VFX1 Headgear

Virtual reality headset, 1995

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "VFX1 Headgear" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

|

VFX1 Headgear

Forte VFX1 Headgear

Developer| Forte Technologies, Inc.
Release date| 1995
Introductory price| US$695 (equivalent to $1,430 in 2024)
Display| Dual 263 × 230 color LCD displays
Platform| IBM-compatible PC, ISA bus, MS-DOS
Weight| 2.5 lb (1.1 kg)
Successor| VFX3D

The Forte VFX1 Headgear was a consumer-level virtual reality headset marketed during the mid-1990s. It comprises a helmet, a handheld controller, and an ISA interface board, and offers head tracking, stereoscopic 3D, and stereo audio.[1]

## History

[edit]

The VFX1 Headgear was developed in the early 1990s by Forte Technologies, Inc. of Rochester, New York. It was released in 1995 with an MSRP of US$695 and an average retail price of $599, and was sold in the US in retail stores including CompUSA and Babbage's.

It was superseded by Interactive Imaging Systems' VFX3D in 2000. IIS was founded in 1997 after purchasing the assets of Forte Technologies and does business as Vuzix as of 2023.

## Features

[edit]

Lenses inside the visor CyberPuck handheld controller

Visual: The helmet features dual 0.7" 263 × 230 active matrix Liquid-crystal displays from Kopin capable of 256 colors.[2] Optics comprise dual lenses with adjustable focus and interpupillary distance. Field of view is 45 degrees diagonally.

Auditory: The helmet includes built-in stereo speakers and a condenser microphone. Audio signals are routed to the sound card's line in/out jacks.

Tracking: Head movements are tracked with internal sensors for pitch (70 degrees), roll (70 degrees), and yaw (360 degrees). A hand-held controller called the CyberPuck offers three buttons and internal sensors for pitch and roll. It can emulate a mouse and is connected to the helmet by an ACCESS.bus interface cable.

VIP interface board

Interface: Audio, video, and tracking information is transmitted through the VFX1 Headgear Interface Protocol (VIP) board, a 16-bit ISA card that receives video input from the video card's 26-pin VESA feature connector and routes audio signals to the sound card's line in/out through external 1/8" audio jacks. Audio, video, and tracking data is exchanged with the headset over a single proprietary 8-foot cable, which can be daisy-chained for improved mobility.

## System requirements

[edit]

* IBM-Compatible PC with 386 CPU[3]
* VGA video card with 26-pin VESA feature connector
* 16-bit ISA expansion slot for VIP board
* MS-DOS 5.0 or later
* 500 KB free hard-drive space for drivers and utilities
* 20 KB conventional memory for drivers
* Optional: stereo sound card

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Forte VFX1". VRWiki. Archived from the original on 25 June 2016.
2. ^ "Venture Funding". October 28, 1994.
3. ^ "VFX1 Specifications".

## External links

[edit]

* MINDFLUX – VFX1 Headgear
* Silicon Classics Forte VFX1 Retro-Review on YouTube

* v
* t
* e

Extended reality (XR)

* From least to most virtual: Augmented reality (AR)
* Mixed reality (MR)
* Virtual reality (VR)
* Virtuality

Concepts|

| Main|

* Cinematic virtual reality
* Computer-mediated reality
* Immersion
* Metaverse
* Avatar
* Projection augmented model
* "Room-scale"
* Six degrees of freedom (6DoF)
* Spatial computing
* Telepresence
* Virtual reality applications
* Virtual reality sickness
* Virtual world

|

Other|

* Camera filter
* Quantified self
* Screen-door effect
* Simulation hypothesis
* Transhumanism
* Vergence-accommodation conflict
* VTuber

Technologies|

| Display|

* EyeTap
* Head-mounted display
* optical
* Head-up display
* Pancake lens
* Smartglasses
* Virtual reality headset
* list
* Virtual retinal display

|

3D interaction|

* Brain–computer interface
* Eye tracking
* Facial motion capture
* Finger/hand tracking
* Pose tracking
* Simultaneous localization and mapping

Software|

* Asynchronous reprojection
* Foveated rendering
* Image-based modeling and rendering
* Spatial audio

Photography|

* 360-degree video
* Free viewpoint television
* Omnidirectional (360-degree) camera
* VR photography

