Bristol-based Division Ltd is targeting the computer-aided design market with release 3.0 of dVS, its run-time operating system, which it claims makes serious virtual reality accessible by major engineering design users for the first time. Translators enable design files from a number of packages to be imported into the dVise end-user authoring software. The company has also adapted functions more common in computer-aided design and animation packages for the dVise 3.0 end-user authoring tool kit, which has 30 built-in functions. These include object movement and cosmetic features such as changing colours and sizes. The tool kit includes 70 pre-written functions, and supports point and click operations, which can automatically create special effects and animated sequences. The latest release gives designers more functions earlier on in the design process so they can evaluate a design more accurately, says Clive Jones, a consultant that worked on the product. Apart from the new graphical user interface, dVS 3.0 enables multiple users to work on one design simultaneously. The company is unwilling to say at what point additional users grind the system to a halt since too many variables are involved. However, the ultimate design is governed by the access authority granted to each user, which is set at the user interface. As for competitors, the closest thing is Sens8, it reckons.
