Subject: Class Library for Power Glove

From: "Mark T. Pflaging" <[email-masked]>
Date: 24 Sep 93 11:48:07 EDT

Steve Shulman wrote,

"I was wondering if anyone has implemented the glove.c, glove.h etc 
files as a C++ class library. I want to write some C++ routines for 
REND386 using Object Oriented techniques and it would really be a 
help if I could get the glove routines already written as a class."

Gee what a coincedence!  This was accomplished months ago, and
includes a very robust gesture recognition system.  It also has
support for two power gloves on 1 PC, and support for windows.
See below for more info.

Also I am working on a "new" (BEYOND version 5) rend386 that
has the following features:  SoundBlaster  supprt, an object oriented
animation / control language, a true event-driven input system
(no more modal loops!), the ability to dynamically kill worlds and
load in new ones, and continuing support of dual gloves.  I'm not
sure exactly when this will be done because I have a lot of
demands on my time, but certainly within a month.

Object Glove is an object oriented driver for Mattel's Nintendo
Power Glove connected to the parallel port of a PC.  It is written
in C++ for Borland C++ 3.1.  The code has many features that make
it accessible, extensible, and easy to incorporate into existing
applications.  First, it runs on a wide variety of PCs, from '286s
to '486s, without modification.  Second, it is interrupt driven,
which means the sampling takes place at regular intervals without
requiring any attention from the application program.  Thirdly, the
programming interface is extremely simple.  Since the program is
object oriented, any future improvements to the driver would be
transparent to the applications that use it.  More advanced
processing of the glove input can be handled by deriving classes
from the main driver class.  Lastly, the code is Windows compatible.

Object Glove supports the simultaneous use of two gloves.  (Support
for more gloves is possible but not planned.)  Object Glove is the
only publicly available product with this capability.

There are several programs that make use of Object Glove.  Included
is a demo program that displays a line drawing of a hand.  The hand
moves around on the screen based on the movements of the Power
Glove.  There are two versions of the demo program, one for DOS and
one for Windows.  In the DOS version, user definable gestures are
displayed on the screen when they are recognized.  In the Windows
version, gesture recognition  can be associated with system sounds.
These sounds are played through the Windows 3.1 Multimedia
Interface, thus the sounds are also user-definable.  Also, a version
of Rend386 has been included that utilizes Object Glove.  Rend386 is
a freeware ``virtual reality'' program that allows navigation though
a three dimensional world.  Rend386 is customizable and allows the
creation of new virtual worlds.  Rend386 was written by Dave Stampe
and Bernie Roehl.

Court Jesture, supplied with Object Glove, is a gesture recognition
system.  It operates in real time, allows definition of gestures by
the end user, and dispenses the gestures selectively to application
objects in an object-oriented way.  Gestures can be grouped into
``sets'' and gesture sets can be activated and deactivated
dynamically by the application.  When two gloves are used, each
glove can have separate gesture sets or the same gesture sets.  As
with Object Glove, it works under DOS and Windows and has been
combined with Rend386.

	Summary of features:
	- Object Oriented C++
	- Access one or two Power Gloves on one PC parallel port
	- Works under DOS and Windows, and with Rend386
	- Features gesture recognition
	- Comes with several sample applications
	- Available as a library or as source code
	- Includes over 60 pages of printed documentation
	- Low cost with no runtime fee, multi-user packs available

This product is available through VRASP, the Virtual Reality
Alliance of Students and Professionals.  VRASP also has Power
Gloves, PC-to-Power Glove connectors, and other low-cost
Virtual Reality items for sale.   VRASP is a non-profit, educational
organization devised to increase public knowledge of virtual
reality and further the development of VR technology.  Membership
in VRASP includes six issues of our popular newsletter Pix-Elation,
containing a wealth of "inside" VR information and insightful
articles.

Please reply to this messsage for more information.

A comprehensive demo program is available on the Internet.  The
demo includes DOS and Windows executables, and a version of
Rend386 that supports two gloves and gesture recognition.
You can use glove gestures to fly around in worlds.  The demo
also includes a Windows program to move the "mouse" cursor with
a glove.  Instructions for building a one or two glove connector
are included.  Some sample source code is included, but in order
to fully compile the demo programs you need to buy the library.
To get the demo program, anonymous FTP as follows:
Host name: sunee.uwaterloo.ca
Directory: /pub/glove
File name:  objglv.exe
The file is a self-extracting archive.  It is advisable to
transfer this file in the evening when net traffic is low.
Make sure to use BINARY mode!

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 |      / |^\        /| |^^^\ |^\      Mark Pflaging, Vice President
 |    /   |___\    /  | |____ |___\   
 |  /     |\     /----|      ||        [email-masked]
 |/       |  \ /      | \___/ |
 The Virtual Reality Alliance of Students and Professionals___________

---

From: [email-masked] (**********)
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 93 10:22:14 PDT

Hi, I hope someone can help me with this...could you please tell me
how I can subscribe to VRASP (If subscription IS possible)
I'm a student studying Computer Science and Art and I really hope to build
a career in the field of VR.
Anyways, please let me know if you happen to know whom I may contact
for more information.

Thank you very much,

[email-masked]