The guests on Aug. 27 were Dan Mapes of CyberLab 7 and SynergyLabs and Business Week's Peter Coy, to discuss the Sept. 4 Cover Story.
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OnlineHost: Good evening and welcome to Business Week Online's conference. Tonight's discussion is on 3-D computing, the subject of the Cover Story in the current issue of Business Week (Sept. 4). From home-computer video games to medical imaging, from war games to architecture, 3-D is the newest dimension in computing.
To answer your questions on how the new technologies will change your life in front of the computer screen, our guests are Dan Mapes, who created some of the special effects in the new science-fiction movie, "Virtuosity," and Business Week's Peter Coy, author of the Cover Story.
Dan Mapes (Cyberlab7) is the founder of two interactive media companies in San Francisco, CyberLab 7 and SynergyLabs. The two companies are working together on development of 3-D imaging for doing business on the Internet. CyberLab creates multimedia and virtual-reality environments for corporations, music videos, and feature films; SynergyLabs creates advanced corporate sites on the Net.
An MBA in management information systems from Thunderbird, Dan Mapes says he has "always" been involved with computers. He was one of the lead designers of Music Publisher for the Mac, which led him into multimedia software.
Peter Coy (PeterCoyBW) has been a technology editor at Business Week since 1993, and for three years before that he was telecommunications editor. A graduate of Cornell, he has also worked for the Waterbury (Conn.) Republican and the Associated Press. The moderator is Jack Dierdorff (JackBW), consulting editor of BW Online. And now on to your questions!
JackBW: Good evening to all of you on AOL! And welcome, Dan Mapes and Peter Coy.
Cyberlab7: Good evening, everyone, Dan Mapes here.
PeterCoyBW: Hi.
JackBW: Peter, I have a question to start for you. Just what is 3-D computing anyway?
PeterCoyBW: I'd say 3-D computing is computing that uses mathematical calculations to create a virtual world that has all three dimensions, namely length, width, and height -- although only two dimensions would appear at a time on a standard 2-D screen. Dan, you might want to add your 2 or 3 cents on the topic.
Cyberlab7: It is so amazing to see your ideas come to life in such a powerful way -- it's a great new art form. It makes every aspect of our lives richer.
PeterCoyBW: Dan, tell us about "Virtuosity." What are some of the effects your firm created?
Cyberlab7: We created many of the virtual worlds in the movie. We blue-screened actors and put them in VR.
PeterCoyBW: What kind of computers do you use for your effects? PCs, right?
Cyberlab7: We risked a lot and went with networks of PCs to get the power, and it worked.
JackBW: Try this, Dan.
Question: How fast will 3-D be affordable for the average home or small-office computer user?
JackBW: Peter, you may want to say something, too.
Cyberlab7: In 12 months with the breakthroughs in PCs and the Internet.
PeterCoyBW: Of course, it depends on what level of 3-D you're talking about. After all, there are some neat 3-D programs right now available for PCs and Macs at a reasonable price. And just think of the new video-game machines, like Sega Saturn, which have lots of cool 3-D games.
JackBW: WinfreyW in South Carolina wants practical advice.
Question: I am very interested in 3-D computing. What do you recommend for hardware and software for development work?
JackBW: Dan?
Cyberlab7: We recommend the new P-6 from Intel, mixed with 3-D Studio or Softimage software.
JackBW: ToddP69 in Knoxville has a follow-up.
Question: What kind of 3-D hardware do you think will be coming out in the next couple of years?
Cyberlab7: Multiprocessor PCs and fast boards, mixed with real-time rendering software.
PeterCoyBW: Dan, real-time rendering sounds pretty stupendous. I guess it depends how detailed the scene you're rendering is. I understand that it can take several hours to render one frame of a very complicated animated film.
Cyberlab7: Windows NT allows the use of multiple processors -- since processors are so inexpensive, rendering is fast. You can pick the level of detail you need.
JackBW: Peter, you can take this question for us.
Question: What are the practical business uses of 3-D computing?
PeterCoyBW: Lots. Just think of creating products. You can use software from companies such as MacNeal-Schwendler and Autodesk and many more. And if you include science and medicine as part of business, which I do, then the possibilities are endless. Think of CAT scans.
JackBW: How about this, from DZIGNR1 in Providence.
Question: Where do you think VRML is headed?
JackBW: I need to know what VRML is. Virtual-reality what?
Cyberlab7: VRML is the hottest area of Internet development right now -- it's only going to get hotter.
PeterCoyBW: It's "virtual reality markup language," for creating Web sites in three dimensions.
JackBW: Dan, for you.
Question: What kinds of 3-D stuff is your company doing for businesses on the Net? Are companies into 3-D there already?
Cyberlab7: We are developing VRML Web sites for several companies right now.
JackBW: Smob asks us this, from Charlottesville, Va.
