21: There are 3D-photo-cameras, but no 3D-digital-still-cameras yet, which is a major concern for many stereo freaks and professionals. Don't despair, help is underway, but in a shape you never might have imagined. By the end of the year Imagek www.imagek.com releases the "Electronic Film System". A digital CCD-sensor & storage system in the shape of a standard 35 mm film. Just put it into any standard cam or 3D-cam (like the Loreo) and off you go at 1280x1024. It stores up to 30 shots and connects to the PC.

Let's hope it won't be as expensive as I think it'll be.

June, 18: Brightland the company behind H3D-Quake develops a stereo image viewing and manipulation utility.

Here's what they have to offer:

"We have been working with stereo3D since 1987 (we created the first
stereo3D game on the Amiga, SpaceSpuds, and the first stereo3D game on
the PC, VR Slingshot. We are also working on a new stereo3D game; see
http://www.brightland.com). We have worked with StereoGraphics, 3DTV,
Chinon, NuVision, VRex, and H3D. We ported Quake to stereo3D for H3D,
and provided them with the software technology to produce their new
wireless shutter glasses. We've been thinking about selling our viewer
program, which allows users to composite stereoscopic images in
real-time. This means that the user can adjust cropping, vertical and
horizontal parallax, position, rotation, and scale, all in real-time.
The user can simply drag and drop stereo pairs (either eye as .jpg, .tga
or .jps (both eyes)) into the viewer for editing. For viewing content,
the user can zoom in or out in real-time, and the image is resolution
enhanced so that no pixels are ever seen. For example, the low-res
images available on the net as "samples" look quite good in our viewer
at 1280x1024 in stereo (no pixels are visible). Zooming in on areas of
interest is also very cool, as the resolution is continously enhanced,
and the stereo looks superb. We also have the technology to do fully
automatic stereoscopic image compositing (and not just joining images
together: proper stereo compositing) for large batches of images."

John Schultz
President and CEO
Brightland Corporation

Brightland hasn't decided yet how to distribute the program. They're open to bundling deals with hardware manufacturers and are considering a shareware release.
The program supports interlace and above-below format for all systems which can handle this. H3D is also supported!!!

Please tell them what you think, how much you would spend on such a program and what features you're looking for. Don't just say you would only spend two pennies on it or this baby will never go gold <g>.

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June, 17: Germany: Typhoon (Woobo) Cyberboy shutterglasses for DM 39 (about $22) at Comtech. The glasses work for many DOS-titles by default and can be greatly enhanced (windows, etc.) by building your own homebrew controller.

June, 15: Jürgen Hunke wrote a Win95 Frontend for the "merge.exe" Dos program to make stereoscopic gif files for the Cyberview viewer supplied with the Cyberboy Shutterglasses from Woboo. It's freeware and makes it more comfortable to use merge.exe, especially if there are larger amounts of left/right images to merge.

Please stand by for a download address or request the file by email from Jürgen.

June, 15: The dream is over!? IISVR (Interactive Imaging Systems - former Forte) released the specs of their highly anticipated next generation consumer HMD VFX-3D. The resolution increased from 180,000 to 230,000 pixel per eye. That's a 28% increase in resolution in 4 years of development! - My condolences.

Looks like LCD-cost remains a major problem. Early sources indicated true 640x480 support. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but my calculation goes like this: 640x480 = 307,200 pixels, but we'll need triads (red/green/blue) of LCD-pixels to get color. That makes: 640x480x3 = 921,600 pixels.

June, 15: Some readers asked me how to order the VR-Joy glasses. There's an order form on www.vr-joy.com (I hope it works). Click the "JOIN NOW" button on the main page or go there directly: http://www.vr-joy.com/adult/preview/frame_joinnow.html.

This is an adult-website! I hope this is of no concern.

June, 14: Check out this great website on medical issues related to binocular vision: www.vision3d.com. (Thanks to Jean-Marc for the link.)

June, 11: Opposed to my earlier statement on the VR-Joy page the 3D-SPEX glasses work fine on the VR-Joy controller when it comes to voltage (sorry for the slip-up). The original SPEX-controller works at 12V, the VRJoy-controller at 9V. At higher voltages the SPEX becomes a bit darker, but even at 9V the shutter-performance is sufficient. The ghosting is about as good or bad as usual. Remains the reversed-wiring which shouldn't be that much of a problem. The adaptor for reversing the two contacts is an easy job. So, in case you already own one of the two systems buying the other is a good idea. You'll get two pairs of glasses and the SPEX-parallel port controller helps keeping stereo-orientation stable on certain LCD-BIOS titles. The VR-Joy controller does all the other stuff. The same applies to other wired serial or parallel products (Cyberboy, APEC, 3DTV and others).

June, 10: Orthoptiste (kind of specialized optometrist) Jean-Marc Desvals developed a system based on 3D-Max for the treatment of patients with binocular-vision disorders (orthoptic therapy). The system is now in clinical evaluation. Visit his web-page at http://www.mls.nc/users/jmd/vt.htm (in french & hopefully also in english soon). Here you'll also find an interlace format image for testing stereoscopic vision ability.

June, 5: Please welcome my first sponsor: Stereo3D-hard- and software-distributor 3DIST. Visit them at www.3dist.com.

June, 2: Just saw the Vectrex 3D-glasses from the golden 80's on german TV. I couldn't breathe as long as the thing was on-screen. I thought I must be dreaming. How comes? There was a report about the Computer- & Videogames-Museum in Berlin. They have a pair. On the museum homepage www.computerspielemuseum.de I learned that the Vectrex glasses were in fact a shutter-system, but not with LCD's as I thought. It was mechanical! The thing used a rotating disk, one half black, one half colored to give 3D and color to the monochrome vector-monitor. Each game had a different color scheme disk. Oh man, that's what I call a collectors item - Coooooool.

Unfortunately there is no product shot on the homepage. They have the same concept drawing from the product flyer as I use it on my pages. BTW I'm proud to have the original flyer (in german!).

The system is now more expensive than it was when it came out. Forget about coins and stamps - start collecting this kind of stuff!

June, 1: Updated the VR Joy review. If you already read it you might take another look. New items: wiring is reversed compared to some other brands of wired glasses; Line-Blanker drawbacks; comment on VR-Joy homepage.

May, 30: Sick of fiddling around with 3D- and VESA-drivers? Still no go on titles like Terminal Velocity or Comanche 3 ? Your web-browser shows flat images only? Your VGA-board is of no use when it comes to 3D-ing? Help is here! The new VR-JOY creates interlace on any hardware at the push of a button! Read THE REVIEW now! As usual it's long, detailed and mercyless!

May, 26: The homebrew sync-doubler controller was finally build and tested by it's developer Florian Schreck. The circuit layout is available now. A new page with a more detailed description for electronics-dummies follows soon. The do-it-yourself project requires some wired shutterglasses and 2 days work. The controller works for H3D-software on 3Dfx Voodoo Graphics 1 & 2 boards and for all other split-screen-3D-software. This also covers Duke3D and all the professional stuff for pro-shutterglasses, like the StereoGraphics CrystalEyes.

The new sync-doubler address is: http://ag-rempe.physik.uni-konstanz.de/privat/florian/lcd/index.html

Florian's Cologram page moved to: http://ag-rempe.physik.uni-konstanz.de/privat/florian/cologram/index.html

May, 26: Finally a web-page dedicated to the CyberMaxx. http://home.t-online.de/home/tietz-frost/cmaxx.htm. The page is hosted by Klaus Tietz and his companion. (Under construction!)

May, 26: The new Olympus Eye-Trek is a HMD almost as small and light as shutterglasses (110 g). It features two 180k-pixel displays and a video-in port for TV/Video-uses. It even runs on battery for 3 hours (optional). Available in Japan only. (This information was derived from VRNews magazine http://www.vrnews.com )

May, 26: I was told the VESA3-miniDIN-3 shutterglasses connector on the Hercules Thriller 8MB vanished for a S-video-in port. The pins for the shutterglasses-control-signal still seem to be on the board, so there might be a "do it yourself" solution. (Thanks to Franz-Hubertus Beck, http://fhbeck.home.pages.de)

May, 26: Check the new SD&A conference site at http://www.stereoscopic.org

May, 26: New H3D-Fan page by Nik Odolphie at http://surf.to/eastfield

May, 26: According to the senior programmer of Bethedsa Softworks the company is working on a new 3D-engine which will support H3D and the 3D-API's: Glide (3Dfx), Direct3D and OpenGL.

