Here's a hypothetical question that has been driving me and my work buddies up the wall. After seeing some of the great results using PSone 5" LCD screens, I started wondering how cool it'd be to do the following...
What would happen if you build a room, say 8x8x8, and put a chair right in the middle of it. In each wall, you cut out a lil circle for the projector lens to peek through and project an image on the opposite wall. 6 projectors total shining on the opposite wall that they're peeking through. So you could sit in the middle of the room and have a 360 degree image. This would be a wet dream for use with a flight sim. Would the projectors cancel each other out? dim each other out? do nothing? I've asked almost everyone I know, and nobody seems to have any idea. I've attached a quick pic of what I mean for anyone who is having trouble visualizing what I mean.
Thanks
TD
What would happen if you build a room, say 8x8x8, and put a chair right in the middle of it. In each wall, you cut out a lil circle for the projector lens to peek through and project an image on the opposite wall. 6 projectors total shining on the opposite wall that they're peeking through. So you could sit in the middle of the room and have a 360 degree image. This would be a wet dream for use with a flight sim. Would the projectors cancel each other out? dim each other out? do nothing? I've asked almost everyone I know, and nobody seems to have any idea. I've attached a quick pic of what I mean for anyone who is having trouble visualizing what I mean.
Thanks
TD
Attachments
I'm quite sure the light beams wouldnt disturb eachother, however, if you'd be sitting in that chair in the middle, there would be something else blocking....
yes indeed, my big empty noggin and my superbly wide-load butt would be in the way. I'm still just curious about how the light shining against each other would affect the pictures.
shadows
If the projectors in the side walls were mounted further up towards the ceiling (w/ keystone correction), and/or the viewer is not too tall, there would be no shadow on the side walls.
Difficult to avoid a shadow on the floor though. Maybe two projectors should shine onto the floor, one for each half?
If the projectors in the side walls were mounted further up towards the ceiling (w/ keystone correction), and/or the viewer is not too tall, there would be no shadow on the side walls.
Difficult to avoid a shadow on the floor though. Maybe two projectors should shine onto the floor, one for each half?
i have actualy been in the room, circular, where there were projectors in the center of the room projecting overlaping 360 degree image (no projection on floor or ceiling)
quite impressive
quite impressive
bummer
Unless special screens are used, there would probably be a lot of ambient light in the room with this setup. It would wash out the contrast.
What little I know of projection screens tells me there are ways to address this. Different screens have different reflection patterns.
This projector setup is a really cool idea. How awesome would it be to have a 360 x 360 flight sim, without even a cockpit to block your view!!! It is a dream.
Unless special screens are used, there would probably be a lot of ambient light in the room with this setup. It would wash out the contrast.
What little I know of projection screens tells me there are ways to address this. Different screens have different reflection patterns.
This projector setup is a really cool idea. How awesome would it be to have a 360 x 360 flight sim, without even a cockpit to block your view!!! It is a dream.
yes...charlie10, I was also thinking of two projectors for the floor...or just saying screw it and not projecting anything on the floor. I was also planning on putting the projectors up higher in the wall, and I would be sitting in a homebuild cockpit that would basically be like me sitting on the floor...was hoping I could shine the projectors over the cockpit (and my big noodle) for the most part which would hopefully put any shadows down towards the floor....I'll work up another diagram of what I'm thinking and post it here.
here we go...I just figured....if I brought the floor up to about my shoulders height or so...that would mean the sides views would not need to shine over my noodle. The front and back may still be tricky...I may want to make it so my back is almost flush against the back wall cause I'm gonna have a shadow back there anyhow....
at any rate...here's just a lil something that I drew up that may or may not be really off target.
at any rate...here's just a lil something that I drew up that may or may not be really off target.
Attachments
just to clarify...the color of the projectors in my last post are simply so you can tell which light goes where and so on and so forth...they won't be monocolor PJs...they're simply for the sake of the diagram.
curved
Starting off from your idea of crowns to help blend the images. And considering what I think is a need to minimize ambient light. I am going to go out on a limb and suggest... a cylindrical room! I mean why not?
- Your diagram would be unchanged except the assumption of 4 side walls.
- this would allow use of a high-gain projection screen material on the cylindical wall, concentrating light on the viewer and reducing excess ambient light
- could get away with three 120deg. projectors instead of four 90deg. ones, lower PJ cost, fewer seams, higher room construction cost though
But are the optics impossible? I have no idea...
You might be interested in the ol "CAVE" VR project at the Univ. of Illinois / Chicago. http://www.evl.uic.edu/pape/CAVE/
Starting off from your idea of crowns to help blend the images. And considering what I think is a need to minimize ambient light. I am going to go out on a limb and suggest... a cylindrical room! I mean why not?
