Funding from the Spanish government, in the form of an International Campus of Excellence grant, facilitated this. The former L-shaped VR facility was decommissioned and with the aid of Bedford-based Simulation Displays, working through Spanish-based 3D/virtual reality specialists, Bienetec, a new three-sided CAVE and floor have been constructed, along with a separate HD Active Stereo PowerWall for projecting large computer generated images.
Four different rooms have been remodelled into one large rectangular space for the purpose - with the rear sections of both systems joined together to create common access for all electronics and projection screens. Each system faces in opposite directions so that they are totally independent from each other, while all walls are painted black in order to make the space more immersive.
Simulation Displays were introduced to the project after their business development director, Henry van der Helm, had been recommended to Bienetec by one of their virtual reality providers. "After carefully reviewing Henry's proposal, Simulaton Displays proved to be the best candidate, and most qualified to help us in this project," confirmed Bienetec's Drixie Allen.
From the brief provided, Simulation Displays produced a series of CAD drawings. For the CAVE they recommended 3.5m (W) x 2.25m (H) Da-Lite rear projection surfaces for the floor and three walls, rear projected onto via their own Easy-Erect single-mirror rigs, each cradling projectiondesign F35 AS3D active 3D stereoscopic single-chip DLP projectors. The giant Active PowerWall measures 6.54 metre x 2.25m (giving around 24:9 aspect ratio) which maintains image fidelity even at very close viewing distances.
To address the PowerWall, Bienetec has repurposed the facility's original pair of Christie Mirage HD3 3-chip DLP projectors, including fixed lenses, with a 0.67:1 throw ratio.
The immersive environment is created from workstations running Unity 3D VR software and Nvidia Quadro FX5000 graphics cards as render nodes, while the PowerWall workstation operates a Quadro FX5800. Participants wear an optical tracking system from German company, ART; the glasses deliver an active stereo image with a frequency of 60Hz, with Eye Tracking from Arrington Research. A scent delivery system from Biopac is also installed.
(Jim Evans)