They also did a Glide(3Dfx)-plus-H3D version of their current engine which is used by "Burnout". There should be a H3D-Burnout in the forseable future. Wait a moment - Isn't that the dragster-car-race-sim? Uhhh, this one got very bad reviews over here, even worse than Andretti Racing! (Thanks to Marc Bejarano for the info.)

May, 26: I was asked if it would be possible to build an alternate H3D-transmitter to make H3D glasses compatible to non-H3D software. Well, I don't see a point for a new IR-transmitter, but what about a new controller? Based on the circuits for the homebrew VGA-PT, serial and parallel controllers someone could build a controller with a mini-DIN-3 connector for the H3D-IR-transmitter, instead of the usual connectors for wired-glasses. In my theory this device wouldn't require the H3D-line-code and could work on LCD-BIOS etc. The problem? I don't know the signaling of the H3D-mini-DIN-3 port. H3D told me it's different from the VESA3-mini-DIN-3 signaling. (Thanks to Nik http://surf.to/eastfield)

May, 26: Reflection Technology - www.reflectiontech.com - developed a miniature LED-VGA-display suitable for HMD's. Here's what they claim to be the advantages of LED over LCD:

Smaller
Lower Cost
Lower Power Consumption
Higher Contrast
Resolution Scalability
More Rugged Display
Superior Color
100% Image Fill (no gaps between pixels as in LCD's)
Full Color Pixels (a single pixel appears in whatever tint, opposed to the red/green/blue triads in LCD's)

I guess there'll be backdraws as well.

The current version (P7) offers true 640x480 in 4096 colors at 60 Hz. It'll be manufactured by Omron, a large japanese company.
I don't know of any HMD which uses this technology yet.

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May, 10: New hardware-independend shutterglasses! The VRjoy glasses, distributed by G-WORLD COMERCIAL LTDA and manufactured by Woobo, are wired and got a VGA-pass-through controller. Seamless Windows desktop support. No driver software required! (Sounds like a line-blanker device to me.) They should work on any graphics-card. The glasses are available NOW. As you can see from the related websites the product seems to be targeted at the adult market. The (adult) sample images for the VRjoy are done in the usual interleaved line (interlace) format. More stuff is available to website members.

Since Woobo is the manufacturer I wouldn't be surprised if the VRjoy is similar to the upcomming Cyberboy II.

Check the websites: http://www.vr-joy.com, http://www.cyberstereoimage.com/ , http://www.woobo.com/english/eng.html

Yes, I know what you're gonna ask next: Will it work with H3D titles? Well, I don't know, but here's my guess (just a guess): Voodoo Rush and Rendition - Yes; Voodoo Graphics and Voodoo 2 - No!

May, 10: There are still some HMD's not listed in my HMD-chart, like the Olympus Mediamask or the Shimadzu STV-E. I'll add them later.

May, 10: Philips introduces a new goggle-less 3D-LCD-monitor. (http://www.research.philips.com/generalinfo/special/3dlcd/index.htm). The "7 View 3D-LCD" uses a lense-grid known from those 3D-postcards and cornflakes-box collector pix. As far as I understand the technology, the interleaved image lines has to be vertical opposed to most other 3D-solutions, like shutterglasses, HMD's or the VRex micro-pol stuff. In other words: the thing is compatible to nothing.

May, 10: H3D released a miniGL beta which enables Voodoo2 support.

May, 10: Here's a funny hint by "Mindtrap" (mindtrap@teleport.com). He got the VRex VRSurfer Classic Pack working with H3D-GL-QuakeII. He connected the TV-controller to the TV-out of his Voodoo Rush board. It works on the TV screen as well as on the VGA-monitor. I guess this procedure limits the refresh rate to 60 Hz !?! Should work on Rendition and other GL-boards with TV-out too. NOOOOO, it won't work with Voodoo Graphics or Voodoo2 of course, even if they got a TV-out!

May, 6: More on the 3-DVideo Nu-View Stereo3D-camcorder adaptor. The February 1998 issue of "Camcorder & ComputerVideo" magazine featured a 5 page review of Nu-View. (3D-Video Inc. was so kind to provide me with a copy.) The adaptor works just like I assumed (refer to the last News-issue).

Here are some additional details:

- The exact model name is "Nu-View SX2000"

- The add-on is attached to the filter-thread and tripod mount of a standard camcorder. It should fit most existing models. (I'm a bit concerned about this new ultra-small miniDV-camcorders though. It also requires a standard video-out which must be active and accessible during filming.)

- The dimensions are (HxWxD) 3.1 x 7.3 x 3.6 inches (at max). (7,6 x 17,9 x 8,8 cm)

- The weight is 11.5 ounces (326 grams).

- The shutter is powered by one standard AAA 1.5 Volt battery which lasts about 50 hours.

- The system is automatically shut-down when the video signal goes away (i.e. if the cam is shut-down).

- There is a convergence control to account for the distance between camera lens and bayonet mount.

- The recorded material can be edited, just like any standard video recording. No new equipment required.

- Zooming is possible!

- Since only one lens is involved there are no problems with coordinating focus, white balance and such.

The Nu-View is much cheaper and easier to handle than earlier 3D-cam or two-camera solutions. It's able to use the full potential (which isn't that great) of the current tv-systems. Since it's an optical device it could even work with future advanced tv-systems, even HDTV. I don't know which frequencies it could handle apart from the current 50/60 Hz though.

What really matters is the way you watch the 3D-video material.
The easiest and cheapest way is to use a standard 50/60 Hz TV-set with some TV-shutterglasses, but this solution yields the most flicker.

There are more advanced ways to watch the tapes by using:
- 100/120 Hz digital TV-sets with built-in (!!!) shutterglasses controller.
- stereo LCD-HMDs like the i-glasses (LCD is too slow to cause serious flicker)
- 2-LCD-projectors with polarization filters (like offered by APEC)
- Digital transfer to the PC (like offered by APEC)

3D-Video Inc. and myself received some emails expressing fears concerning paning and moving. Due to the time-sequential recording technique used by the system the 3D-effect could (in theory) be distorted by movements.
The developers point out that this isn't a problem. Even paning shots, shots out of a fast car and other movements didn't show any unwanted effects.

With other solutions too expensive, too inferior or not yet available the Nu-View seems to be the king of the hill - for now.

Please note that I haven't actually tested the system myself yet!

BTW I got an interesting hint by Ross Cutler. He was also concerned about the time-lag problem and came across the new Canon Optura miniDV consumer camcorder which uses a progressive scan CCD. The camcorder plays to the rules of the current TV-systems by recording 50/60 half-frames a second, but it seems to scan the two half-frames (which represent one full-frame) at the same fraction of time, thus eliminating the usual time-gap between half-frames.

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April, 27: Measured by the feedback I got in the last two weeks 3D-Video seems to be the thing on most minds at this time. I took another look at the Nu-View consumer camcorder 3D-adaptor distributed by 3-DVideo. The APEC adaptor should be quite similar. Here's my idea of how it works. This information isn't backed up very well, just assumption! As you know there's not much info on the corresponding web-pages.

