"WRAPUP" >Page 1, 2
The Web3D RoundUP was absolutely the most brutal I've ever seen, and I've seen 'em all. It was lots of fun but the free beer that lubricated the crowd before the show definitely had an impact. After the crowd was let in a couple of large balloon like objects were tossed in and the crowd played.
When the doors opened the crowd literally ran in. Apparently there were rumors that the first in would get the shooting devices. This was wrong and as you can see the ping-pong ball guns were well guarded.
The show's start was fabulous. It began with a virtual Tim Childs transforming from a cowboy to a devil (my personal favorite).
The talking Tim avatar was brought to us by those new folks at eyematic who just happened to merge with Shout Interactive.
Let's look at a few of the highlights (BTW you can click on all the images for larger versions).
| Worst Luck | |
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Paul Diefenbach of Draw Computing was first told, erroneously, to do his demo and someone else started talking instead. Several minutes later when starting his demo the AV video system crapped out after about 40 seconds. |
| Bravest Demonstrator | |
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Ana De Abreu a shy and very nervous researcher from Venezuela got into an amusing discourse with the crowd. Ana's English isn't that great and by habit she kept on saying the word "OK" after each sentence. The crowd after a short while echoed back yelling "OK". At first she was taken aback but after a bit all was well as the crowd and Ana played on as she completed her demo. |
| Best of the Best | |
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This wasn't even a close decision, as this demo got the one and only standing ovation of the day. Ed Sims from Vcom3D (formerly Seamless Solutions) demonstrated their software that enables avatars to do complete sign language of typed in sentences. Not only was it a fabulous technology demo (using VRML HANIM avatars by the way) it was a truly valuable application. It was not a toy application and not yet another way to sell products. The standing ovation from the crowd was a major redeeming factor for the evening again demonstrating that even though rowdy and half drunk the 3D crowd knows the right stuff when it see's it. |
| Death Defying Party Tricks | |
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Stephen Matsuba on a bungee jumping trampoline at the fabulous Web3D party! nuff said ;-) |
If you want to check out all the pictures from the roundup visit the big picture page.
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