General Comments
Cebit is the major IT show for both the German and the European markets
and is the largest IT show to be held in the world. Some 25 exhibition halls
showed all aspects of IT from games through business to telecommunications
applications.
The world comes to Cebit to show its wares, over 7000 exhibitors filled
the halls with the largest number coming from Taiwan (424 companies), USA
(391 companies) and the UK having some 292 exhibitors.
Plasma Displays
A number of the leading Japanese display manufacturers were showing flat
screen plasma display panels. The leading suppliers are Conrac, Fujitsu,
NEC and Mitsubishi. Conrac, Fujitsu and Mitsubishi were showing 1 metre
diagonal displays with a thickness of about 5 cm. The typical viewing angle
of all these displays was of the order of 160 degrees.
Cyberstages
About three year ago the University of Illinois demonstrated at SIGGRAPH
a concept they called a CAVE, the definition of a CAVE is a room sized immersive
virtual environment for 3 - 5 users.
The German National Research Centre for Information Technology had developed
this concept a stage further and showed a portable CAVE with further developments.
These included the incorporation of an 8 channel audio sound system and
an acoustic floor which generates a sensation of vibrations and motion.
The stated aims of the project were to build direct body centred human
interactions within virtual worlds and to develop individual and team situations.
The technical realisation was achieved in the following way. Three wall
sized rear projection systems are installed orthogonal to the floor projection,
each with a size of 3 x 3 metres. A dual pipe Onyx IP generates 8 user controlled
images. The user position is tracked by sensors. The display resolution
is 1024 x 680 pixels for each of the 4 displays. They are refreshed at 120hz.
An 8 channel surround sound system is incorporated in the system as well
as an acoustical floor which transmitted vibrations and up to 2 mm of motion
to the floor in each area.
The system can import live video sequences along with prefabricated animations
and virtual worlds. Virtual actors are introduced into the stage either
in an interactive way or a pre-produced sequence of events. The interaction
by the participants is achieved with joysticks (3D pointers).
The display included the engineering sequence for the VW Sharon space
person mover and sets which included fire and ice scenes. The vibration
effects gave an added dimension to the experience.
Printer Developments
The two most significant developments at the show in the printer field
were the launch of the 1440 dot per inch Inkjet printer from Epson and the
Photographic Inkjet cartridges from Hewlett Packard.
The Epson development follows the trend for higher print densities that
has been typical of the industry for the last four years.
The HP development allows the user to achieve photographic quality images
cheaply. To achieve photographic image quality, the user needs to print
with a special ink cartridge on special paper using special software. These
developments in printer quality however are causing the main photographic
companies to look to their own market developments and this entry by HP
is sure to cause Kodak, Agfa etc to increase their own complementary work
in these areas.
Colour Fidelity over the Internet
Pantone the leading supplier of colour matching solutions announced a
range of colour standards for the Internet to allow the users to ensure
the images designed are the images seen by the users around the world. Pantone's
own colour standards for the printing industry are well known and give them
the reputation and standing to endorse the Internet development.
Sound Beams
This simple concept converts sound to a series of vibrations which can
be felt by the body, rather than heard. The product's producer claims that
through this media people with hearing disabilities can feel their first
sensation of music through contact with the sound box, or the sound beam.
The sound box converts the sound energy to a vibrating surface area large
enough for a person to be seated or lie on. The sound beam gives a point
of feeling sensation to the user.
Video Capture
Logitec (manufacturer of mice) scanners released a new product for capturing
video pictures from an ordinary VCR recorder, camcorder or TV. With this
an image of 640 x 480 pixel is transferred into any program and within the
£100 price you can use the resulting image in any publisher program
and also morph between images and bend twist, stretch and distort the image.
The price reduction and capture availability at £100 is the most dramatic
price fall in these technique in about 6 years.
Video Editing Systems
Avid have responded to the growing impact of Media 100 by offering NT
or Mac based editing. The system allows for timeline editing with frame
accurate trimming and full screen playback. The data content of the image
can be as high as 300 Kbyte per frame and the user can select the compression
level used for digitising. The software includes over 100 special real time
effects, four track audio monitoring and can create real time and rolling
titles.
Bill Boffin
Bill_Boffin@compuserve.com