Now how does such a camcorder 3D-adaptor work. Well it's like shutterglasses for your camcorder eye. A mirror system puts the camera lens into the center of the light rays of a left and a right eye view. A built-in shutter sees to it that the camera lens gets only one of the views at a time. The adaptor is connected to the video-out port of the camcorder. This way the shutter can sync to the recording (50 or 60 Hz).
To understand the technology you first have to understand our television systems. One second of television consists of 25 (PAL) or 30 (NTSC) frames. These frames are divided into 50 (PAL) or 60 (NTSC) half frames. One half-frame consists of either all even or all odd lines of a frame. In other words television works in interlace mode by default. 3D-video systems are based on this interlace technique. They use all even-line-half-frames for one eye and all odd-line-half-frames for the other eye. Like any shutterglasses system it's time-sequential stereo!
The resulting 3D-video tape is similar to the commercial 3D-video tapes sold over the net and can be viewed with all TV-shutterglasses systems or a video-ready HMD like the i-glasses. No further modification of camcorder, VCR or TV-set required!
APEC offers a digitizer system to get the videos onto the PC. The port to the PC gives you the opportunity to increase the refresh rate (but not the frame-rate or resolution).
I don't think that ordinary television with it's dreadfully low resolution and refresh is a good basis for a 3D-system. Nevertheless I would like to get my hands on an adaptor, but I'm not happy with the current price tag!

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April, 26: I received hints regarding i-glasses headtracking from many contributors in the last few weeks. I put one of them on the Legacy page.

BTW I don't own any headtracking device. There's very little good software support. One of the few titles done right seems to be Flight Unlimited where the plane is controlled by joystick/pedals and the pilots view by headtracking. In most programs the headtracking just replaces the joystick/mouse to control body or vehicle movement. I think that's NONSENSE! What would happen in real life, when steering a car by headtracking??? Yeah, you guessed it - bullshit!

There's also a new headtracking-ONLY helmet on the market. Man - steering your stuff with hands and fingers is painful enough. Moving your head wildly for hours to control an action game? - Ridiculous!

April, 26: New dedicated H3D-page: Peter's (?) H3D-Fan-Page

April, 26: German market: I found a mail-order source (Weltbild) which offers Shattered Steel (full retail) and Cyberbykes for DM 5,- each. Both titles work with almost all Stereo3D devices. Check the German Market page for the order numbers. If you got the Weltbild-catalogue: it's issue 5/98, page 211.

April, 24: New official H3D-announcements: Hexen2 and Herectic2 by Raven.

April, 24: As you might know from the H3D-News page there's an interview with the H3D-staff in RealVideo on GameTime. Since the interview is rather long (1 hour) here's a summary of what I found new & interesting:

- The H3D controller actually amplifies the VGA-signal to prevent signal-losses. That's the reason the signal goes away when the dongle isn't powered.

- H3D doesn't seem to be interested in an API or a 3D-engine which gives developers Stereo-support by default on their own. They want to actively participate in every single software project for quality-assurance.

- Voodoo 2 support is the No.1 on H3D's To-Do-List, so it's just a matter of time until it's done. Reportedly they had to wait for a stable V2-code base to do their magic on it.

- Voodoo 2 SLI mode (two boards) with 1024x768 Z-buffered will be supported.

- 1024x768 is the max. resolution the H3D-controller can handle.

- The 3D-accellerator chipsets, H3D concentrates on, are 3Dfx and Rendition, with NVidia next on the list!

- H3D is developing new versions and add-ons to the glasses: different designs, different colors, alternate nose-pieces, frames and most important: larger LCD-panels!!!

- With the curent know-how provided by H3D a software developer should be able to incorporate H3D support into his product within 3 to 4 days! The devolpement of H3D-Quake1 took 5 month, but this was a R&D project.

- Unreal (Epic Megagames): H3D can't announce this officially yet, but they're very interested in this title and are in close contact to the developers.

- Forsaken (Acclaim): H3D is interested in this title too. They talked to the developers, but it's unclear if this game will be ported.

- H3D talked to tons of software developers including Activision, GTInteractive and Epic.

- H3D tries to get support in MS DirectX.

- H3D is mainly interested in A-class titles.

- Retail distribution: H3D will start retail distribution when there's a basis of about 20 to 25 A-class software titles available.

- 3D-sound may be incorporated into the eyewear in the future.

- Big announcements by H3D to follow in the near future!

April, 20: There's another version of Stereo3D-Doom, written by Andy Bay. Like Nuvisions Doom it's also done with the WinSPEX SDK . Actually it came out before Nuvisions version. Andy told me about his project month ago, but somehow I lost track of it. Please try both versions and tell me which one is better. Andy's version is available HERE and may yield some other interesting features.

April, 20: Added a Stereo3D-Acceleration chart (sorted by 3D-API's) to the Hot-List. Rendition won over 3Dfx - for now.

April, 18: Stereo3D-FAQ released. Covers everything, including Titanic <g>.

April, 18: H3D to raise prices by $30 on May, 1. If you're interested in this system you should order now. BTW I think even the new, higher price is still competitive. Other sync-doubler systems cost hundreds of $$$ and lack H3D's line blanker for future H3D-Windows desktop applications.

April, 16: New 3D-video website: 3-DVideo. Camcorder adaptor, glasses, HMD, etc.

April, 16: New 3D related website opening soon (!?!): Innerdimension.

April, 16: New 3D related website: AIS - Advanced Intelligence Systems. Hardware, software and 3D-images.

April, 11: New Shutterglasses: Tetratel EyeFX VR.

April, 11: HEXAGON KARTELL

The retail version of Hexagon Kartell is on the cover of german games magazine PC Action plus, issue 4/98 (DM 16,90 = $9). It constists of 2 CD's, since there are lots of cut-scenes. It's a para-military helicopter action simulation with a storyline - drug-lords and such - set in the year 2004.

The program was released in mid 97 and is completely in german language. There is no english version! The Publisher is Ascaron.

The game features native stereo3D-support for:

VFX-1 (2x320x240), including headtracking (?) and cyberpuck

i-glasses (2x320x200), no headtracking (?)

3D-Max (2x512x350)

The i-glasses mode works for VR-Surfer and 3D-SPEX (Nuvfrag) too. (As usual setup might be tricky and there could be a stereo-reverse problem in some instances.)

All the necessary patches are included on the CD's. The i-glasses patch is supposed to add SimulEyes support too, but I couldn't find that mode yet.

I would describe the 3D-effect in i-glasses mode as poor, but I haven't seen much objects yet since I didn't really played the game. I just took a quick look. Basically I see 2 layers of depth: the cockpit and the outside. The depth of the objects out there is insignificant. Maybe there's a function to set up the depth, but I have yet to look for it. A similar problem occured with Shattered Steel where the depth was also poor at first.

I can't tell much on the quality of the game as such yet. I've read in a magazine that the mission-design is good. The graphics are not quite up-to-date but not bad either. There's no 3D-accelerator support.

Haven't tested the hi-res 3D-Max mode yet, got to reinstall the 3D-Max ISA-board first. The 3D-Max version doesn't work for any other system.

The magazine can be backordered from the publishers.

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April, 11: 3D-MANIA

Christian Przewalla just told me that there's an anaglyph (red-blue or red-green) stereo3D game called 3D-Mania. It's a 3D-Tetris variation.

April, 11: H3D started international shipping. Fortunately they offer a 220 Volt power supply for 10 extra bucks.

April, 5: Stereo 3D Mailing List! Upon request I decided to offer the Stereo3D-News as a mailing list, so you don't have to check this page every now and then. Send me an e-mail with "SUBSCRIBE 3D-NEWS" as the subject. See to it that your "reply-address" is defined correctly.

The content of the mailings will be equivalent to the news on this page. As usual updates will happen irregularly.

April, 5: The Woobo main page is still under construction and the "english section" button is deactivated, but you'll find the old pages here. Might be of help in case you need some patches or stuff. (Thanks to Matteo for the hint.)

April, 3: See what's behind the Goldeneye! A new shot of the upcoming APEC-II-Gold glasses with visor-up. (Thanks to APEC for the update.)

April, 3: DOOM SPEXIFIED !!!

I must be dreamin' !!! Nuvision (the SPEX-guys) did Stereo3D-WinDOOM for WinSPEX !!! Might work with Doom2 etc. too! It's not a first rate stereo conversion, but a technology demo to show how easy it is to do stuff for WinSPEX. Go to the Nuvision SPEX-Doom page! BTW, this port isn't authorized by "id" !

