surround view experiences

[RalphW]

Hi Chris

I too have 3 of those projectors. Immersion is amazing isnt it!. The projectors came highly recommended and I was not disappointed. I went straight for Nthusim and find that software is really fit for purpose. Easy to use and configure. I don't have curved screens yet, using 3 flat screens at angles. Some vids here show it in action.
http://www.simfest.co.uk/index.asp?page=10vids

Regards
Ralph

[Sean Nixon]

As I suspected, when using any kind of shell, you need ultra-short throw projectors, like the Mitsubishi's. My Acer short throw projectors are not short enough to suit my new shell

They have a 0.9:1 throw ratio compared to 0.5:1 of the Mitsubishi's.

If anyone is interested in 1 (or 3) Acer 1230X's with around 20 hours use, I may be upgrading soon!

Sean

[castle]

OK. Here's my project using a curved cylindrical screen and BENQ-525ST projectors. The shell is off ATM to handle mounting the projectors on the ceiling. A little cramped for height, but still a pretty decent vertical FOV and look down. The screen is 6.5' radius and vertical height of 5.5". Also a shot of an example distortion mesh (in green) and some extreme close-ups of the projector overlap regions.

Note the edge adjustment at the tail section of the 777 in the before and after shots. The software is open source and available for free and will run on MS windows, Mac, or Linux. Working on a few algorithms for edge blending. It is turned off in these pics, thus the bright vertical streak were the projectors meet.

There is no limit to the number of projectors or screen size. This will work with a dome as well, Just a question of how many you can afford, available space, and your electric bill

JW

[Kennair]

Hi JW, that's pretty stunning considering its free. Are you using a single view or 2 undocked? Where can I get the software to test myself?

Cheers,

Ken.

[Nick1150]

I am currently using one Hitatchi ultimate short throw projector (cpaw250nm), giving me a high quality relult as far as the external visuals is concerned, and total 180 cms wide screen from only 30 cms distance !!! I know, after some calculations, that I can achieve more than 230 degrees of external visuals if I use 3 of them, BUT the problem with the ultra and ultimate short throw projectors is that at least for the time being this kind of "new" technology is too expensive (Hitatchi cpaw250nm costs 1200 euro each !! ) for getting 3 in one buy.....

Never the less this is the way to go now and in the future, unless there is enough room for simple short throw.

[castle]

Hi JW, that's pretty stunning considering its free. Are you using a single view or 2 undocked? Where can I get the software to test myself?

Cheers,

Ken.

The scenery is generated with OpenSceneGraph. You create a single world view and then break it into pieces with an xml file directing each scene to a monitor/projector. I'm not a MS windows guy so not sure exactly what undocked means.

actually there are three projectors, the third is still in the box and needs to be mounted. Considering a fourth and maybe a fifth....

As to the hardware and software:

Single PC with three Nvidia cards. The software is OpenSceneGraph that generates the world scene, then with an xml file you create an number of virtual cameras and their position and orientation and "connect" them to each of your graphics cards. You can also use multiple neworked PCs.

OpenSceneGraph has the basic image distortion software and I've been working to extend it as part of the FlightGear project. I'm the author of the version that created these pics. You essentially create your distortion mesh with a utility tool and the program reads it in at run time. Hoping to have a version ready for release in a few months. There is a preliminary version available in the developers section at the FlightGear website.

Still need to handle the edge blending and that should be done in a week or two. If your interested check out (http://local.wasp.uwa.edu.au/~pbourk...our/edgeblend/) as well as other neat stuff on image warping.

JW

[Kennair]

OK thanks JW. Just to clarify, "Undocked Views" is a standard MSFS term that relates to physically undocking a window view and placing it on each monitor or projected image. In this way you can provide a specific angle and zoomed view to each monitor/projector. This is quite particular to MSFS (both FS9 & FSX) which possibly doesn't exist in FlightGear but allows the user to get a full 180 or 210 degree FOV. You can achieve the 3 views to the monitors/projectors with either 3 video outputs from your PC or by using a Matrox Triple Head 2 Go.

Thanks for the link, I'll check out the software.

Cheers,

Ken.

[castle]

Aaah, interesting; you say tomato, I say tomawto

That is essentially how FG/OSG works as well for multiple monitors, only in this case the term used is "camera". The camera(s) are specified in an xml file that sets the location and orientation in world space, then you assign (bind) a camera to a monitor as well as the size of the FOVs the camera "sees". For image warping, each camera has its own defined mesh which can be adjusted as required to handle any "rough spots". Also affords the ability to emulate a variety of lens types and non-linear distortions, Probably very similar to what Nthusim does. Undoubtedly, the math is the same, just a question of implementation.

On my sim, I'm using a multi-core CPU (4 to be exact) each with its own graphics card and camera (projector). The frame rate is wickedly fast, but that leaves a lot of head room to add greater detail and visual effects.

FYI, I'll be making a presentation on full scale simulators at the University of California Davis in March Anyone in the local area is welcome attend and details as to time and place are on the LUGOD website.

JW

[Kennair]

Thanks JW (BTW any chance of a real name?). It sounds like the software is specifically taylored to FG (unfortunately). As you describe the views config it works pretty much the same as in FSX. What sparked my interest was the "free" comment. I guess you've seen the price of domestic and commercial warping software out there, exhorbitant to say the least.

I notice too that the software link goes to UWA here in WA. That's just down the road from me, what's the affiliation?

Cheers,

Ken.

[castle]

Actually, it's the other way around. The OSG software is sooo generic that it will fit just about anywhere. But you are correct in that you have to pull out the pieces you need,

I'm aware of Nthusim and other commercial imaging software, but have not dug into exactly how they operate. It sounds as if they run as a seperate application taking the imaging output from any other shooter/driver/flyer gaming system, applying a distortion mesh, and then streaming the resultant image onto the projection system. Or perhaps they run as a .dll library addon.

In my case, with complete access to the free source code (and a little help from my friends ), the warping software was built into the application.

The software has been used to fly UAVs over the Pacific (a NOAA project), study snow plow operations with GPS ( UofMN), a driving simulator, a submarine sim for a middle school in Chicago, and so forth...

UWA is home to Paul Bourke, there are many excellent articles on creating large projection systems and the mathematics behind image warping as well as other topics and numerous references and links. and some neat pics.

Handle is John; there is a short bio at www.lugod.org on the upcoming talk in March.

Regards
John