Change of Subject...

Knut Mork (knut@gar.no)
Wed, 26 Apr 95 10:32:16 +0200

Reply to your message of Tuesday April 25, 1995 19:29 +0200
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| For example, what about a VR world that has no discernable shapes,
| only unique algorythms that gave a "signature" to particular
| collections of waves of color, and whose boundaries (width and motion),
| intensities, and hues were determined by biofeedback mechanisms such as
| respiration, heartbeat, galvonic skin response?

Sounds like you've been doing certain drugs :)

I'm currently working on a project which isn't quite -as- abstract as the
above idea, but which involves combining abstract forms with human ones
in a virtual space, all of which is algorithm-driven and reacts to user
movements (not biofeedback just yet). This world will also include sensory
experiences which are usually neglected, such as temperature. I'm finding
that a very great deal depends on having a usable language of 3D forms:
you can build a 3D form out of pretty much any algorithm, but to have it
convey information about its behavior more or less instantly is a tough
call. Surprisingly simple forms do wonders, especially if they're very
expressive (like, long pointy things). Swarms of objects also bring out
good gut reactions from users.

| would be wierd. <<and even still, there's this little voice inside my
| head that says, 'hmmm... one 64K voice line, one 64K for change data,
| propogate the algorythms when dirty and progressively render them
| locally based on a heirarchy of proximity'... but we'll just ignore Mr.
| Implementation Voice, shall we?>>

You have plenty of bandwidth with a 128K ISDN line, if you're careful.
Voice transmission would be tight, admittedly.

[knut]