April, 3: i-glasses Win95 drivers now available on Denis Bolic's VR-Page.

April, 3: VRex website overhauled. New design, but no apparent new product info yet. Ohh well, the new Gallery is great!

April, 3: H3D will accept international orders very soon!!! They hope to get their e-commerce server up and running by Wednesday, April 8. There's still no 220Volt version yet, so if you're living in a 220-country get your stabilized, universal power adaptor ready (available everywhere for about $15 upwards).

April, 3: Scitech Display Doctor 6.5 released. New Stereo-functions ??? - I'll check that later.

April, 3: Hexen 2 is a budget title in Germany now. Softprice-Label: 29,95 DM UVP (about $16). Some dealers didn't react yet and still offer it for 90,- DM - Hands Off!

March, 27: SPEX-News: WinSPEX 2.3 out. Now supports more chipsets and boards with VESA-DIN-3 stereo connector. Get it from Nuvision.

New european SPEX-distributor! Anubis offers the Nuvision 3D-SPEX as "Typhoon Cyber Toy". The distribution of the "Typhoon Cyberboy" (Woobo) seems to have stopped. Cyberboy --> Cybertoy. Wow. How creative!

(Thanks to Thomas for the news.)

March, 26: New dealer emerging in Europe: Italian Hardware Research. They will distribute products by Woobo. The website is under construction. It should open sometime in April.

March, 26: i-glasses driver page at Mindflux updated! (Thanks to Mindflux-W-Master Jason Pang.)

March, 26: Cyberboy at Vobis in Dortmund for DM 49,-. It's unclear if this is a local clearance-sale or if Vobis throws out it's Cyberboy remainders all over Germany. (Thanks to Robin Maytum for the info.)

March, 23: Font and Target Fix for H3D-GL-Quake II. H3D-Q2 is just out and there's already a hack which makes the font readable and fixes the target/crosshair. On Todd M. Purcell's H3D page you'll find the fix and MORE!!!

March, 22: Chancellor Dr. Helmut Kohl, head of german government, finally found his way into Stereo-heaven, wearing a pair of Stereographics CrystalEyes. He attended a 3D-demonstration by the University of Darmstadt at CeBIT'98 Hannover, Germany, the largest computer and telecommunications fair in the world - and growing. (Photo taken from Welt a.S. - BTW the headline was: "Blick in die Zukunft" - A look into the future!)

March, 22: In a CGW article about Stereographics, VRex and Nuvision I found the following statement:

"VRex’s passive products are based on the company’s MicroPolarizer

Array (m Pol) technology, which can be incorporated into any LCD

display, including the newer desktop LCD monitors. m Pol doesn’t affect

2D viewing at all. "We hope that somewhere in the year 2000 we’ll have

some critical mass, and we’ll have a good percentage of the [monitor]

market with [m Pol] built in," says VRex’s Saporito.

VRex is working with such firms as SGI, IBM, and Samsung to try to

persuade them to incorporate m Pol technology into their new monitors. In

fact, the company is refining its manufacturing technology so that OEMs

will be able to include m Pol technology in their new LCD monitors for less

than $20 apiece."

20 Bucks for a $3000 screen, that's about the same story as with this 1 dollar for the DIN-3 port on certain $200 graphics cards. And we know how such stories end... sad.

===========================

March, 20: H3D-GL-Quake2, H3D/3DFX-Glide 2.45, H3D-GL-Quake1 update and H3D-DOS-Quake1 update OUT !!!!

March, 20: Voodoo 2 users will have to wait for Glide 3.0 to get H3D support. Oh man, waiting, waiting, waiting... that's the fate of stereodicts.

March, 19: Did some testing on the drivers discussed below:

SVRDOS32.DRV & ZAR & Univbe: It works! I saw it at 140 Hz refresh now!
SVRDOS32.DRV & Whiplash & Univbe: Program runs, but I can't get a video signal, screen stays black, no matter what parameters used.
SVRDOS32.DRV & Whiplash & S3-VESA-driver: No change.
SVRDOS32.DRV & Shattered Steel & Univbe: No change, still stuck at 78 Hz.
SVRDOS32.DRV & Madspace & Univbe: No change, still stuck at 78 Hz.
SimBIOS & Nascar & Univbe: It works in lo-res. Can't get into hi-res because Simbios doesn't accept the "-h" command line parameter, it's just a syntax problem.
SimBIOS & Magic Carpet: No luck.

Results will vary on different hardware. You got to try it yourself.
===========================

March, 19: Very Important for All SimulEyes and VGA-Pass-Through Users!!!

There are some interesting files on the StereoGraphics SimulEyes FAQ page (or go directly to the FTP dir)

The DOS-driver SimBIOS replaces LCD-BIOS. It does for the SimulEyes/fanatix what NuvFrag does for the SPEX and more. It works for LCD-BIOS titles and alternate line (HMD and such) titles which use VESA modes. DOS-Quake, Cyberbykes, Nascar Racing (hi-res), Descent 1&2 and maybe Hexagon Kartell should work this way. There's not much hope for Comanche3, Armored Fist2 and Terminal Velocity, since they don't use VESA modes, but I'll try it anyway. I'm not shure about Magic Carpet and Hi-Octane (3D-BIOS stuff).

SimBIOS does even more! It works in protected mode and avoids real mode, as such it doesn't interfere with other TSRs. And here's the best. It solves the lo-res refresh problem by remapping VGA 320x200 to VESA 640x400. That means programs like Whiplash will finally react to the refresh setting in Scitech Display Doctor - Yiiiieeeehaaaaw. Performance should also improve by this.

There's more, SVRDOS32.DRV is a replacement driver for native SimulEyes titles. Usually native SimulEyes titles (like Whiplash, Shattered Steel, ZAR and such) contain LCD-BIOS code for software (!) page-flipping. The new driver will try to use hardware (!) page-flipping on the latest VGA-chipsets instead. Supported chipsets incluce: Rendition Verite 1000 and 2200, Alliance AT3D or AT25 with 3DFX VoodooRush, 3DLabs Permedia2, NVidia Riva 128 (no pal, I don't think that'll make the SimulEyes work on H3D-GL-Quake). The driver will also improve performance and refresh rate on other chipsets by using VESA 2.0/3.0 instead of VGA. Should also help on the stereo-orientation-flip problem, discussed here. I guess StereoGraphics wrote this driver in preparation for their upcoming consumer VESA-3 glasses, so they can utilize the existing SimulEyes titles right away.

There are also new Windows 3.x/95/NT interlace DLL's.

These drivers should be pure gems for all SimulEyes, miro fanatix, i-Art, VR97, Cyberstuff and homebrew VGA-PT users. The white line code is optional and can stay off !!! - Very convenient for non-SimulEyes users.

I haven't tested any of this stuff yet. I'm very very short on time at the moment. Just try it yourself and drop me a line.

(Thanks to Stereographics and to Matteo Paterno, who forced me to look into this. Visit Matteo's italian Shutterglasses Page!)

===========================

March, 16: Added a chart on current and future display technologies (like Plasma and Laser) and their hypothetical stereo3D compatibility. Crosstalk section updated.

March, 16: Stereo3D-Graphics-Boards page updated. Several new entries.

March, 16: Walked into a german (!) software shop and bought Quake2 today. So much for the BAN-bullshit circulating the net - again. (Will they ever learn?) I'll put the CD on ice until I find the time to look into it and until H3D releases the patch&driver and until the Voodoo2 becomes available in quantities. Damn - it'll be an antique by then.

March, 16: How low can you go? 3DIST, Germany offers the CyberMaxx Headset for DM 225,- and lots of other stuff. The page is available in english and german.

March, 14: New H3D announcements: Daikatana by IonStorm, Sin by Ritual and Ultima IX - Ascension by Origin. The title NHL'98 by EASports vanished from the announcements.

For full overview visit my Announced Games page.

March, 10: German market page updated, especially software. Nihilist and Nascar now available for a few pennies at PEARL. Several prices dropped considerably.

