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Links to The Players
What you can do
BACKGROUND:
The International
VR Community has created hundreds of thousands of panoramic images
on earth, and in space. These amazing
products are made possible by talented individual and corporate
software developers, photographers, artists and consumers. The
vast majority of this work has been created using relatively
open software tools with standard license agreements (non-ipix)
.
Interactive Pictures (formerly
Omnivew/Photobubbles) has raised significant amounts of money
(with plans to go public) to promote a proprietary vr format
with irregular licensing terms and per click fees. Until now,
the two worlds (proprietary vs relatively open) have coexisted.
Unfortunately, Interactive Pictures is now threatening the development
of software tools vital to the vr market.
The International VR Community has three issues with
Interactive Pictures:
1) Interactive
Pictures tactics have put an obvious chill in the development
of vr software tools. Chasing after
an individual software developer in Germany - who gives his tools
away for free - with lawyers is truly a david v. goliath proposition.
Everyone loses when innovation is stifled. Note that this is
not their first such battle.
2)
Others in the VR community have expressed concerns regarding
interactive pictures irregular software
licensing schemes.
3)
Their "take no prisoners"
marketing tactics.
4) For Real Time updates,
visit Kathy's site:
Interactive
Pictures v. Helmut Dersch
This
site was established after Panographer Helmut Dersch of Germany
was "accosted" by alleged legal representatives of
the Interactive
Pictures Corporation (Formerly Omnivew/Photobubbles). Helmut's web site contained a very helpful
set of internet pages with lots of useful, free programs and
educational materials for the Panoramic VR community. Of particular
interest to the VR community are his PanoTools which provide
users with the ability to create sophisticated 3D environments.
A synopsis of Helmut's site is available here [English] [French].
Back
to the top.
Scott Highton has placed a useful warning on his
web site regarding Interactive Pictures license agreements:
Warning: IPIX Corporate Policies
"Clients considering
the use of IPIX technology should be aware of recent legal actions
by IPIX against providers of other photographic VR technologies,
as well as IPIX restrictions in their user license that prohibit
use of IPIX technology in media competing with the broad interests
of IPIX corporate investors. IPIX also requires the payment of
royalties or "keys" for creation of PhotoBubbles by
VR authors, which most other photographicVR technologies today
do not. Please read IPIX's user license carefully. (April, 1999)"
Back to the top.
VR Artist Loren
Price:
"But then when you give the
service away for free, it creates unfair competition. Then when
they get a lead from someone who is supposed to be a partner
and then go in and cut out the partner to get the job. This is
"Take no prisoners" marketing at its worst."
Back to the top.
VR Technology
Market Share
| VR Format | Quicktime VR (Apple) | Interactive Pictures (ipix) | Live Picture |
| Search Engine Term | .mov | .ipx | .ivr |
| altavista.com | 365,290 | 112,870 | 60,240 |
| This is hardly scientific, for example, the .mov extension includes all types of Quicktime Media (Audio, video and VR), while a search for .ipx also returned results for ipx networking (Novell). Finally, quite a few panoramic images are served in jpeg format for Java viewers and Flashipix (Live Picture). It does, however illustrate that there is a wide variety of panoramic media available on the internet. Back to the top. | |||
| VR Format | Quicktime VR (Apple) | Interactive Pictures (ipix) | Live Picture |
| Search Engine Term | "quicktime vr" | "ipix" | "live picture" |
| altavista.com | 35,726 | 15,590 | 13,293 |
| This is hardly scientific, for example, the .mov extension includes all types of Quicktime Media (Audio, video and VR), while a search for .ipx also returned results for ipx networking (Novell). Finally, quite a few panoramic images are served in jpeg format for Java viewers and Flashipix (Live Picture). It does, however illustrate that there is a wide variety of panoramic media available on the internet. Back to the top. | |||
A few exceptional works (hardly comprehensive - send your suggestions here):
Tour Downtown Sarajevo (as it looked and felt in 1996)
© Tilman Hampl/DigiMedia, Würzburg Sobering
Explore State and National Parks in the Western
United States. ©1996-99 by Erik Goetze Fantastic
Explore
the Martian Surface via Quicktime VR. NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Wow
Tour The U-Boat Wilhelm Bauer, © ZEITRAUM
GmbH, Robert Serra Technically Brilliant
Spin Around Several Objects (including a
Mercedes-Benz Gull Wing). © Axis Images Cool
Tour Earth. A collaborative synchronized
effort by QTVR producers around the globe. Fun and Interesting
Sydney 2000 Olympic Facilities (spherical
& cylinder panoramas) © Andrew Nemeth, Australia Leading
Edge
Several web sites begin to spread the word. Many post no-ipix banners.
Hawaii: | IQTVRA
8-9 April, 1999 IPIX Email Messages to Helmut and his responses.