—Boy does my head still hurt from last nights party.

Today I made a list of things I did not want to forget to do and see. I only did part of them but I also did fairly well on the loot hall in terms of literature and goodies.

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There was this fabulous ergonomic workstation couch/chair that I mentioned earlier and this time I got a picture.

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The Sensable Technologies people have streamlined their Phantom Haptic interface. This is a very nice force feedback 3 dimensional device that now is under $10k. The potentials for this in an educational and research setting is very good.

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I saw several animation/drawing desks with SGI interfaces. They had a rotating desk and a very very large almost Immersadesk sized desk. These were top top end tablet like things that seemed like they could be fun if I were an artist.

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Now you add together all the neat technologies: The 3D glasses, the force feedback Haptic device, and an Intergraph workstation and you can see and touch things that are not there. Amazing. They have been doing this for the past 3 years but every year its gets a little more cost effective and a whole lots smoother.

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It is called a 3D printer. This oven looking device BUILDS 3D models from your files. It is for prototyping and I have absolutely no need for one. I think it would be kick ass fun to have one though and start creating models of everything.

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I stopped by the Hash booth to see how they recovered from the Open-GL party and form the looks of the crowds they recovered pretty well. Animation Master ’98 looks pretty amazing at for only $175. They really put the big dogs to shame. Keep it up guys!

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Touch interfaces are getting more and more innovative and the same company that puts out this Haptic pen also has a model that gives all 3 axis and will sell for under $700. Though it did not feel as amazing as the other ones it did feel VERY good for the price and it is a much more feasible device for the average user with Haptic needs.

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Startup park features new businesses and technology and usually the companies come and go however this year I almost placed and order ( I will wait till I get home) for this tripod, which is calibrated with levels and degree marks for doing precision photography for making QuickTime VR movies and landscapes.

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Also on the I have never seen it before and I bet I won’t see it again was this head mounted device that read lipsink directly into the computer. I don’t know if you need blue lipstick to make it work though. (Don’t laugh but I bet some company would require something like that)

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My friend Vicki Zigmont stood out of the crowd for the distinction of not wearing shoes to the conference. I am told she rates booth by the plushness of their carpeting and I promised to post her pictures.

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They will let anyone into these things I discovered when I bumped into Mike Comet (formerly of CWRU) who can be seen here with Doug at the booksigning.

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The booksigning went very well and they sold out in under 15 minutes. It really is the buzz around the conference and Amazon.com had it listed as like book #144 out of everything they sell this morning.

See Doug’s line, see Doug’s fan, see Doug’s beaming with pride.

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Now behind every great man… or in this case beside him we finally got a shot of all of the contributors of the book. From left to right: Ken Cope, Kim Oravecz, Steph Greenberg, Sandra Frame, Mike Comet, & Doug Kelly. Pay no attention to the back of that guy’s head.

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Rachel Levine who I am told is known as the sweetheart of the CG-CHAR list shows here just why they call her that.

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Which brings us to the CG-CHAR list birds of a feather meeting. The group started out big and got even bigger. Thanks to Ted Gordon for providing names for the faces. And 5-7 turned into 5-9 with lots of heated discussion on and off topic points. People seemed to enjoy putting faces and voices to names and posts.

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I also bumped into Richard Edwards who I see here every year and last year was patient enough to put up with all my stupid questions.

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Well I’m off to get more pictures and more valuable information.