Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!think!ames!ucbcad!zen!ucbvax!cbosgd!clyde!watmath!ccplumb From: ccplumb@watmath.waterloo.edu (Colin Plumb) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: more press (PC WEEK) Message-ID: <15719@watmath.waterloo.edu> Date: Tue, 1-Dec-87 22:43:51 EST Article-I.D.: watmath.15719 Posted: Tue Dec 1 22:43:51 1987 Date-Received: Sat, 5-Dec-87 14:31:19 EST References: <5394@oberon.USC.EDU> Reply-To: ccplumb@watmath.waterloo.edu (Colin Plumb) Distribution: na Organization: U. of Waterloo, Ontario Lines: 64 Keywords: mandala In article <5394@oberon.USC.EDU> papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa) writes: > > >Is there anybody that has more info on the Mandala system? What is this >"customized" Amiga? I raved (it is *really* amazing! One of the World's Greatest Toys) about this a while ago - early this year - after seeing a version demonstrated here at the University of Waterloo. I'll briefly summarize what I know again, but NOTE: All this information is almost a year old! Use with caution! If you want up-to-date info, call Very Vivid. They're in the Toronto phone book. Amazing Computing did an article on it some time ago. The "customization" is simply a frame grabber. You also need, of course, a video camera, and I think the software needs expansion mem, but that's it. It can also drive MIDI instruments. How it works is by opening a 5-bitplane screen, of which 4 planes are used for background and 1 bitplane is used for a silhouette of the person, extracted in real-time. (I heard 10 frames/sec. All I know is that it looked perfectly smooth when it was digitizing me.) Tricks with the colour look-up table let you create front/back effects. The version I saw used someone else's frame grabber, but they're working on one of their own, only one bitplane (variable threshold), 60 frames/sec, and able to do left/right swapping (so that your silhouette in the monitor behaves like a mirror image). There was also vague mention of a genlock that could replace more than colour 0 with live video, letting the camera image replace the monochromatic silhouette. Your silhouette can interact with objects in the background. I saw (among many others) a drum set (hit the drums and cymbals), a harp (I don't know how it worked, exactly, but strumming worked - perhaps it plays any strings that have been suddenly uncovered), and a ball being tossed around the Toronto skyline. The sounds were done on a DX-7. Imagine using your shadow to do things instead of a mouse. Last I heard, the only package they were selling was $40,000, including all the hardware (Amiga, DX-7, etc.), LOTS of support, and all the frills, for stage shows and similar professional undertakings. They said they were trying to get the price of a minimal system (frame grabber and software) down to several hundred dollars. Certainly worth it to me! The only other thing I heard was that they were talking with a video game company for using the software in coin-op games. They said the games would be out by christmas. I doubted. I think I was right. (However, I heard about Bally buying a bunch of Amiga 500 motherboards, so there may be some truth to the matter... hard to say.) Oh, yes... with all its amazing graphics and capabilities, the Mandala multitasks just fine! Marble Madness has *no* excuse. -- -Colin (watmath!ccplumb) Zippy says: Catsup and Mustard all over the place! It's the Human Hamburger!