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Actuality Systems Announces 3-D Display Prototype Near Completion

3 October 2000

Actuality Systems, Inc. Announces 3-D Display Prototype Near Completion; Will Create Floating 3-D Imagery for Pharmaceutical Design, MCAD, Medical Imaging

    READING, Mass.--(BW HealthWire)--Oct. 2, 2000--Actuality Systems, Inc., a startup developing true three-dimensional display technology, announced today that it will be ready to demonstrate their prototype 3-D display in Q4 2000. Unlike traditional stereoscopic displays which restrict head movement or which require viewers to view imagery using special goggles, Actuality's technology is volumetric. Volumetric displays create truly three-dimensional imagery which appears to hover in space; users can actually walk around the display to inspect the imagery from 360 degrees.
    The company anticipates that its 3-D display will revolutionize applications which require speedy comprehension of complicated information. Potential users include:

    -- Scientists designing pharmaceuticals who need to quickly understand the 3-D shape of certain molecules.
    -- Doctors who want to understand the location of a tumor within a patient's brain in a manner that enhances surgical planning.

    The firm believes that their technology prototype, whose development has been closely guarded since Actuality's founding in 1997, will provide the highest resolution volumetric 3-D imagery in the world. Multicolored images, comprised of over 90 million 3-D pixels called "voxels," will seem to float within its transparent viewing dome.
    The prototype is powered by an advanced optomechanical system in conjunction with a custom graphics processing architecture and proprietary rendering algorithms.
    "The team has worked long hours and pulled substantial engineering miracles to make this display technology a reality. I'm confident that Actuality's 3-D display will create new opportunities for high-performance visualization, particularly in biochemical, medical, and design-oriented fields," said Gregg Favalora, the firm's co-founder and Chief Technical Officer.
    The firm is currently in the process of identifying beta sites in several industries in an effort to tailor their upcoming product to specific needs.