Forum Archive Index - January 2000

[Phil Williams <philw@hyperactive.co.nz>]

Les,  I am trying to visualise another activity that could be displayed using the techniquesof Virtual Spectator.So far I can't and I wish I could.Anyone any ideas?   Phil perhaps...

Forget yachts for a moment, and think about what VS does.
The "back end"  processors track the positions of an object in the real world, and map this in real time into a virtual space.
The desktop software takes this "layout" map, and builds a display placing 3D sprites where the streaming co-ordinates indicate.
It can also process the data, and make extra data sets like velocity and object history...

So in the current version the object is a boat (with GPS tracker), and the sensor is a GPS satellite.

But imagine you get every player on a rugby field to wear a small wristband, or even a special material strip which is reflects a certain light frequency...
The sensors are all around the rim of the stadium (or under the turf), and the locating can be very accurate because of the small area being covered...
Substitute the water for a pitch, and the boats for rugby players... bingo....

Too much information to stream over the net for real time play..?
Well yes, at the moment, you'd need a pretty fat connection to get it all in. But theses connections exist, I'm hooked up on one now (100 megabits p/s) and they'll be common in 18-24 months.
But you could get an acceptable game over a fast modem if you buffered so that you got your coverage delayed by 30 seconds or so.

So in 2010, its perfectly possible that we'll be able to watch any soccer match in the world on our second monitors, while we trade our shares... ;)
The internet provides the "unlimited channels" that even cable could never hope for.
And watching on VS would be 50 times better than watching a TV camera cover the same event, cause you could stop, replay, zoom, pan to any angle, take a players view, with graphics just like playing Quake 3 today (or better).

This is out in the future - for now, slow stuff like yachting is the ideal testing ground.
But Terabyte and ARL (Animation Research Ltd), and their ITC backers will be pushing ahead fast to develop this sucker, get the rush on the competition (which there will definitely be), and install this system as the world standard for animated sports broadcast.

This is WICKED technology. Its potential is huge. There's a long way to go, but ARL in particular have the skills.
If they pull it off, just think of  the licensing fees:

They'll have nine zeros...

Phil Williams

Animation/Media Design
Hyperactive New Media
Wellington, NZ
+64 8019550
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------- To remove yourself from this list, email sharechat-request@sharechat.co.nz with "unsubscribe" in the body of the message, or use the unsubscription form at http://www.sharechat.co.nz/forum.html.