Question: Will VRML become the standard, or do you know of other applications that might portray 3-D worlds in a better way?
JackBW: Dan?
Cyberlab7: VRML is the first direction we're taking -- there may be others that will appear.
PeterCoyBW: I have heard of several other approaches to 3-D on the Web. We'll just have to see whether VRML has enough of a head start.
Cyberlab7: Mark Pesce has a new book from New Riders on VRML.
JackBW: Dan, a question about PCs vs. Macs.
Question: Can you tell us a bit more why you're using PCs instead of Apples, which is what most of us associate high-end graphics with?
Cyberlab7: The Mac operating system has too much overhead. NT is much more powerful at this point.
JackBW: Peter wants to add.
PeterCoyBW: Folks, I would like to apologize for leaving QuickDraw 3-D for the Mac out of the story. It was an oversight in the squeeze to get everything in -- no slight meant to the Mac.
JackBW: Money1Bags has an investor-type question. Peter?
Question: What do you expect the growth rate in earnings will be for 3-D imaging companies within the next 10 to 20 years?
JackBW: That's a blue-sky horizon, for sure!
PeterCoyBW: I can't guess at something like that -- especially over such a long period.
Cyberlab7: As fast as Internet companies -- they go together.
JackBW: Dan, any thoughts on this one?
Question: I keep up with the 3-D Studio info a lot. What do you think of the Heidi and Hoops technology they are planning on using in 3-D Studio Max?
Cyberlab7: We haven't had a chance to work with it yet -- but Autodesk is one of the two hot areas to work in.
JackBW: WOITENA asks this.
Question: Here's a question -- what have you done for beginning "C" programmers like me?
Cyberlab7: We've pioneered a new market that will need lots of programming, opening up new opportunities for you.
JackBW: Dan, a training question.
Question: Dan, can you give a college-bound student any advice on what to concentrate on in school to prepare for these new fields? Or do you think things will change too fast to even study in school?
Cyberlab7: Ultimately, we are dealing with human beings and the mind -- know thyself and add some computer science and art.
JackBW: Dan, can you tell us in more detail how you create a 3-D effect on the computer?
Cyberlab7: Everything begins with imagination -- first you see it in your mind, then describe it, then create it. It begins with line drawings. Then volume is added, then textures. It's magic.
JackBW: Another one for you, Dan and Peter.
Question: How does this compare with the 3-D we old-timers remember from the movies and the special glasses you had to wear?
PeterCoyBW: Interesting question. All that those did was give you what's called stereoscopy. That's where a different image is presented to each eye. Since the brain judges distance by the displacement in the view from the two eyes, you seem to get a pretty good 3-D effect. But that is quite different from creating a whole imagined world.
Cyberlab7: You can now mix stereoscopic imaging with 3-D in interesting ways.
JackBW: Sridhar123 tosses us this question.
Question: Are we talking about 3-D perception from 2-D screens (like rendering perspective), or are we talking about holograms?
Cyberlab7: Once a 3-D world is created, it can be seen on 2-D screens or in VR -- like a hologram.
PeterCoyBW: Yes, Dan's right. That's the beauty of a 3-D computed image. Once you create it, you have the data that can be displayed in many different ways.
JackBW: Money1Bags is back with another investment question.
Question: Can you recommend any good stocks in 3-D imaging?
JackBW: Peter, let's tell him about some of the main companies involved in 3-D computing. We can't recommend stocks per se.
PeterCoyBW: This is not to recommend stocks, which we can't do, as Jack says. But our story contains a table of several big companies, such as Silicon Graphics, of course, which is numero uno in 3-D workstations.
JackBW: And you can read the story here on BW Online. And look at the table, too.
Cyberlab7: The hot 3-D company is still to emerge, but look out for the SynergyLabs IPO! We're shorting SGI.
PeterCoyBW: Dan thinks PCs will vanquish workstations such as SGI's. Who knows? He could well be right. And he's taking the actions to see that it happens, too.
Cyberlab7: PCs eat up every market they enter -- they've just entered the 3-D market. The P-6 is going to smoke.
JackBW: DZIGNR1 is back with a critical comment. Your reaction?
Question: Don't you think most of the 3-D stuff you see is bland, boring, and lifeless. If then, why?
JackBW: Has he seen "Virtuosity"?
Cyberlab7: Early life forms on earth were probably not too interesting -- but look what time created.
PeterCoyBW: Lots of effects that are done with 3-D are so subtle that people don't even know they're looking at 3-D. For instance, in "Forrest Gump," where Gary Sinise lost his legs in Vietnam. That took 3-D modeling, for the ends of the stumps. It was so believable that his agent had to call around Hollywood, telling people that he was still available for walking parts.
Cyberlab7: We will be adding artificial life algorithms [bits of software code that behave like living organisms] shortly -- in 12 months.
