Low cost image generators have been promised for many years, but there has been a significant gap between the realism demanded by the military for mission planning, mission rehearsal and training devices, and the image quality supplied at the low end of the image generation market. The latest technology closes that gap by offering realistic, fully textured, real-time images from a personal computer. Enzian Technology, Inc. has identified the P10 hardware from Primary Image, Inc. as the first of a new generation of image generators. The opportunity is at hand to develop a new industry of third party suppliers of standardized databases and interface software packages for low cost visual simulation. Enzian proposes to investigate third party software formats for database generation and real-time interface software and to recommend a standard for low cost simulators. Such a standard would spur industrial involvement by encouraging new companies to supply a variety of easy to use facilities for creating and manipulating visual databases, models, and special effects. Enzian proposes to task Primary Image, Inc. to find means to reduce cost while increasing performance of the P10 hardware and firmware. Integration of the standard software and hardware will form Phase II of this effort.
Keywords: Ual Systems Visual Database Generators Visual Software Standards