March, 10: The CyberMaxx is still (or again?) available at Schiwi, Germany. The price dropped to DM 298,- (about $165) including tax. Found it in the News-section of the March 9, 1998 electronic catalog. Well, if there's a cheaper stereoscopic HMD with headracking and audio I'll drop dead, but I'm still not convinced though. Don't know what to do with it. Maybe I'll think again when it falls to DM 99,- <G> .

March, 10: HMD manufacturer Optics 1, Inc. introduces it's new model E-ZView (initially called Viewtek) this spring. The E-ZView and most other Optics 1 products are available in monoscopic (as shown above) and stereoscopic versions.

(Thanks to Optics 1 for keeping me updated.)

March, 10: The Woobo page is under heavy construction at the moment. Let's hope for some hot hardware news when it reopens.

March, 10: The H3D website was completely overhauled. Here are some highlights: Glide 2.45 coming soon, H3D-GL-Quake2 coming soon (this week), H3D-OpenGL support for Rendition coming soon, support for 3D-image viewing coming soon, 3D-videos announced.

One interesting detail: H3D recommends certain Sony monitors to reduce ghosting. It seems that Trinitron tubes or at least some Trinitron tubes got a quite short persistance time.

March, 8: I strongly recommend to download the StereoGraphics Developers' Handbook and the CrystalEyes™ Software Development Kit Handbook in Acrobat format from the StereoGraphics website. It's like getting two excellent books on Stereo3D principles and programming for free.

The books are updated regularly and contain almost up to date information.

Here's a highlight from the SDK-Handbook:

"The FireGL 4000 3D graphics board from Diamond Multimedia Systems is equipped with internal sync

doubling circuitry. This provides a convenient technique for supporting stereoscopic applications which

already use the popular "above/below" display format.

Since the sync-doubler is already built-in, no additional accessories are necessary to plug in-between the

graphics board and the monitor connector.

Stereoscopic eyewear plug directly in to the mini-DIN3 stereo sync connector, which has been proposed as

VESA standard. The user has the choice of plugging in the IR emitter for wireless CrystalEyes eyewear, or

the direct-drive wired SimulEyes eyewear.

Additionally, the function of toggling sync-doubled stereoscopic display on and off is under control of

software. Unlike the external sync-doubling emitter accessory, the user does not need to press a manual

button to enable or disable the sync-doubled stereoscopic display. Instead the application can make the

equivalent driver function calls to enable or disable stereoscopic display according to the appropriate

stereoscopic or monoscopic display context.

In order to make such hardware-specific function calls to the stereo-ready FireGL 4000, the application

makes use of the OpenGL."

Now the question is which other VESA3-graphics boards got a built-in sync-doubler. I don't think consumer cards like the FireGL1000, the Hercules Stingray or Thriller got it.
There are some hi-end graphics boards and workstations providing built-in sync-doubling too.
A note on the SimulEyes. The passage about the SimulEyes in the text either refers to a future DIN-3 version of the SimulEyes or to a replacement DIN-3 cable for the controller or it's just wrong! (IMHO)
For instructions how to build a replacement cable for the current SimulEyes controller refer to my homebrew-section.
===========================

March, 8: I did it again, I've added another chart to the Technology page. This time about "3D-Image formats and how they are displayed - a line-by-line approach". It complements the other screen-format charts. I know it's enough already, but maybe it'll be of some help. I just love to do charts.

March, 5: As you might already know the Quake Total Conversions X-Men and Malice run on the standard Quake-executable and as such work with the H3D-Quake-patches by default.

The command line options look like this:

c:\quake\h3dglquake.exe -game xmen -xmen

c:\quake\h3dglquake.exe -game malice -malice

March, 4: The Glide (Voodoo)/ H3D Eyewear patch for Andretti Racing is available at Avault. The official H3D website will follow.

March, 3: The 1997 helicopter simulation "Hexagon Kartell" from Ascaron is a budget title now, at least in Germany. I saw it at GameIt for DM 29.95 ($ 16). The Stereo3D & Headtracking patches are available at Ascaron. AFAIK the stereo3D mode is also available in hi-res. There's at least native support for VFX, i-glasses and 3D-Max. The Max mode should work for 3D- and VR-BIOS. With a little luck it'll work with LCD-BIOS or at least NuvFrag too.

March, 1: I did a bit of brainstorming on the H3D Control Pattern.

Would a H3D-"Synthetic" Interlace hack help programs like Terminal Velocity, Comanche3 or Armored Fist2 ??? I doubt it!!! The mode works only from 85 Hz upwards. It's very hard to get the low-res modes of this games up to that refresh. I also doubt that "synthetic" interlace will work on modes below of 640x480. Another problem is the way VGA-boards handle those low-res modes. They use line-doubling by default. This will most likely screw the whole thing. All those lo-res standard VGA-mode programs are a pain in the ass, no matter on what shutter-system. I hate them all. Programs using VESA-modes on the other hand work like a charm on almost any system. A pattern hack for Descent2, Nascar Racing, Hexen2 and for the windows desktop is conceivable however.

Would a page-flipping pattern hack for all the LCD-/3D-BIOS titles and for MDK work? Yes, it might work - in theory.

Would a Top-Bottom hack help Duke Nukem 3D? I doubt it, because there is no way to calibrate the screen. It might look terrible. The TB-mode in Duke3 was made for the CrystalEyes Sync-Doubler.

H3D will not come forward with any such tools. They even decline to offer a utility to set the windows desktop to interlace. There is no way to run any non-H3D stereo-application (like 3DEM) on the windows desktop without trickery.
===========================

March, 1: The latest version of 3DEM (v.6.04) brings back the 8-bit stereo3D animation format from 3DEM 5.x. Now anything goes. Get it for free.

Feb. 27: New APEC products:

1) New version of the VirtualVisor, now with VGA-pass-through controller! It's basically the "VR97" plus a game bundle (Descent2-OEM, Whiplash, Slipstream). The product should behave just like the VR97, the i-Art VirtualEyes and the homebrew VGA-PT. Go to the VGA-PT page for driver&software compatibility lists.

2) 32" 120Hz (NTSC) TV with wireless glasses (comming soon).

3) New ultracool "GOLD" glasses. Weight: 50 g. The gold filter can be pulled up, the shutter-unit is removable. Can be used for TV and PC applications - and as sunglasses (comming soon).

4) Components for the 3D Live Video system. (3D-adaptor for camcorders, digitizer card, shutterglasses for monitor-viewing, polarization controller, splitter and glasses for projection systems.) Do your own digital 3D-movies, using your humble standard camcorder! There's a diagram of the system and a pic of the camcorder 3D-adaptor on the misc page.

(Thanks to APEC for the exclusive infos.)

===========================

Feb. 26: System Shock again. Is there anyone who got into the "video - headset" option-menu WITHOUT a VFX-1 controller card installed? Please contact me!

Feb. 25: Just got word from Interplay that there is NO (!) Stereo3D/VR support in "Descent to Undermountain" and NO plans to add such functions later. The program is based on the "Descent"-engine and was announced on some shutterglasses manufacturer pages.

Feb. 24: If you're still using one of those dinosaurs, Navigator or Explorer you should give Opera a try. It does the same things, but it's much faster, much smaller and it got a ZOOM function. In other words it comes in handy for those oversized comparison charts of mine. Oh, yes, it supports JAVA and Navigator plug-ins of course. It's a 1 (read my lips: ONE) MB download. What I need now is a html-editor of the same speed and quality.

Feb. 23: Some people asked me for a stereo3D capable VRML viewer. Well, with a little help of the nice "Anaglyph Software List" (a fellow member of the Stereo3D Webring) I found one. The Hybris VRML viewer supports anaglyph and "StereoGraphics" format. The software is in beta and can be ordered by email from the author. I don't know what "StereoGraphics" format exactly means. Most likely it's Top-Bottom format (for a sync-doubler), but it might be as well page-flipping or interlace format. Either way we have to talk the programmer into supporting all formats :-) .

