Prof. Bob Stone has just been awarded a Trophy of Honour at Europe's premier international VR event in Laval, Western France.  The trophy is in recognition of his "service to the European Virtual Reality Community" since 1987.

Prof. Bob Stone was recently appointed as Chair in Interactive Multimedia Systems at the University of Birmingham, but he continues part-time at Virtalis, as the company’s communications, training and defence specialist.

VIRTALIS has been named as the UK’s only distributor for the new FastSCAN Cobra, the non-contact digitiser, for fast scanning 3D objects from Polhemus.

Like its predecessor, the FastSCAN, the FastSCAN Cobra, instantly acquires 3D surfaces by gathering measurements made by sweeping a handheld laser scanning wand over an object.  The object’s image instantly appears on the computer monitor linked to the system and the finished scan is processed.  Any overlapping sweeps are combined during this processing, significantly reducing the time to develop surface models.  The system can be used with virtually any opaque object with low metal content and the 3D data can then be saved in industry standard formats for loading into other programs.

However, the FastSCAN Cobra is 50% smaller and 30% cheaper than its forerunner, making it more affordable and portable.  The supplied software makes the FastSCAN extremely easy to use - models can be viewed in real-time as a point cloud, a wireframe or as a smooth shaded image.  It is therefore the most advanced reverse engineering and rapid prototyping tool available. 

The scanner works by casting laser light over an object, while the camera on the wand views the laser to record a cross sectional profile of that object.  The embedded FASTRAK is used to determine the position and orientation of the wand, enabling the computer to reconstruct the full, 3D surface of the object.  Moveable objects may be scanned by attaching a second receiver to the object.

The FastSCAN Cobra has a myriad of uses, including design, archaeology, architecture, media, education and medical.

VIRTALIS has designed and implemented a Virtual Reality (VR) facility for a new laboratory based at the University Laboratory of Physiology, Oxford.  The Wellcome Trust provided a £500,000 grant to cover the cost of the specialist equipment and its installation.

The Virtual Reality Research Group is headed by Dr. Andrew Glennerster and is formulating experiments to test alternative theories that explain how we perceive the 3D world.  He explained: “Very few experiments have ever been carried out that test how the brain represents 3D while a person is moving.  This forms part of a bigger question troubling neuroscience – how is information from different times and places in the brain linked together in a coherent way?” 

VIRTUAL Presence, the world renowned Virtual Reality company based in Manchester, has been the subject of a Buy In Management Buy Out.  Terms were not disclosed.

The company will now be known as Virtalis, but it will retain its trading operations of VP Integrated Solutions and VP Defence.  The firm has an illustrious history, having sprung out of a government sponsored advanced research centre and later being known as VR Solutions.  Its technical team has been responsible for numerous world firsts in the field over the last decade and has been involved in groundbreaking VR projects in defence, engineering and design.

The new senior management team plans to re-energise and expand the new company, especially on the technical development side.  Prof. Bob Stone has been appointed as Chair in Interactive Multimedia Systems at the University of Birmingham, but he will continue part-time at Virtalis, as the company’s communications, training and defence specialist.  He commented: “This is an exciting development for the global VR community.  This team is the only multi-sector independent visualisation consultancy and their skills in bringing the latest hardware together with bespoke models will now be brought to a wider audience.

Virtalis, the Virtual Reality specialists formerly known as Virtual Presence, is to have a new MD following a Buy In Management Buy Out.

David Cockburn-Price will be installed as MD later this spring.  A former Senior Manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers, he will also head-up the company’s finance function.

The development team at Virtalis, which has been at the forefront of the sphere of visualisation for over a decade, is expected to undergo expansion following the recent refinancing and management changes at the company.  David explained: “The pressure on design cycles continues to be relentless, both in terms of time and expenditure.  Our expertise taps into this trend, enabling savings, as well as creating improved communication across disciplines, facilitating concurrent engineering.”