Are we closer to living in a \"Matrix\"-style virtual world? Some sophisticated new projects are showing just how far we've come toward creating the visual, tactile and conversational elements of an eye, hand and ear-fooling virtual world.
— Bryn Nelson"; Tech_Frontiers_VirtualReality_080505[i++] = new Array("","Got milk?","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photo_StoryLevel/080501/080505-Frontiers-VR-intro-hmed.hmedium.jpg","","Image: glasses of water and milk", "", "", "", "", "", "", "Courtesy of Henrik Wann Jensen/UCSD", "106", "423", "#000000", "", "", "", ""); Tech_Frontiers_VirtualReality_080505[i-1].body = "Got milk?
I can't believe it's not milk! Photo-realistic virtual milk and water are already realities. Last August, at the annual SIGGRAPH computer graphics conference in San Diego, Henrick Wann Jensen and colleagues showed how to mix water, protein, fat globules and B2 vitamins in different concentrations to yield a realistic glass of skim milk, whole milk, or even cream."; Tech_Frontiers_VirtualReality_080505[i++] = new Array("","More realistic images","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photo_StoryLevel/080501/080505-Frontiers-VR-1-hmed.hmedium.jpg","","Image: Lights and chair", "", "", "", "", "", "Courtesy of Henrik Wann Jensen/UCSD", "", "273", "184", "#000000", "", "", "", ""); Tech_Frontiers_VirtualReality_080505[i-1].body = "More realistic images
Researchers are developing leaner and meaner computer algorithms designed to suck up less power while producing ever-more realistic images. Newly refined algorithms like ray tracing and photon mapping allow a beam of light and its photon constituents to be followed through a virtual environment and provide a framework for simulating how light bends a spoon in a glass of water, penetrates a thick fog in the form of a lighthouse beam, or cuts through the swirl of smoke around a spotlight stage, as shown above."; Tech_Frontiers_VirtualReality_080505[i++] = new Array("","Following the light","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photo_StoryLevel/080501/080505-Frontiers-VR-2-hmed.hmedium.jpg","","Image: Lighthouse", "", "", "", "", "", "", "Courtesy of Henrik Wann Jensen/UCSD", "273", "225", "#000000", "", "", "", ""); Tech_Frontiers_VirtualReality_080505[i-1].body = "Following the light
Henrick Wann Jensen and colleagues have streamlined several computer graphics algorithms by starting with a question: If you place a set of eyes at a specific spot in a scene, what would they see? Previous methods sampled light photons here and there across a light source (bottom), but Jensen's technique maps the relevant photons along the light's entire pathway, letting a graphics interface follow the light around a scene and determine how much will be absorbed, reflected or scattered by other objects, like the fog in this scene (top).
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Tech_Frontiers_VirtualReality_080505[i++] = new Array("","More powerful processors","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photo_StoryLevel/080501/080505-Frontiers-VR-3-hmed.hmedium.jpg","","Image: cars in fog", "", "", "", "", "", "", "Courtesy of Henrik Wann Jensen/UCSD", "180", "423", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
Tech_Frontiers_VirtualReality_080505[i-1].body = "More powerful processors
Henrik Wann Jensen believes the convergence of speed and power means realistic virtual stand-ins won't necessarily require a room-sized supercomputer to produce them. Of course, computer algorithms that realistically capture how car headlights interact with fog certainly helps (above). Maintaining the same illusion for real-time animation isn't as far along, largely due to its enormous appetite for computing power, but that limitation could soon be history with the aid of muscular new graphics processors.
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Tech_Frontiers_VirtualReality_080505[i++] = new Array("","Virtual Oprah?","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photo_StoryLevel/080501/080501-Oprah-hmed-346p.hmedium.jpg","","Image: Oprah", "", "", "", "", "", "George Burns", "AP file", "264", "423", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
Tech_Frontiers_VirtualReality_080505[i-1].body = "Virtual Oprah?
A system in development known as Sensitive Artificial Listener, or SAL, takes advantage of the observation that talk show hosts like Oprah are particularly good at keeping conversations going by using the right nonverbal cues. Equipped with stock phrases and 'soft skills' such as nods, smiles, tones of voice and sensitivity to nonverbal cues, the system modeled on Oprah's linguistic behavior offers a framework aimed at keeping a conversation going for more than a half-hour. Eventually, you could chitchat with an attentive avatar all night."; Tech_Frontiers_VirtualReality_080505[i++] = new Array("","Sense of touch","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photo_StoryLevel/080501/080505-Frontiers-VR-6-hmed.hmedium.jpg","","Image: Maglev ", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "273", "357", "#000000", "", "", "", ""); Tech_Frontiers_VirtualReality_080505[i-1].body = "Sense of touch
Behold, the power of virtual touch. A team of Carnegie Mellon researchers has used magnetic fields to create one of most sensitive haptic, or touch-based, interfaces in the world. This magnetic levitation device, or Maglev for short, essentially floats above its base, allowing for ultra-sensitive control and feedback. How sensitive? You could feel the slight roughness of a virtual table or the pressure from pulling on an ant's leg.
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