Feb. 23: Pics of IMAX3D Shutterglasses and some new IMAX infos added to the movie page.

Feb. 18: The Cybertec link is dead. I can't find them anywhere else. Are they gone forever?

Feb. 18: Links page updated.

Feb. 18: Sun's Java3D nears completion. I don't know if there are stereo functions in this new graphics library yet.

Feb. 18: As you might already know Forte has turned into Interactive Imaging Systems. The new adress is www.iisvr.com. They're still working on the new VFX-3D hi-res consumer HMD.

Feb. 18: Added Virtual Max System to the TV/Video-Shutterglasses chart. The product is targeted at the adult video market.

Feb. 18: Heaven on Earth for all 3D and VR freaks is at the FUTUROSCOPE in France. Visit their website, it's a MUST SEE. They got everything: IMAX, IMAX-3D, IMAX Solido, IMAX Magic Carpet, OmniMAX, VR-machines and much more. ALL in one place. All packaged in an incredible architecture. (It's basically a theme park for imaging-technology addicts. - Who needs Euro-Disney?) There's a pic which shows a whole movie theatre full of people wearing..., NO not polarization-glasses, but SHUTTERGLASSES!

At Futuroscope they use polarization for IMAX3D and shutters for IMAXSolido. I don't know if this applies for all IMAX installments or if there are IMAX3D theatres using shutters too. I remember a TV report about "Wings of Courage" (IMAX3D), where all people got giant shutter-helmets with audio system. Never saw this helmets again.

Feb. 17: There is stereo3D support in Novalogic's Armored Fist 2, even in the demo version. The hotkey is ALT-F6. Works with HMD's or VR-BIOS (VRex). Should work with 3D-BIOS (3D-Max) too (try Max3D util in case of split-screen error). NuvFrag showed a buggy result, but maybe I gave up to quickly. AF2 usually works at a fixed resolution of 640x480 and got lots of different views (in tank, on tank, behind tank, maps, etc.) The stereo mode is limited to one view (on tank, full-screen) and to low resolution (320x240?). It's similar to the Comanche3 stereo-mode and isn't very impressive. The reason for the low resolution lies in the limitations of consumer HMD's. There should be a special hi-res mode for shutterglasses. The sad thing is that the required algorythms are there already. Should be very easy for the programmers to do a 640x480 stereo mode, even easier than the lo-res mode. This hi-res stereo mode could also work in the other in-game views. Unfortunately it won't happen.

(Thanks to Novalogic support for the info.)

Feb. 16: New Shutterglasses page in ITALIAN language from my fella Matteo. The focus is on SimulEyes/Fanatix, Quake & 3D-links.

Feb. 16: Still looking for a good stereo-image utility? Give the 3D Stereo Image Factory a try. It supports stereo-JPG (JPS) format, interlace and anaglyph. It's fully functional shareware. A 4 MB download at SOFTreat. There's a stereo image gallery on that page too.

Feb. 15: 3DEM v.6.03 is here. Now supports all windows desktop interlace compatible shutterglasses at all desktop resolutions & 16/24 bit color depths. (Compatible drivers are: 3D-BIOS, VR-BIOS, SSDI, 3DWin, SGToggle, VRViewer and others. Not much hope for WinSpex though.) Monoscopic mode and red/blue-3D are still available. It also supports OpenGL now. No hardware 3D-accelerator required, software emulation does the trick. It's also quite fast now. The 256 color mode and the special stereo3D-animation format from version 5.0x are gone for now. Programmer Richard Horne set up a new dedicated page for 3DEM, with binaries, images, videos, links. Watch Earth, Mars or whatever terrain in incredible detail and in stereo3D, like the pros from NASA. 3DEM is a MUST HAVE and it's Freeware.

Program description (taken from the manual):

"3DEM will render 3D terrain scenes and MPEG flyby animations from USGS Digital Elevation Model (DEM) files, USGS Global 30 Arc Second Elevation Data Set (GTOPO30 DEM) files, NASA Mars Digital Topographic Map (DTM) files, or any topographic data file which is organized by rows and columns of elevation data. 3DEM will also produce realistic fractal landscape scenes. 3DEM uses the SGI/Microsoft OpenGL libraries for high speed 3D rendering.

3DEM will render 16 or 24 bit color three dimensional projections, red-blue projections requiring red-blue 3D glasses for viewing, or color 3D projections requiring Liquid Crystal (LCD) electronic shutter glasses for viewing. Completed scenes can be saved as Windows bitmaps for transfer to other applications or as 16 bit height field bitmaps for use with the POV-Ray ray tracing software. Flybys can be saved as mpeg animation files which can be played back with freely available Windows 95 mpeg player software."
(c) Richard Horne
===========================

Feb. 15: Check out the Starmap-3D homepage, or follow the other link directly to the Starmap-Stereo3D-page. Webmaster Winchell Chung is thinking about a stereoscopic Starmap application.

Feb. 14: 3D-Boards page updated. There's a new entry: "California Graphics - 3D Emotion" and a list of cards one might think they got a glasses connector, but DON'T.

Feb. 13: I've updated the Misc page a bit since Don Sawdai gave me some info on polarization technology. Products like the Stereographics Z-Screen are active. They're quite similar to shutterglasses, the shutter just sits on the screen instead on your nose. Such polarization shutters require a standard (tube) monitor, just like shutterglasses.

Passive polarization products, like the VRex Cyberbook, on the other hand work with LCD-screens only. I never had the chance to see it, but those passive systems must be really cool. No flicker, very light glasses, no batteries, no cable, no interlace, no page-flipping, no electronics, nothing. That's real 3D, without a time lag. Both eyes see the image simultaneously, not just by turns, as with shutters.

Sometimes in the future when LCD and Plasma, or something like that, becomes dominant over tube-monitors we don't need (can't use) shutterglasses anymore, just some $1 cardboard polar-glasses. The LCD-screen has to be prepared for this of course, by polarizing the odd lines in one way and the even lines in the other. That's possible, because on a LCD-display the lines are always in the same spot. On a standard tube-monitor the position of the lines changes from screen mode to screen mode and from setting to setting. If the lines on our monitors were fixed we could apply some polar-foil to it, but that's never gonna work.

Feb. 13: Please read Donald Sawdai's comment on the LCD-BIOS page-flipping slip-ups affecting VGA-pass-through systems. (See the drawback-section of the VGA-PT page.) Here are the highlights of his comment:

"LCDBios always uses SW page flipping."

"SciTech's drivers sometimes made this worse."

Feb. 13: The upcoming H3D-GL-Quake2 should work on any 3D-board with a suitable OpenGL driver, like Voodoo, Rendition and others, but only the new 3DFX-GL/Glide driver will show the H3D-control-pattern. This could lead to the "funny" situation that H3D-GL-Q2 might work on non-Voodoo boards using 3rd party glasses like i-Art VirtualEyes, APEC VR97 or the homebrew VGA-PT, but NOT on the original H3D-glasses. As stated in an earlier message H3D tried to work with Rendition on this, but there seems to be not much interest on Rendition's side. H3D Eyewear is targeted at the mainstream market and this means Voodoo. The Monster3D alone sold 800,000 units. H3D is still the only consumer shutterglasses system which supports the Voodoo Graphics at the moment.

H3D is still confident to get all other VGA-boards working. Their SDK supports DirectX, Glide and OpenGL.

Feb. 13: It seems in some new Rendition V2200 board designs the VESA3-glasses port is replaced by a S-Video IN port.

Feb. 12: Applications and Edu slightly updated.

Feb. 7: There's a new H3D-review on Bjoerns 3D-World.

Feb. 7: X-Ray lab modified, driver column added to Hot-Games, "dream configuration" added to buying guide and more minor updates.

Feb. 6: VGA-PT controller drawback-section updated. Trouble with LCD-BIOS in many (?) cases.