JackBW: Windows 95 is on every tongue. Will it make it difference for 3-D computing?
Cyberlab7: Microsoft just bought SoftImage and RenderMorphics and will link them to Win95 -- look out!
JackBW: For all you computer-game players, try this.
Question: Do you think Nintendo's Virtual Boy will start a cycle of 3-D game platforms, or will PCs be where the game action is?
JackBW: Peter will take that one.
PeterCoyBW: Virtual Boy is pretty fun, for a little portable thing. But the mainstream machines like Sega Saturn and 3DO and Jaguar and the upcoming Ultra 64 from Nintendo will offer much better 3-D games. So I think for this generation, the game machines are still in there punching hard against the PCs. Long-term, who can say?
Cyberlab7: We have bikes, cars, and planes -- they all are transportation -- so with 3-D machines: options.
JackBW: Sridhar123 has a question with historical perspective.
Question: Back in the '70s, at Princeton, biochemists were displaying 3-D molecules, and through user-controllable rotation and zoom they could understand the molecule better. Are we talking about something like this with greater generality?
Cyberlab7: Yes.
PeterCoyBW: Yes, that's right. It's amazing to think this was going on back in the '70s, given how slow computers were back then. Now you can do those tricks in real time, or close to it.
JackBW: GeneDr2000 in Eugene, Ore., has this one.
Question: What sort of telecom will permit real-time 3-D from home? Is ISDN fast enough?
PeterCoyBW: I think that ISDN could handle 3-D. But that's because the calculations would be going on either at a host computer or at a local computer. The only thing coming over the phone line would be the display information, which is no more complex than any other 2-D display.
Cyberlab7: There is a technology called "at home" that links phones to cable TV through special high-speed modems.
JackBW: Peter, your story talked about a lot of significant uses in medicine, military, etc.
Question: Is 3-D mostly focused on entertainment and games? Or are there other biz or scientific apps?
JackBW: Can you give us a sampling of the examples?
PeterCoyBW: Sure, there are examaples from mainstream business. But people shouldn't think that they will suddenly be doing word-processing in 3-D. That's an important point: Use it when you need it. And only then. Otherwise, it just becomes a gimmick, like overwrought desktop publishing.
Cyberlab7: Product development is the No. 1 application.
PeterCoyBW: That's what I was saying earlier: For sure, product development is well-suited to 3-D. You can visualize a product well before you build a physical prototype.
JackBW: L1LFETHER7 in Sacramento has the next question.
Question: With virtuality, are we getting closer to holograms, or are we pulling away from it?
Cyberlab7: Closer. The math is the same in both instances. Holos are a type of display.
PeterCoyBW: Holograms at this point are still only still images. But that should eventually change.
JackBW: How is 3-D computing being used in medicine, Peter?
PeterCoyBW: A typical example is in visualizing a patient's organs before beginning surgery. You can highlight, say, nodules of cancer in one color and background tissues in another.
JackBW: Is that better than MRI?
PeterCoyBW: It's not that it's better than MRI. It's one way of displaying data obtained from MRI. As long as you get 2-D slices and stack them up, you can build a 3-D body image.
JackBW: Dan, what's an example of corporate use of the 3-D technology? Such as what your companies are doing.
Cyberlab7: Putting a company's product designs online and inviting the public to modify the design -- the ultimate market research. The Internet is about relationships, and creating products is about relationships. These products are best represented in 3-D.
JackBW: What about on corporate Web pages? This has to be the last question.
Cyberlab7: This is the most fun area. It's developing fast and combines business with entertainment.
JackBW: One last, last one: Any new movies coming on, Dan?
Cyberlab7: We are developing a fantastic 3-D world for a new client. It will be in a movie and on the Internet.
JackBW: Thanks, Dan and Peter. That's a wrap for tonight.
PeterCoyBW: Thanks, Jack.
Cyberlab7: Goodnight and thanks.
OnlineHost: Thanks to Dan Mapes of CyberLab7 and SynergyLabs, Peter Coy of Business Week, and all the BW Online team for this conference on 3-D computing. And thanks to all of you on AOL -- with apologies to those whose questions we didn't have time for. If you'd like to continue the discussion, we invite you to move to the BW Online Chat Room or post comments and questions on the BW Online Message Boards (try Computers & Communications).
Transcripts of all BW Online conferences are available soon after the event (look under Talk, Special Events, or Search BW, or for this one also in The Computer Room, under What's New on the BW Online opening screen). Mark your calendars for another BW Online conference Thursday, Aug. 31, with the editors of Business Week's widely followed Business Outlook column, for an update on the economy (9 pm ET, Globe).
And remember to join us in the Globe every Sunday at 9 pm ET for BW Online's weekly conference with editors and newsmakers, usually featuring a discussion of the Cover Story in the current issue of Business Week. Thanks again and goodnight!
Copyright 1995 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
