3D Acceleration - 3D Acceleration simply refers to the acceleration of 3D rendering provided by many video or 3D accelerator cards. Some games and other software also take advantage of 3D acceleration. If you own a 3D accelerator (you should!) be sure to look for the 3D acceleration icon listed in the technologies section of each product listing.
	DirectX/Direct3D - Microsoft's API for game and multimedia development, which includes a 3D API.
	Haptic Interface Devices - Traditional VR products have the limitation that the user can't actually FEEL the objects they are manipulating. That's exactly what haptic interfaces let you do!
	Head Mounted Display (HMD) - Head mounted displays are a replacement for the typical CRT that we stare at for hours on end. A head mounted display is worn on the head, or you put your head up to it and look inside. HMD's usually support stereoscopic vision, and head tracking. HMD's are as low as about $500 and have no upper price limit for scientific or commercial HMD's. For more information, see Head Tracking and Stereo Scopics.
	Head Tracking - Look up and the display in your HMD (Head Mounted Display) will display what you should see if you were to look up. This is the best way to prevent monsters from sneaking up on you! Keys on the keyboard are too awkward for looking around, while also trying to maneuver your character and manipulate objects (such as your trusty shotgun). Inexpensive HMD's have recently been selling for less than $500. Note, if you purchase a headset/HMD, be sure it has head tracking support!
	Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) - MIDI has long been the industry standard for musicians to save musical pieces digitally during production. The actual sounds that instruments make are in your MIDI device. The MIDI file itself only needs to record when to play sounds, at what pitch, and at what volume. Therefore file sizes are small, making them suitable for distribution with games. The MIDI device can be a keyboard synthesizer, a sound card in your computer with MIDI support, or software. For the full effect of many games, you need a decent MIDI sound card for your PC or QuickTime software for your Macintosh. A good reference for technical MIDI information is www.midi.org.
	OpenGL - OpenGL is Silicon Graphics' API for rendering 3D graphics. OpenGL has been licensed by several other companies, and is available for Windows 9X, Windows NT, and the BeOS, and of course IRIX. Apple licensed OpenGL from SGI as well, for more information on the Mac OpenGL drivers click here. Many games use the OpenGL API, because it is well-supported and cross-platform. For SGI's own information regarding OpenGL, visit SGI's OpenGL page.
	QuickDraw 3D - Apple's Cross platform standard API for 3D rendering. This high level API makes 3D rendering a breeze for software developers. QuickDraw 3D is available for Windows NT and the Macintosh, and will be available for Java eventually. Apple's web site on QuickDraw3D can be found here. QuickDraw 3D is a component of QTML.
	Quicktime - QuickTime is the industry standard, cross-platform file format for movies. No hardware accelerator card needed for a clear picture. QuickTime is also a MIDI sequencer, and is good enough that most Macintosh users have not bothered with MIDI cards. Apple's web site is here.
	QuickTime VR - QuickTime VR files are interactive scenes or objects, that have been prerendered, or generated with a special panoramic camera. QuickTime VR files are small, and are suitable for distribution on the internet. New features of QuickTime VR will be the ability to move from one scene to another QuickTime VR file on the internet. The new version will allow for scenes to be viewed as they are downloaded. Scences will allow QuickDraw 3D objects and QuickTime movies to play withing the QuickTime VR scene. A component of Quicktime.
	RAVE - Apple's low level API for 3D acceleration. Hardware vendors and software vendors who wish to write low level code, should consider the RAVE API. QuickDraw 3D is a higher level abstraction of RAVE. In product listings on this site, the QuickDraw 3D logo (on left) is used to designate RAVE and/or QuickDraw 3D support.
	Stereo Optics - Using inexpensive shutter glasses (some less than $100), users can view a 3D environment right on their regular monitor. The days of red and blue lenses have past. Shutter glasses use LCD's that flash on and off quicker than your eye can see. This shutter effect syncs with your monitor, which is alternating between what your left and right eye should be seeing. HMD's also work with Stereo Optic software, although they do not need to rely on shutter technology, because they contain 2 displays. Stereo Optic glasses have been around for many years, but only now are home computers able to take full advantage of them, due to fast processors and 3D accelerator cards. With the deals being offered, which usually include a few games, you must have a pair of stereo optic glasses - unless of course you can afford an HMD.
	Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) - VRML is the industry standard file format for sharing 3D object information over the Internet. This 'standard' is constantly changing, with support being added for entire virtual worlds, and navigation between them. An excellent resource for VRML information is www.vrml.org.