Feb. 6: "Hodie" wrote a little tweak for HMD support in Hi-Octane. It has to be used in conjunction with the normal 3D-patch. It delivers a non-interlace-mode, non-page-flipped alternate line image. LCD- or 3D-BIOS isn't required. It doesn't work on my system, but hey my box is one mess anyway - non-adaptec-SCSI, no-name-network, General Midi, 3D-Max-board, no-name-sound, TV/Video, ISDN (doesn't work of course), non-intel chipset, non-intel processor, PS/2 mouse.

Feb. 5: Scitech Display Doctor contains the following univbe command line option. univbe on hwstereo

Looks like a software switch for the VESA3 glasses port, but I can't test it.

Feb. 5: I found this on Björn's 3D World page: "According to the guys at H3D (the gys with the glasses) Rendition hasn't yet seemed interested to help them make a rendition version that works with the glasses. So raise your voice on the rendition newsgroup if you are interested in a H3D-version that works with the Rendition cards."

Hmm, I thought they were working on a GL-version which works on all OpenGL video boards.

Feb. 4: And the winner is... The i-Art VirtualEyes review is here! The first wireless consumer glasses with plain (!) VGA-path-through controller! Syncs to anything! Large LCD-panels! Stereo reverse button! Brilliant power supply solution! Great software package! Top documentation! - I love it!

Any drawbacks? Well, the nose-piece is as (un)comfortable as the one of the 3D-Max. The price for the premium hard- and software package (VRWorks!) is $250. Hey you get what you pay for. The software alone is a $200 value. And last and least it won't work on Voodoo add-on boards.

The whole product was designed with the multimedia user in mind, not so much for gamers. Ironically the i-Art hardware got the best game- compatibility of all commercial products I've tested so far.

Unfortunately the package lacks a DOS-Interlace driver like VR- or 3D-BIOS and there's none available on the net (AFAIK). LCD-BIOS and it's "relatives" can be used instead of course!

The VirtualEyes are also presented in the X-RAY Lab already!

Feb. 4: The Forte Homepage was updated! (Thanks to Bhanu for the hint!)

Feb. 3: Have you had your share of radiation today? No? Report to my all new X-RAY Lab immediately.

Feb. 2: Homebrew Sync Doubler circuit available. This one was made by Florian Schreck. It's hand-drafted. A printed circuit layout will follow. The Jörg Fischer Crew still works on the Sync Doubler plus Line Blanker circuit.

Feb. 1: I found the first (?) two DVD movies in 3D. Dinosaurs & Other Amazing Creatures in 3D in anaglyph (?) and Girls Wet & Wild 3D in anaglyph or pulfrich (?). Both from Simitar. No shutterglasses stuff yet. (The "wet girls" CD seems to be a cross between a bucket of water, a suntan lotion commercial and a sleeping pill.)

Feb. 1: Slipstream does react to the refresh rate set by Display Doctor 6.0 (UNICENTER-Util), at least sometimes. No luck with Whiplash yet. Any idea?

Feb. 1: Just another commercial 3D-Max-page. Nothing new there.

Jan. 31: Silicon Graphics put up a dedicated Virtual Reality page.

Jan. 31: VRex opened a new additional website for distribution: 3D-Outlet! It's under construction, not much to see there yet.

Jan. 31: I checked the Armored Fist 2 demo today. It uses the same engine as Comanche 3, but there is no option to set graphic modes. It's stuck at 640x480 (?). I fear the retail version looks the same. No stereo option of course. I can't find anything with the disk editor also.

Jan. 30: Found another board with shutterglasses connector: CyberRex Wizard VGA Board + Virtual Reality Package.

Jan. 30: Woobo added nice new 1998-"estimated release dates" to their good ole "games in development" list. Well I'm sceptical, but hey - go ahead - surprise me.

Jan. 30: Some new pics on the VRSurfer page. Some minor changes all over the website.

Jan. 28: I'm still looking for a way to increase the refresh rate in standard VGA-modes. Scitech Display Doctor does it's magic only on VESA modes. There's a utility for Rendition cards which remaps the VGA-modes to VESA. Is there something like that for other chipsets too?

Jan. 28: Sorry, but I have to nag again about System Shock. What has to be done to highlight the "HEADSET" option in the Video menu? Must a headset driver be present to activate this? If so what headset? VFX-1 or CyberMaxx? Is there a command line option? Maybe a set-variable in autoexec.bat does the trick? Is there a hotkey? Or is there something wrong with the european version? I'm using cdshock.exe vF1.6C. Please answer.

Jan. 27: The Jörg Fischer homebrew3D team is hooked on the line blanker (synthetic interlace) of the H3D-box since I described it here lately. They'll try to include it into their new design.

Jan. 27: New version of QLCD for Dos-Quake & SimulEyes/miro available. Now the VGA-mode number hasn't to be set manually anymore.

Jan. 27: New VGA-card with VESA3-stereo3D-connector: Genoa V-Raptor 3D. Very similar to the Hercules Thriller (Rendition V2200).

Jan. 25: Please check the new VR-homepage of Denis Bolic. Contains info on stereo3D and headtracking. There's a nice 3D-picture too.

Jan. 25: Just found out that the stereo versions of Whiplash and Slipstream know the following command line options:

Whiplash: whip /simuleyes /simuleyes70 /simuleyes80 /lcdbios /fx480

Slipstream5000: slipstrm /simuleyes /simuleyes70 /lcdbios /maxx /r /novbe

Unfortunately the /maxx option seems to be buggy in my version of Slipstream. Would be very good for systems like 3D-Max and VR-Surfer.

There might be other versions of this two programs. Scan the exe-files for keyword lcdbios. The other options will be visible too then.

Maybe someone can tell me if there is anything in the retail versions of this programs.

Jan. 25: Please read the new DRAWBACKS section on the homebrew VGA-PT page.

Jan. 25: Does anyone know how to get headtracking working for Quake 1&2 and the i-glasses? Do you have any drivers or patches for the i-glasses? Please send me email. (Please, don't send files to my mailbox, just tell me about them.)

Jan. 24: New: Scandalous Nude Picture.

Jan. 23: Urgent: VRex VRSurfer Classic Pack at EBAY online auction. 50 units to be sold. Minimum bid: $15. Only 4 days left for bidding! The bids are very low, you might get a VRSurfer for $30-40. (Thanks to Lance.)

Jan. 23: Homebrew VGA-Pass-Through controller review and software-list!

Jan. 23: Homebrew-3D specialists Thomas Schuhmann and Franz Krause finished their VGA-pass-through printed circuit layout, based on the basic circuit of Jörg Fischer and Michael Bosch which is based on the circuits of s by Tomi Engdahl and Martin Krysiak, which is based on... heck I don't know. You see there are a few people working on this stuff. I'm testing the TS/FK-controller at the moment. Everything goes! Beats out many commercial shutterglasses controllers when it comes to software compatibility. Thomas and Franz also compiled a hi-res 3D-photo CD-Rom especially for WinSPEX, but it can be compiled for other 3D-drivers too. CLICK HERE.

Jan. 23: The Jörg Fischer/Michael Bosch page should be updated also in the meantime. They're still working on a sophisticated VGA-pass-through controller with Sync-Doubler!!!

Jan. 23: I've added comments by LCD-BIOS/SSDI author Don Sawdai to the Technology page. Everything you always wanted to know about Page-Flipping and Interlace but were afraid to ask. Very enlightening!

Jan. 23: Message by Stefan Schimanski: "I've changed qlcd a bit. Now it's simpler to use because you need not to

know which number your vesa mode has. I've tested it with LCDBios 1.31 and a

miroMedia 3d with Virge chipset." http://1Stein.home.pages.de

Jan. 23: Take a look on Grendels Gamelist. It covers many headtracking games and some stereo-games. (Thanks to Hodie)

Jan. 23: Forte, or whatever they're called now, is still working on the next generation VFX-3D helmet. (Thanks to Marc.)

Jan. 23: i-glasses software list and a few drivers on the Mindflux page. (Thanks to Jimmy.)

