CAVE-style visuals?

I've been doing a bit of searching and can't see anyone doing this, but I thought I'd ask - has anyone tried to get a 180 degree FOV using a similar method to the CAVE virtual environment simulators?

Specifically, I mean three screens set at 90 degrees to each other - one front, one each side.

You'd need to use something like NThusim / Sol7 to warp the display to correct for the angle and the straight lines (kind of like correcting for a curved screen in reverse), but I believe it could be made to work.

The reason for asking is that in my project, I intend to use a rear-projected front screen, but because of space limitations I can only use LCD screens at the sides; and only at 90 degrees to the front screen at that. No amount of cleverness with mirrors will let me use a projector in this particular position. With a sufficiently large LCD screen (around 50", probably) it ought to be possible to create a CAVE-like environment with the projected screen at the front and the monitors at the side.

Matching up the DPI, magification, screen res etc will be *really* hard, but again, I believe it can be done.

Anyone done anything / know of anyone who has done anything similar to this?

If not, I guess I'll be the first to try... unless it really is impossible. Any thoughts on that topic would be most welcome too :-)

NH

Ivar Hestnes, Brad Hawthorne, and AndyB are a few of the wide screen experts here.


http://www.ivarhestnes.com/index.php...uals&Itemid=53
http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.ph...ml#Post3074010
http://nthusim.com/setups

Thanks, Mike. I'd already seen Ivar's fantastic setup, but his is a curved screen. Most of the NTHUSIM users seem to be either doing a curved wraparound screen or the traditional 3-flat screens with left and right side at 45 degrees.

I might try simulating the set-up I have planned using 3 smaller LCD screens and an eval of NTHUSIM and see if it can be done. If so, I'll report back here.

NH

Not sure nthusim is going to be much help for you with LCD screens. Thought it was for warping and edge blending on PJ's. Even running the 3 PJ's with 45 degree views you shouldn't need nthusim.

What I want to do is the reverse of what most people usually want to do. They use NTHUSIM to correct for circular distortion and keystoning caused by having a curved screen. What I want to do is take an array of flat screens (well, actually, 1 projector and 2 large flat screens) and warp parts of the image (specifically the edges of the screens) across the three such that it appears from the viewing point like a wraparound screen. This would smooth out the transition from front to side screens, as if there were a curved surface. As far as I can see you can apply NTHUSIM's correction to any DirectX surface, so whether it's a screen or a projector doesn't really matter in principle (although I appreciate the software was developed for use with projector setups).

Of course the compression of the warped parts of the image may well make it unusable from a quality POV, but with a sufficiently high pixel count (both the projector and screens would have 1920 x 1080 res) I'm hoping it can be done and still look OK.

Guess the best way to find out is to download NTHUSIM and have a go with three smaller screens and a camera, see if I can prove the principle or if I'm barking up the wrong tree.

NH