Migrating to the world of 3 Dimensions
It was a casual Sunday afternoon until we started this topic. I was just browsing through TV channels and Mahesh and Natraj just watching it without much interest. Suddenly the power was cut. We sighed and with out knowing what to do next we were just talking something and somehow we got into the topic.
We were watching some foot ball match just before the power cut. I started the conversation by saying "After 15 or 20 years we may not need to sit in front of the TV to watch these matches; probably there would be some other technology that might enable us to watch this game from anywhere. Just like a wristwatch there would be a personal device which may enable us to visualize the match in 3 dimensions. Instead of a flat CRT or LCD screen, the device may look more like a helmet or spectacles. Instead of seeing the single angle shown in today’s telecast, we would be able to choose from where (which camera) we want to see the match. We may visualize the game better by being virtually inside the ground. "
Natraj said " Yup. I think Virtual Reality could be the enabling technology".
Mahesh asked " If Virtual Reality is going to be the enabling technology, why isn't it successful today?. " He also added "We had a Non graphical Charactor oriented operating system environment then we moved to GUI environment with the help of MAC and Windows like Operating systems. But what is blocking us to migrate to 3D world and beyond?".
I was listening to this and my thoughts were racing somewhere. I am a dreamer. I think of most of the things that can easily be certified as impractical by the others. Most of the time, they are correct. But it has never stopped me from dreaming. I assume all these are my visions :)
I just repeated my views. "Who knows… In 2020 things may be different. We may not be sitting in front of the flat screen to see the foot ball match. There could be some technology gives you the choice of selecting your own view point from any corner of a ground. You may run along with the player in 3 dimensional environments to closely follow the game. There won't be a flat screen anymore. There could be something like spectacles which replaces your conventional monitors or flat screens. Instead of a flat wall paper you may be able to set your 3 dimensional environments. No more keyboards and mouse. There could be some other devices that interpret your actions as inputs. What else! Hum..... Virtual class rooms, Fitness Programs, fat burning 3D games. .and.."
Mahesh stopped me "Stop this... and talk about something logical and practical.. We are not talking about what can be done with Virtual reality.. But we are talking about something which can bring the next evolution".
I thought for a moment and he was right i was rat holing. I realized and said "Could user friendliness or pleasing work environment be the key value to drive this evolution".
Natraj seconded me saying "Yeah.. In early college days when we used to work in monochrome monitors and when we got the Windows system it was exciting to work in the colorful environment. This kind of exciting user interface itself could be a driving force."
Mahesh insisted his point. “See.. User-friendliness by itself can not be the driving force. Earlier we were using “Pine” to check our mails. It is quite good and solves its purpose of communicating. Though we have a fancy GUI based email clients today the core purpose is communicating the information. There is nothing new in these new email clients. Only claim is its more users friendly. I can not completely agree on this; I still find ‘pine’ is friendlier than often-crashing resource-intensive so called ‘user friendly’ applications. In my view a technological innovation like “email” can make the difference and migrate us from here to 3D world”
I replied “Assume a practical scenario. A Civil engineer wants to share his building plan. Using conventional ‘Pine like application’ in the text based CUI environment he can communicate the model by describing the dimensions. It will take quiet some time for receiver to interpret and visualize. The GUI based tools have the capability of attaching the building plan and elevation as image; so it takes comparatively less time. Assume, if we have an application that builds the 3D model and allows the engineer to send it as an attachment in a mail, it is far better isn’t it. I agree that all these are not related to email but all are related to communication. 3D allows better communication, that it may be the selling point in Construction, healthcare, automobile and other industries.”
Mahesh still felt some key thing is missing.
What do you think ? What is the key enabling thing that drives us to 3D environment.
We were watching some foot ball match just before the power cut. I started the conversation by saying "After 15 or 20 years we may not need to sit in front of the TV to watch these matches; probably there would be some other technology that might enable us to watch this game from anywhere. Just like a wristwatch there would be a personal device which may enable us to visualize the match in 3 dimensions. Instead of a flat CRT or LCD screen, the device may look more like a helmet or spectacles. Instead of seeing the single angle shown in today’s telecast, we would be able to choose from where (which camera) we want to see the match. We may visualize the game better by being virtually inside the ground. "
Natraj said " Yup. I think Virtual Reality could be the enabling technology".
Mahesh asked " If Virtual Reality is going to be the enabling technology, why isn't it successful today?. " He also added "We had a Non graphical Charactor oriented operating system environment then we moved to GUI environment with the help of MAC and Windows like Operating systems. But what is blocking us to migrate to 3D world and beyond?".
I was listening to this and my thoughts were racing somewhere. I am a dreamer. I think of most of the things that can easily be certified as impractical by the others. Most of the time, they are correct. But it has never stopped me from dreaming. I assume all these are my visions :)
I just repeated my views. "Who knows… In 2020 things may be different. We may not be sitting in front of the flat screen to see the foot ball match. There could be some technology gives you the choice of selecting your own view point from any corner of a ground. You may run along with the player in 3 dimensional environments to closely follow the game. There won't be a flat screen anymore. There could be something like spectacles which replaces your conventional monitors or flat screens. Instead of a flat wall paper you may be able to set your 3 dimensional environments. No more keyboards and mouse. There could be some other devices that interpret your actions as inputs. What else! Hum..... Virtual class rooms, Fitness Programs, fat burning 3D games. .and.."
Mahesh stopped me "Stop this... and talk about something logical and practical.. We are not talking about what can be done with Virtual reality.. But we are talking about something which can bring the next evolution".
I thought for a moment and he was right i was rat holing. I realized and said "Could user friendliness or pleasing work environment be the key value to drive this evolution".
Natraj seconded me saying "Yeah.. In early college days when we used to work in monochrome monitors and when we got the Windows system it was exciting to work in the colorful environment. This kind of exciting user interface itself could be a driving force."
Mahesh insisted his point. “See.. User-friendliness by itself can not be the driving force. Earlier we were using “Pine” to check our mails. It is quite good and solves its purpose of communicating. Though we have a fancy GUI based email clients today the core purpose is communicating the information. There is nothing new in these new email clients. Only claim is its more users friendly. I can not completely agree on this; I still find ‘pine’ is friendlier than often-crashing resource-intensive so called ‘user friendly’ applications. In my view a technological innovation like “email” can make the difference and migrate us from here to 3D world”
I replied “Assume a practical scenario. A Civil engineer wants to share his building plan. Using conventional ‘Pine like application’ in the text based CUI environment he can communicate the model by describing the dimensions. It will take quiet some time for receiver to interpret and visualize. The GUI based tools have the capability of attaching the building plan and elevation as image; so it takes comparatively less time. Assume, if we have an application that builds the 3D model and allows the engineer to send it as an attachment in a mail, it is far better isn’t it. I agree that all these are not related to email but all are related to communication. 3D allows better communication, that it may be the selling point in Construction, healthcare, automobile and other industries.”
Mahesh still felt some key thing is missing.
What do you think ? What is the key enabling thing that drives us to 3D environment.
posted by Suka at 1:50 AM
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