Jan. 21: Breaking news: H3D-controller does Miracles! You thought the Sync-Doubler in the H3D-box was a little sensation? Well it was, but what I found out now will blow you away. The technical novices might not understand this, but you experts better buckle up! It's unbelievable, yet proven. Yesterday I would have bet a $$$1000 against it, but it's true. I saw it. I put it to the test. The H3D-controller can generate interlace out of thin air. I had to check back with H3D-engineering because I thought I'm loosing my mind.

VGA card and monitor are in normal non-interlaced/non-page-flipped mode, no sync doubling involved, resolution & refresh are normal, but your eyes see interlace. How is this done?

Here you go: The H3D-controller scans the frame and blanks out the odd lines. In the next frame the controller blanks out the even lines and so on. The refresh rate and other parameters aren't changed. The lines are still there, they're just black now. This is not even page-flipping. It's what I would call "synthetic interlace", without the participation of VGA-card or monitor. No software driver is involved. The H3D-box does the job.

In the future this can be used to set the Windows desktop into this "synthetic-interlace" on any, I said ANY (!!!) VGA-hardware. That way you can watch interleaved stereo images on the web or use other interlaced (alternate line) software on your windows desktop (or somewhere else maybe), without tweaking your graphics hardware (that's what all the other systems do). The H3D-control pattern is still required to activate the glasses of course. Software which

activates this mode isn't officially available yet. Please be patient.

Jan. 21: It seems Voodoo2 won't support hardware page-flipping, opposed to earlier statements on this site.

H3D will use split-screen (sync-doubler) format for the V2, just like on the Voodoo1. Due to the bigger RAM of the Voodoo2 there will be a special hi-res mode (640x960) which will look just as good as the line-doubled page-flipping on Voodoo Rush and Rendition.

Jan. 21: The program 3DEM 5.0 (3D-Digital Elevation Model) by Richard Horne calculates 3D-landscapes and ray-traced flyby animations. Several professional topographical data formats, like NASA's Mars surface data can be imported. The animations can be saved as MPEG or as a special Stereo3D-animation format. 3DEM supports Anaglyph (red/blue) and SimulEyes format on the windows desktop. It works with some other shutter-systems too. There's one problem however. 3DEM insists on setting the interlace mode by itself, instead of leaving this to 3rd party drivers (like 3D-BIOS, VR-BIOS, SG-Toggle, etc...). This may cause problems with some VGA-chipsets and glasses. Interlace mode is available in 800x600@256c only. I contacted the author and asked for a fix. The freeware (!) file (<500kB) is available from http://download.com, search term: 3DEM. (Thanks to Chuck Miller for the hint.)

Jan. 21: There's a short and very positive review of the Hercules Thriller at Next-Generation.

AFAIK only the 8MB version of the Thriller features a VESA3 shutterglasses port.

Jan. 21: After my "raw-egg" statement in the review, H3D pointed out that the eyewear is more damage-resistant than the light design might imply. They were tested under rough conditions and should survive all minor "accidents". No reason to be rude though.

Jan. 21: The H3D infrared transmitter is connected to the controller box through a mini-DIN3 jack. The transmitter isn't compatible to the DIN-3 jacks on VESA3 graphics boards (Stingray, Thriller, FireGL etc.) though. Don't try it. The H3D system fits to all graphics cards anyway due to it's VGA-pass-through connector.

Jan. 19: H3D Eyewear tested.

Jan. 18: HMD-chart slightly updated.
Jan. 18: If you're a System Shock fan you should sign the System Shock 2 petition.
Jan. 18: Check this website: www.vrnews.com. Not much to see on the page, but you can order a free trial subscription of VRNews-magazine there.
Jan.18: Here's an interesting comment about H3D, Glide, OpenGL and the currently developed Uberengine.
Jan. 17: New Shutterglasses! The i-Art Virtual Eyes are wireless, connect to the VGA-port and feature a stereo-reverse button. The price is 100 bucks. A TV/Video-version is available also. The VirtualEyes utilize interlace mode under Windows and they seem to be compatible to LCD-BIOS and other drivers under DOS too. That would mean they sync to any interlace and to any page-flipping screen. I would give it a "Thumbs UP", but I can't do this without a hands-on test. The i-Art website is worth a visit. There's a nice introduction to stereoscopy and a picture gallery. I-Art offers some stereo applications for windows too: "VRWorks!", "VRShow!", "Virtual Gallery" and the driver package "3D Win". No free downloads yet. You might also check my updated shutterglasses chart. The software and driver charts are also updated accordingly.
Jan. 17: I've put a list of video/TV-compatible glasses on the movie-page.
Jan. 17: The H3D-Quake2-Patch has been delayed. (Thanks to Armand and "tucka" for the bad news.)
Jan. 16: ForteVR (makers of the VFX-1) declared bankrupcy! The same guys continue their work under a different name: Interactive Imaging Systems. I wonder what happens to their next generation product: "VFX-3D". (Thanks to Bhanu for the info.)
Jan. 16: I was supposed to be one of the first to test the H3D eyewear. Now it turns out I'm becoming the last one, if I should see the thing at all.
Jan. 16: ImageTech cameras added to misc page.
Jan. 16: Found some more HMD comparison charts out there on the web.
Jan. 15: Gallery opened. Unfortunately I haven't got the web-space to present lots of pictures.
Jan. 15: Credits, movie, misc updated.
Jan. 13: Jimmy Chu offers free webspace for i-glasses drivers and patches. Please hand drivers and stuff over to him for publication. He got nothing so far.
Jan. 13: Computers and More - worldwide VR Gear distributor offers free CyberMaxx 2.0 Drivers and Patches. Just go there and drop them an email. (Thanks to Armand W. Bastien of Computers and More.)
Jan. 13: New, extended Miscellaneous (former "Exotic") page. (Under construction.)
Jan. 13: Michael Jackson shots added. (Huhhh...?)
Jan. 8: The VRSurfer works on Magic Carpet 2 (no patch required). Use force3D, start with option -vio, press S to toggle stereo. There's a split-screen error at first, but it vanishes after stereo is activated. Ghosting is quite visible in the "night"-levels (what a surprise). I wonder why it didn't work on 3D-Max. Maybe I haven't tried hard enough.
Jan. 7: Links-page enhanced!
Jan. 7: The i-glasses (PC/TV version) are now also available from MS-EDV, Germany for DM 499,99 (about $280). I'm still uncertain if all this dealers just sell remainders of the i-glasses or if anyone produces this stuff again. The very cheap i-glasses on the german market are remainders I guess.
Jan. 6: "Honey, I blew up the VRSurfer page!"
Jan. 6: Movie page updated with lots of new VHS-video titles for shutterglasses.
Jan. 4: It seems the game Nihilist by Philips contains at least some stereo3D support. I guess it's anaglyph (red/blue) only. Maybe someone can check this? (Thanks to David Day for the info.)
Jan. 4: New (!?!) 3D-Max adress in Korea: http://intervr.castmail.co.kr/, contains some downloads. (Thanks to Rick Jongbloed.)
Jan. 4: There is a new i-glasses website: . (Thanks to Thaddeus Elms for the link.)
Jan. 3: I added specific compatibility info on the VRex VRSurfer to the Hot-Games page. Look for "VRS" titles. Maybe there will be a few more, but I have to figure them out first.
Jan. 3: I did it again! I've made just another table full of images to explain the difference between interlace, page-flipping and sync doubling! This time from the VGA-card point of view. Maybe it'll help a bit.
Jan. 3: There's a Shattered Steel update patch on the Bioware page. It contains native LCD-BIOS support and other goodies. (Thanks to Eyal Teler for the news.)
Jan. 3: I received a VRex VRSurfer system (classic and web pack) for evaluation yesterday. It does more than I expected in some cases and less in others. It behaves very much like the 3D-Max. More info on this later.
Jan. 1: You have to remove SET FX_GLIDE_SWAPINTERVAL=0 from your autoexec.bat to get H3D-GL-Quake working. (Thanks to Matt Barrett, Visual Clan.)
Jan. 1: There are updated DOS- and GL- Quake1 patches on the H3D page.
Jan. 1:

Gutes Neues Jahr - Happy New Year