From: "Samuel P. Uselton" <uselton@nas.nasa.gov>
Subject: Re: INFO: NU color VR displays
Date: Thu, 26 Aug 1993 17:59:31 GMT
Organization: Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation, NASA Ames

Resolution is *not* the problem with using color crt's in the BOOM.
1K by 1K small color crt's (to match workstation rendering pipes) are
available.  (Monochrome are available in 4K by 4K or better, but I'm
not sure of the sizes and prices.  They wouldn't be usable by the
rendering engines without much work and expense, so not much point.)

The MUCH higher energies used in color crt's (relative to monochrome)
IS the problem.  Several of us interested in the Virtual Wind Tunnel
project went across base (NASA Ames) to discuss this issue with Dr.
Richard Haines, then of RIACS, whose research specialty is display
systems and human eyes.  He did not know of any applicable safety
studies, but informally said that the safety question would make him
very uncomfortable based on what he knew.

We commisioned Mark Bolas of Fakespace to research the possibilities
and he produced a thick report.  The upshot is that we kicked around
some crazy ideas for reducing radiation or increasing distance to the
eyes before Mark found the Tektronix filters.

(eg Crazy ideas for color BOOM: What if the lenses that spread the
image for wide field of view were made of leaded glass?  What if we
put the crt's on the far end where the counterweights are now, and
piped the images with fiberoptic cables (and counterweights where the
crt's are now)?  What if the crt's are over the vertical support?
....)

Sam Uselton             uselton@nas.nasa.gov
employed by CSC         working for NASA (Ames)         speaking for myself

PS This is all from memory including Haines' name, but I was there,
and it wasn't too long ago.