Other|

* Haptic suit
* Omnidirectional treadmill
* Wearable computer

Peripherals|

* Cyberith Virtualizer
* Leap Motion
* Oculus Touch
* PlayStation Move
* Razer Hydra
* Virtuix Omni
* Wired glove
* Wizdish ROVR

Companies|

* Apple Inc.
* Brilliant Labs
* ByteDance
* Collabora
* Google
* HTC
* Khronos Group
* Liquid Image
* Magic Leap
* Meta Platforms
* Reality Labs
* Microsoft
* Niantic, Inc.
* Pimax
* Rokoko
* Samsung Electronics
* Valve Corporation
* Varjo
* Vuzix

Devices|

| Current|

* Apple Vision Pro
* Bigscreen Beyond
* Golden-i headsets
* HTC Vive
* Magic Leap
* Meta Quest 3
* 3S
* Open Source Virtual Reality
* PICO 4 Ultra
* Pimax
* PlayStation VR2
* Valve Index
* Vuzix

|

Former|

* AntVR
* castAR
* EyePhone
* Google Cardboard
* Google Daydream
* Google Glass
* Meta Quest Pro
* Microsoft HoloLens
* 2
* Oculus Go
* Oculus Quest
* Oculus/Meta Quest 2
* Oculus Rift
* CV1
* S
* PICO 4
* PlayStation VR
* Samsung Gear VR
* Sensorama
* SixthSense
* The Sword of Damocles
* VFX1 Headgear
* Virtual Boy
* Virtual fixture
* Virtuality
* VR-1

Unreleased|

* Project Iris
* Sega VR

Software|

| General|

* Interactive art
* Virtual graffiti
* Metaverse
* Pervasive game
* Software related to augmented reality
* Virtual reality game

|

Operating systems and
desktop environments|

* Android XR
* Meta Horizon OS
* version history
* visionOS
* Windows Mixed Reality

Development tools and
game engines|

* A-Frame
* ARCore
* ARKit
* ARToolKit
* Godot Engine
* Jetpack Compose XR
* Meta Spatial SDK
* OpenVR
* OpenXR
* RealityKit
* S&box
* TabletopKit
* Unity
* Universal Scene Description
* Unreal Engine
* Vuforia Augmented Reality SDK
* WebXR

Games|

* List of HTC Vive games
* List of Meta Quest games
* List of Oculus Rift games
* List of PlayStation VR games
* VR2

Communities and
social networks|

* AltspaceVR
* FaceTime for visionOS
* Horizon Worlds
* NeosVR
* Rec Room
* Resonite
* Sansar
* Sensorium
* Sinespace
* VRChat
* VTime XR

People|

* Philippe Bekaert
* Maurice Benayoun
* Simon Birrell
* Mark Bolas
* Brendan Bradley
* Fred Brooks
* Boštjan Burger
* John Carmack
* Tim Cook
* Carolina Cruz-Neira
* Ela Darling
* Char Davies
* Thomas A. DeFanti
* Steven K. Feiner
* Scott Fisher
* Jerome Foster II
* Henry Fuchs
* Thomas A. Furness III
* Morton Heilig
* Eric Howlett
* Brendan Iribe
* Myron W. Krueger
* Jaron Lanier
* R. Bowen Loftin
* Palmer Luckey
* Mark Stephen Meadows
* Michelle and Uri Kranot
* Tony Parisi
* Nonny de la Peña
* Elia Petridis
* Warren Robinett
* Lawrence J. Rosenblum
* Daniel J. Sandin
* Dieter Schmalstieg
* Bob Sproull
* Nicole Stenger
* Ivan Sutherland
* Susumu Tachi
* Gunpei Yokoi
* Mark Zuckerberg

In fiction|

* Attack of the Killer App (Futurama Episode)
* Holodeck (Star Trek)
* Netrunner
* Neuromancer
* Ready Player One
* film
* Ready Player Two
* Snow Crash
* Superhot
* Sword Art Online
* The Matrix

* Portals
* Technology
* Category
* Augmented reality
* Mixed reality
* Virtual reality
* Metaverse
* Spatial computing
* Commons
* Augmented reality
* Mixed reality
* Virtual reality
* Metaverse

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template