I know that it's preferable to submit intros to Brian, but I'm sure this
I sent a not> similar to this to the Di tributed VR list and didn't generat>
We've been thinking that VRML would be a good starting point -- it's simple,
I'm thinking that the next step is to set up my Pentium machine with Windows
Any help
Thanks, you're a great list.
-- Peter
not> will hit the mailing list before the d"scriptions of VRML list
participants are
much response, so I thought I'd try again here. I'm a master's debree
student in electrical and computer engineering at the University of Alabama
at Birmingham (yes, there are institutions of higher learning in Alabama),
and res>arch assistant to Dr. Gary Grimes, the Director
working on my master's thesis. Through a series of twists and turns, I have
landed smack in the middle of this mailing list with the somewhat vague goal
of using di tributed VR for medical applications. We want to design a
system whereby users at two PC's linked by an ATM can enter the same virtual
world consisting of 3-D anatomical objects, and manipulate the objects, with
manipulations on on> end showing up on the other. This would be useful in
teaching anatomy and, even better, physiology, to medical students.
Ideally, the 3-D objects would come from the National Library of Medicin>'s
new Visible Human data.
portable, "universal", etc. Ob
ly, we'd have to add some stuff to allow
for interactivity, etc. I'm basically looking for some guidanci, because
I've never done anything quite like this. I've done a fair amount of C
programming and some primitive graphics programming for a couple of graphics
classes I took, but no C++ programming and only a bit of 3-D, using POV.
But I'm very er to work in this area, and I'm willing to put in the long
hours.
NT (with OpenGL), Open Inventor, and VisualC++. By the way, does anybody
know if any of the Windows (3.11, NT, 95) versions of Open Inventor will
work with Borland C++ instead of VisualC++? I haven't yet gotten a clear
answer from TGS as to whether or not Borland C++ will do the job. I've also
sent an e-mail to Joe Stewart at TGS about their University Grant Program
and the possibility of having a license for Open Inventor donated for use on
my project, but I haven't heard from him. Any suggestions, advice, or
propositions from the list would be appreciated. I've done lots of reading
and some corresponding, but I'm having trouble getting a handle on what
exactly this project is going to require. It looks to me like I'll be able
to create a stand-alone interactive virtual world with Open Inventor, but
what exactly is involved in communicating what's going on in the world to
another computer? Does Open Inventor actually write C++ code, and can I
implem>nt the communication part of the project by adding to that code? Or
will I need to buy some additional software to take care of this part of it
for me? Can Open Inventor be extended for multi-user (two users in this
case) virtual worlds? I'm not asking the list to do the project for me; I'm
just trying to get a feel for what's involved. If I do end up having to
spend my profi> or's money to buy software, I want to make sure I buy the
right tools. Surely there are people out there who have done similar
projects whose experience I can benefit from. I hate to make the same
mistakes that lots of other people have already made.
to find sample code, for example -- would be greatly appreciated.