Wave Issue 9714 6/19/97 Article 5-01

*** A Personal View - The Changing World of Graphics - Henry Fuchs
by John Latta

Henry Fuchs, is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is one of the inventors of the Pixel-
Planes family of 3D graphics engines. Recently he gave a talk, which the
WAVE Report attended, about the future of computing and the role of 3D.
His views provide an interesting perspective on the future role of 3D in
mainstream computing.

Professor Fuchs sees two emerging trends in computing in the next 5 - 20
years. These are in wearable computers and what he calls "being there"
teleconferencing.

His frame a reference for wearable computers is the beeper and
eyeglasses. There is no reason that computers cannot be reduced to the
size of a beeper. For these wearable devices to be useful the display
must be transparent and the standard by which to judge display technology
should be eyeglasses - light weight and transparent to the user. Given
the potential for this technology a major issue lies in the user
interface and it is here that 3D will play a critical role. The interface
must be a 3D metaphor. Imagery will also be keyed to a display output
that tracks the individual look direction. Henry cites an analogy back to
the original Dynabook concept where the 2D GUI consumed 60% of the
computer cycles just to provide a rich interface display. Increasingly,
3D computing will dominate the computer interface and a computer that one
wears all the time is the next evolutionary step.

The next step in computing will be enabled by large area displays. He
cites the micromirror technology of TI as an example of what can be used
to implement such large displays. These displays would be integrated with
3D-scene acquisition and 3D scene presentations. Such displays would be a
part of systems that incorporate digital cameras and position sensing.
Henry speaks of displays that have 50 - 100 million visible pixels.

Professor's Fuchs views provide an interesting perspective for how 3D
technology will dominate the evolution of computing devices. Today we
take for granted a 2D interface which was pioneered over 20 years ago at
Xerox PARC. He suggests that tomorrow we will see and experiences 3D as
an integral part of computing in new form factors and devices that make
computers transparent and omnipresent in the same way that beepers and
phones are today.