Subject: Virtual Reality Monthly: October

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 18 Oct 95 21:29:45 -0500

Virtual Reality Monthly: DIGEST
October 1995
   Welcome to "Virtual Reality Monthly: DIGEST," a monthly
online abstract of the 16-page, hard copy version available from The
Dysart Group.
   Designed for the busy professional, "Virtual Reality Monthly: The
World Market's Window on VR" (ISSN 1082-8257), features
insightful, crisply worded articles offering readers the inside track
on the most important developments in every major facet of the
burgeoning VR industry.
     What follows is a sampling of the coverage the journal offers - as
well as all the info you'll need to subscribe to the full-length, hard copy
version.
    (EDITOR'S NOTE: permission is granted to redistribute "Virtual
Reality Monthly: DIGEST" freely in electronic or hardcopy form, as long
as the Digest remains unchanged and is redistributed in its entirety -
including its redistribution terms and the offer for a free email sample.
    Otherwise, redistribution is strictly prohibited.  Copyright 1995.  All
rights reserved.  Virtual Reality Monthly and The Dysart Group.)
~LEAD STORY: MAD SCRAMBLE: A SLEW OF YOUNG START-UPS BRING VR TO THE INTERNET~
   While little more than a promise six months ago, the widespread
emergence of 3D and VR on the Internet now appears a foregone certainty.
Besides VR industry giant Silicon Graphics, more than a half-dozen start-ups
are already offering their own software to enable Net cruisers to enjoy
Internet-based virtual worlds.  Simultaneously, chip manufacturers have
been nothing less than zealous in their mission to drive down prices and
put robust 3D into the hands of the everyday PC owner.
   Granted, no one knows for sure when all this activity will coalesce to
ignite yet another revolution in the Internet's look and feel.  But the
conventional wisdom is to place bets on sooner.
   Moreover, when the changes to kick in, be prepared to go into warp
drive, says John N. Latta, president of 4th Wave, an Alexandria, Virginia-based
VR and multimedia consulting firm.
~VR IN ENTERTAINMENT CENTERS: VIRTUALITY INKS Q-ZAR
DEAL~
   Virtuality Group plc and Q-Zar have nailed a $750,000 agreement in
which Virtuality Entertainment will finance VR Equipment in Q-Zar's
Centers.  Q-Zar - which opened a 14,000 square foot facility at the United
Artists Plaza in Dallas, Texas in August - expects to generate more than
$500,000 in revenues annually in Dallas alone.
~VR ON THE INTERNET: XPAND RELEASES VR
WALKTHROUGH~
   Xpand Inc.  has released a VR walkthrough of Silicon Valley's Santa
Clara Convention Center on the Internet's World Wide Web.  A developer
of VR, multimedia and web browser technology, Xpand says the
promotional technology will be 'cover-mounted' on the October issue of
'EXPO' magazine, an industry trade publication that is distributed to 8,000
of the nation's trade show planners and managers - as well as to key trade
show exhibitors.
~VR IN HOME MULTIMEDIA: MICROSOFT SHOWCASES
REALITY LAB~
   Microsoft showcased games using the Microsoft Reality Lab, real-time
rendering engine in combination with Creative Labs' 3D Blaster graphics
accelerator card at the ECTS trade show in London last month.  The demo
represented the first outing of games running under the configuration,
which Microsoft described as an important milestone in the drive to deliver
arcade-quality gaming to the PC.
~NEW VR PRO TOOLS: TEMPLATE BUNDLES WITH
MICROSOFT~
   Components of Template Graphics Software's 3D graphics software
tools will be included on the Microsoft Visual C++ 4.0 product CD,
according to company spokespeople.  With the move, visual C++
developers will be able to use the TGS graphics tools to integrate 3D
functionality into their applications, and will have free use of the software
for internal, non-commercial purposes.
~VR IN DESIGN: VR: PROOF-POSITIVE PROBLEM SOLVING~
   Being able to instantly grow a young sapling tree into a 20-year-old oak
in VR says a lot about why so many architecture and design firms are
winning contracts with the medium, says Paul Cutt.
   "It seems a few years ago, everybody was excited about virtual reality,
and they wanted to do virtual reality," says Cutt, a vice president of
engineering at Scotts Valley, California-based Xtensory, a VR software
and consulting firm.  "Well, what's happening now is people are actually
doing real work."
~VR IN THE MILITARY: $100 MILLION TASC CONTRACT
DISPUTED~
   The U.S. Army Simulation, Training and Instrumentation Command has
decided to reopen discussions with all offers on a five-year contract
estimated to be worth upwards of $100 million.  STRICOM made the
move after an unsuccessful offeror filed a protest on the U.S. government's
decision to offer the contract to TASC, a subsidiary of Primark
Corporation, according to Primark spokespeople.
~TRADE SHOW ADVISOR: AUTODESK GEARS FOR MAJOR
CONFERENCE~
   Reflecting the growing importance of 2D and 3D rendering, this year's
Autodesk's's University will feature a Multimedia 'Conference Within a
Conference,' bringing world renowned innovators and technical experts
>from  the entertainment and computer industries together at the Moscone
Convention Center in San Francisco, October 29 thorough November 2.
   Nearly one third of the 230 classes and technical sessions at the third
annual Autodesk University Conference and Exhibition will focus on
Multimedia topics, while the remaining sessions cover the broad range of
computer-aided design tools and techniques enabled by the AutoCAD and
its related applications.
~ALSO INCLUDED IN THE OCTOBER 1995 ISSUE OF VR
MONTHLY: A SPECIAL EXPANDED 'INDUSTRY BUZZ'
SECTION~
    Find breaking news here on these companies, organizations, and VR
personalities:
Silicon Graphics
Paragraph International
Radiance Software
Paper Software
Intervista Software
Mark Pesce, author of "VRML: Browsing and Building Cyberspace"
Caligari Software
Portable Graphics
Designed Environments
Clement Moke Designs
Virtual Reality Association of Students and Professionals, Europe
The Geometry Center at the University of Minnesota
NASA Ames Research Center
Dave & Buster's
Showscan
Hollywood Trenz
Iwerks
Marcus Corp.
Bass plc
Nintendo
Sega
VictorMaxx Technologies
Creative Labs
Apple
SRS Labs
NEC
Yamaha Systems and Technology
Intel
Nvidia
3D Image Technology
Crisis in Perspective
Trident Microsystems
Accel
Network Computing Devices
MetaTools
Carnegie Mellon University
Hughes Training
Thomson Training and Simulation Ltd.
Evans & Sutherland
TRW
   (For a free email version of "Virtual Reality Monthly," [May 1995 only]
contact the editor at: [email-masked].  Please include your business
address, phone and fax.)