Bristol-based Division Ltd is targeting the computer-aided design market with the new release, dVS 3.0, of 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 widely-used 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, which include object movement and cosmetic features such as changing colours and sizes, previously had to be programmed by the user. The tool kit includes 70 pre-written functions, and supports point and click operations, which can automatically create special effects and animated sequences. Division has also redesigned it dVS operating system and dVise tool kit to provide a simpler code-free interface for programmers, who no longer need to write code to m anipulate three-dimensional images on-screen but can move objects and change their colours by pointing and clicking on icons. 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 who 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 multiple 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. Division claims its dVS design software, launched three years ago, is unique. The nearest competitor is Sens8 but its products don’t have the same level of integration and developers have to write code to get the system to hang together, says Jones. Prices range from ú2,000 for a low-end version running on Silicon Graphics Inc’s Indy workstation or Hewlett-Packard Co’s HP-UX environment to ú30,000 for a version for the Silicon Graphics Onyx workstations. The operating system ships with the tool kit incorporated and is out next month.
