Forte VFX1

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Forte VFX1 Headgear is a virtual reality helmet that was presented by the US company Forte at the CES in Las Vegas in 1994 . It had a head-mounted display (HMD) with head tracking function (6 degrees of freedom), two ear cups from the Austrian manufacturer AKG and a microphone . In addition, the so-called Cyberpuck was included, an input device that was held in the hand and had acceleration sensors (two axes).

With a new price of 1,800 DM, the VFX1 was one of the first VR helmets that were affordable for end users. At the time, professional systems usually had to pay five-digit amounts. At the time, the helmet found a relatively large amount of interest in relevant PC game magazines. There were also some game manufacturers who supported the VFX1, e.g. B. Origin Systems with System Shock .

hardware

The helmet is connected to the PC via the so-called access.bus card. This is a plug-in card for the ISA slot , which was widespread at the time , and has the full length. The 26-pin plug of the helmet connection cable is connected to the corresponding DB26 interface on the slot bracket.

The interface transmits analog RGB video data for the two helmet displays separately, analog stereo sound for the headphones, and analog mono microphone sound. It also creates a bidirectional serial data connection between the helmet and the access.bus card. The tracking data from the helmet and puck are transmitted via this connection, and the access.bus card can also switch the monitor displays in the helmet on and off, for example. On the hardware side, the connection is based on the I²C bus, but on the software side, a special protocol is used.

The DB26 connection is assigned as follows:

pin code Occupancy
1 Sound signal (+) left auricle
2 Image synchronization links
3 Microphone signal
4th Microphone feed
5 Image signal right monitor red - ground
6th Right monitor image signal Green - ground
7th Sound signal (+) right auricle
8th Serial clock signal
9 Serial data connection
10 +6 V
11 Sound signal (-) left auricle
12 Image signal left monitor blue - signal
13 Image signal left monitor green - signal
14th Image signal left monitor red - signal
15th Image signal right monitor green - signal
16 Image signal right monitor blue - ground
17th Sound signal (-) right auricle
18th +5 V
19th Dimensions
20th Left monitor image signal blue - ground
21st Left monitor image signal Green - ground
22nd Image signal left monitor red - ground
23 Image signal right monitor red - signal
24 Image signal right monitor blue - signal
25th Image synchronization right
26th Dimensions

In the PC, the access.bus card is connected to the VESA feature connector of the graphics card via an internal cable . The Cyberpuck is connected to the helmet via a cable; the system is powered entirely by the access.bus card. Headphones and microphone were connected to the PC's sound card via the card , and a connection between the sound card and the access.bus card was established via an external loop cable . The two backlit displays from Kopin have a resolution of 263 × 230 pixels, which is below the 320 × 200 pixels that were common at the time. The access.bus card is configured using jumpers (I / O address) and software (hardware interrupt ).

software

At the time, games were ideally supported by direct control by the application. Alternatively, Forte provided the VRMouse program, which translated the head tracking data into mouse movements and keyboard entries. Forte later provided an SDK for working with Windows 95 and DirectX .

Games with native VFX1 support

Applications with native VFX1 support

  • 3D goods
  • Mind Render VREK
  • Virtual Studio for Autodesk
  • Viscape
  • Visualiser
  • World Toolkit

Problems, failure and a new beginning

The VFX1 was one of the first serious attempts to enable VR applications in the classic sense for home users. However, this attempt must be viewed as a failure. The reasons are on the one hand the quite high price. The VFX1 was very cheap for a helmet of this class, but still almost as expensive as a new PC. The very low resolution of the helmet itself was criticized, which was still below the 320 × 200 pixels then common. This made the image appear coarse and muddy, and in many applications text was difficult to decipher.

On the software side, the quite high number of programmers and software houses that Forte was able to win over to support the VFX1 is surprising. However, the PC hardware architecture and in some cases its implementation by the mass manufacturers were often problematic, which torpedoed the operation of the VFX1. For example, the VESA feature connectors on many graphics cards were not 100% compatible with the standard or had to be activated by jumpers or software. Forte himself did not succeed in implementing a functioning head tracking system under the DOS used for games at the time , without using the EMM386.EXE driver. DOS was originally only able to address 640 KB of RAM; there were also various tricks and standards. The VFX1 was dependent on the EMM386 standard, which slowly disappeared from the market and which, by loading the driver, often confused carefully worked out and optimized DOS memory arrangements. In addition to DM 1,800, a VFX1 customer also had to spend a lot of time to get a working configuration up and running, e.g. Sometimes a new graphics card was due.

Forte went bankrupt in the 1990s. From the remaining remnants (from the fixed assets) of the company, a buyout was started for around US $ 60,000  . With these funds, the successor company Kaotech Corporation emerged in 1997. There is also information that a certain VR Acquisition Corp. 1997 (probably additionally) bought the fortune of Forte Technologies, Forte is said to have been controlled in this possession by Kopin, the current micro-screen supplier. Exact records are no longer available here. A short time later, in 1997 or 1998, the company was renamed Interactive Imaging Systems, today's Vuzix . The long-time employee and confidante Grant Russell, current CFO and Vice President of Vuzix Corp., may have helped here, as he was still listed as a Principal (GF) at Interactive Imaging Systems in 2010. Vuzix initially continued to market the VFX1 and, in its early days, dealt with the development of display components for night vision devices on behalf of Raytheon . Later, improved versions of the VFX1 were presented. Today the development of augmented reality glasses (Wrap 920AR) is an important business area for Vuzix.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kevin Mellott's VR Page
  2. ↑ a b VFX1 Headgear Compatible Software
  3. ↑ Volker Weitz, Knut Gollert in: Power Play 9/94, page 27: “... these [displays] are about the worst that ever existed. [...] Anyone who wants to recognize something will be badly disappointed. "
  4. ^ Document from the forum. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on June 4, 2016 ; Retrieved April 19, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / forums.driverguide.com
  5. ↑ Security Agreement