# Future Vision Technologies

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Future_Vision_Technologies
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Future_Vision_Technologies.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_Vision_Technologies
> Source revision: 1223941498
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Short description|Companies based in Champaign County, Illinois}}
{{primary sources|date=August 2015}}
thumb|right|250px|The VictorMaxx Stuntmaster headset
'''Future Vision Technologies''' ('''FVT'''), operating from 1991 to 1995, was part of the second wave of companies working to commercialize [virtual reality](/source/virtual_reality) technology. The company was founded by a team out of the Advanced Digital Systems Laboratory in the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the [University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign](/source/University_of_Illinois_at_Urbana-Champaign). The three original members, Matt Klapman, David Frerichs,<ref name="Frerichs bio">[http://www.frerichs.net/bio.html Frerichs Bio]</ref> and Kevin Lee, were later joined by John Belmonte. The company ceased to be an active entity when its PC card business was sold to [Fujitsu Microelectronics](/source/Fujitsu_Microelectronics).<ref name="FMI purchases FVT">{{Cite web |url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Fujitsu+Microelectronics+Inc.+forms+new+graphics+products...-a016536569 |title=Fujitsu Microelectronics Purchases FVT |access-date=2007-10-18 |archive-date=2011-05-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520121925/http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Fujitsu+Microelectronics+Inc.+forms+new+graphics+products...-a016536569 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Products ==
The company produced a number of products which appear to be first of their kind in the market.
* '''Stuntmaster Head Mounted Display (HMD)''' - the first{{Citation needed|date=March 2016}} consumer [virtual reality headset](/source/virtual_reality_headset) to ship in the market<ref name="First Consumer HMD">[https://groups.google.com/group/sci.virtual-worlds/browse_thread/thread/4776cf57ced1d4c/1a66d26c1d26b2fe?lnk=gst&q=stuntmaster+ces#1a66d26c1d26b2fe Newsgroup post referencing initial release of Stuntmaster]</ref> The low-resolution, monocular device shipped with a patented<ref name="FVT Headtracker Patent 1">[http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=5,323,174.PN.&OS=PN/5,323,174&RS=PN/5,323,174 FVT First Headtracker Patent]</ref><ref name="FVT Headtracker Patent 2">[http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=5,353,042.PN.&OS=PN/5,353,042&RS=PN/5,353,042 FVT Second Headtracker Patent]</ref> mechanical head tracker which had fast response times and accurate positioning. The product itself was marketed and sold under license by VictorMaxx.
* '''Sapphire IME with Pixel Bus''' - an integrated 3D [graphics card](/source/graphics_card) with graphics and audio output. A major innovation, demonstrated at AES 94 in Washington, DC and at [SIGGRAPH](/source/SIGGRAPH) 94 in Orlando, FL, USA, was the ability to chain multiple cards together across multiple Pentium-class personal computers to create a single simulation environment known as a [VR CAVE](/source/Cave_automatic_virtual_environment). The Siggraph 94 demonstration consisted of three Sapphire IME cards installed in three Pentium (90&nbsp;MHz) computers driving three synchronized Barco projectors. Each screen was running frame-interlaced stereo, allowing users wearing LCD shutter glasses to be fully immersed in the scene. Until this demonstration, VR CAVE implementations had only been implemented using high-end graphics workstations from companies like [Silicon Graphics](/source/Silicon_Graphics).<ref name="UIC VR CAVE history">[http://www.evl.uic.edu/pape/CAVE/oldCAVE/CAVE.overview.html] UIC VR CAVE Historical Overview</ref>
* '''InterFACE Portable Virtual Environment Generator'''

== Contemporary virtual reality companies ==
* [Autodesk](/source/Autodesk) (Cyberspace Developer Kit Group)

==References==
{{reflist}}

Category:American inventions
Category:Champaign, Illinois
Category:Defunct companies based in Illinois
Category:User interface techniques
Category:Virtual reality companies

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Future Vision Technologies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_Vision_Technologies) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_Vision_Technologies?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.