From: brucec@phoebus.labs.tek.com (Bruce Cohen)
Subject: Re: SCI: How many dimensions does V.R. have?
Date: 12 May 92 21:28:38 GMT
Organization: Software Technology Research Laboratory, Tektronix Inc.



In article <1992May12.053404.2139@u.washington.edu> jeh@nuchat.sccsi.com 
(James Henderson) writes:

> Are we talking about number of DIMENSIONS or number of SENSES??? Big differ-
> ence
> THere's 5 senses, and 3 dimensions PLUS time which is constant (meaning, the
> derivative of time is constant, and the second derivative of time is zero, no
> acceleration, no change of rate...), however in VR-world you are able to 
> speed
> things up, just as you are able to alter the reality... you pretty much are 
> the creator...

As Eric Pepke pointed out in a followup, I was using "dimension" to mean
"degree of freedom in the data" where the poster I was responding to
really and truly was talking about perceived spatial dimensions.  So we
were talking about apples and sea cucumbers, to all our confusion.
However, when I talk about three dimensions of color, I mean that the
perception of color can (roughly, to a first order, and ignoring fine
distinctions) be classifed in a space of three dimensions, that is, a
dataset with three degrees of freedom.

> A question I have is, are there VR-systems with SMELL and TASTE without 
> chemicals?  this would be extrememly high-tech!

I doubt we know enough about the olfactory system to stimulate it
directly without some sort of chemical triggers, but smell in VR has
been done before (see Rheingold's book "Virtual Reality" for a
description of the system and interview with the inventor), and I
suspect that the game manufacturers will be trying it again.  Taste
could also be done, but after a discussion about it here a while back, I
concluded that too many people would be reminded of going to the dentist
to accept sticking a taste stimulator in their mouths :-).

------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The end cause ... is too often handed off as an afterthought to harried
interface designers who follow programmers around with virtual brooms
and pails." - Brenda Laurel in "Computers as Theatre"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Speaker-to-managers, aka
Bruce Cohen, Software Technology Research Lab   email: brucec@strl.labs.tek.com
Tektronix Laboratories, Tektronix, Inc.         phone: (503)627-5241
M/S 50-662, P.O. Box 500, Beaverton, OR  97077