- Your diagram would be unchanged except the assumption of 4 side walls.
- this would allow use of a high-gain projection screen material on the cylindical wall, concentrating light on the viewer and reducing excess ambient light
- could get away with three 120deg. projectors instead of four 90deg. ones, lower PJ cost, fewer seams, higher room construction cost though
But are the optics impossible? I have no idea...
You might be interested in the ol "CAVE" VR project at the Univ. of Illinois / Chicago. http://www.evl.uic.edu/pape/CAVE/
how about using some sort of rear projection screens? even bedsheets can work fine if there is no ambient light and if the projector is bright enough...
have the room be like 2 or 3 feet bigger in both dimentions (width, lenght), and have like double walls, normal ones on the outside, and bedsheets on the inside, projectors inbetween aimed at the bedsheets. You can get some CRT lenses from a rear projection tv that will yield a massive image at like 3-4 feet (or like 1 or 2 with a proper mirror to shorten the light path).
I dont think that PS1 screens are going to look great at big sizes tho...
have the room be like 2 or 3 feet bigger in both dimentions (width, lenght), and have like double walls, normal ones on the outside, and bedsheets on the inside, projectors inbetween aimed at the bedsheets. You can get some CRT lenses from a rear projection tv that will yield a massive image at like 3-4 feet (or like 1 or 2 with a proper mirror to shorten the light path).
I dont think that PS1 screens are going to look great at big sizes tho...
I rememeber a while back on tomorrows world they had a big hollow opaque ball which you got inside and the projectors made the image on the ball so you had total immersion. The ball was on rollers and I understand it worked much like a track ball when you walked forward the game moved forward. I suppose it would be a pig to get focus all round the curvature of the ball but cool if it could be done.
Although this would not do for flight sims just shoot em ups I spose.
Although this would not do for flight sims just shoot em ups I spose.
hmm..cylinder might be a good idea....it would keep the images a more uniform distance from my viewpoint...of course...why stop there? What about a sphere? haha I could see this project quickly overshooting my intelligence and budget(if it hasn't already).
Another idea that just popped in there....rear projection screens. I have only skimmed over the other posts on rear-PJs, so I'm still not sure if anyone has had luck getting a rear-PJ up and runnin, but it's another idea.
Another idea that just popped in there....rear projection screens. I have only skimmed over the other posts on rear-PJs, so I'm still not sure if anyone has had luck getting a rear-PJ up and runnin, but it's another idea.
What's your budget? 
Have a look over here- http://cave.ncsa.uiuc.edu/about.html
They charge up to $1000 per hour for off-hours tours of their facility! I have toured it, though, and I must say that it's quite cool. Not only do they have the rear projection thing, they also have all of the images in 3D, and you wear some goggles and it immerses you in 3D space.
The really expensiver part (when I was there is 1999) was not the projection system- it was the network of computers driving it! They had a couple of customized SGI machines, each with a few video cards- and if I recall, there was more to it than that... their website now says that it is controlled by a 12 processor Silicon Graphics Onyx 2 Reality Monster. Might be safe to say that's out of the budget
It's a neat idea, though- and you can see that it's do-able. What I would suggest if you're serious about using this for a flight sim would be- get a Matrox type three-head card (parhelia or whatever they have now) and a decent computer, and go for it on front left and right walls. Sure you don't get the floor, behind you, or above you- but I think it would still be quite an immersive experience- and it is acheivable NOW.
Anyhow, good luck with it! I hope that website was informative, and if you do something with this POST IT!! 😀
Joe
Have a look over here- http://cave.ncsa.uiuc.edu/about.html
They charge up to $1000 per hour for off-hours tours of their facility! I have toured it, though, and I must say that it's quite cool. Not only do they have the rear projection thing, they also have all of the images in 3D, and you wear some goggles and it immerses you in 3D space.
The really expensiver part (when I was there is 1999) was not the projection system- it was the network of computers driving it! They had a couple of customized SGI machines, each with a few video cards- and if I recall, there was more to it than that... their website now says that it is controlled by a 12 processor Silicon Graphics Onyx 2 Reality Monster. Might be safe to say that's out of the budget
It's a neat idea, though- and you can see that it's do-able. What I would suggest if you're serious about using this for a flight sim would be- get a Matrox type three-head card (parhelia or whatever they have now) and a decent computer, and go for it on front left and right walls. Sure you don't get the floor, behind you, or above you- but I think it would still be quite an immersive experience- and it is acheivable NOW.
Anyhow, good luck with it! I hope that website was informative, and if you do something with this POST IT!! 😀
Joe
- Status
- Not open for further replies.