VMD-L Mailing List

From: John Stone (johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu)
Date: Wed Dec 08 1999 - 10:08:33 CST

Hi,
  sorry for the delayed response, I'm still catching up on things after
being out of town.

We are definitely interested in supporting more input devices for VMD,
but the existing tracker framework in VMD expects 6-degree-of-freedom
input devices, potentially with haptic feedback. This is a tall order
for most people, as you might guess. Ultimately I'd like to support a
much wider variety of devices than just the high-end 6DOF trackers etc.

Just to give you an idea of what is involved presently:
  The most recent incarnation of our tracker system supports
VRPN (Virtual Reality Peripheral Network) is available from
Russell Taylor's research group at UNC. VRPN is the replacement
library that they are using in place of the old "UNC" tracker
library found in older versions of VMD. VRPN works with a fair
variety of devices, but definitely favors the 6DOF variety.
The new VMD also supports the CAVE's tracker interface.

I'd like to add in some support for random joysticks, spaceorbs, and
other low cost input devices for use in VMD, particularly on the PC
platform. Since August, when the new tracker interface finally started
to take form, we've been very busy fixing bugs and getting VMD 1.4 ready
for release, which has taken us longer than we originally anticipated.
Support for arbitrary joysticks probably won't be in VMD until sometime
after VMD 1.4 is released, but it might be one of the earlier developments
for VMD 1.5. If you (or others) would like to see this happen sooner rather
than later, we'd be happy to work with people that want to implement support
for their favorite device(s).

Thanks,
  John Stone
  vmd_at_ks.uiuc.edu

 
> Hi,
>
> I've just gotten me a FreeD 3d ultrasonic joystick ($94 incl
> shipping!) from Pegasus Technologies:
>
> http://www.pegatech.com/prod.html
>
> Barebones: 100 dpi resolution, ultrasonic/infrared (for keys),
> tracking area 3 feet (90 cm), tracking speed 30 inches (750 mm)/s,
> tracking modes relative and absolute (can be combined for higher
> resolution), sampling rate 50 updates/second, I/O RS-232C, baud rate
> 4899/9600, switches: 2, power requirements 10 ms (supplied from the
> serial port), operating temp. 0-55 deg C, Battery: two CF1620
> (estd. battery year ~1 year under normal use).
>
> I presume the tracker support for VMD is still very sketchy?
>
> I would like to see FreeD support for VMD (even if I have to do it
> myself). It's quite well documented (alas, only for Windoze):
>
> ftp://commftp.netvision.net.il/nv/peg/developer/
>
> It is also supported by YASARA here http://ajax.kfunigraz.ac.at/~kriegere/
>
> However, last time (as of 1-2 years ago) I was still unable to even
> compile VMD, so I'll definitely need a _lot_ of help/will be a royal
> pain in the lower back (this is a threat, no?)
>
> TTL,
>
> Eugene Leitl
> 

-- 
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