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PostPosted: 24 Apr 2013, 23:51 
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So when you have a Lens corrected Screen, and then you get something like this:
Image
(Unigine Engine)

It wouldn't work anymore, because you have Software presets for curved screens to work perfectly, and a curved screen with corrected Lens, what would end up horrible ?

And diamon shaped Pixels ? Aren't pixel supposed to be quadratic ? Guess it's time for me to read some more guides about Projectors! Anyone can offer some good guides about Projector technique ??

Edit: Man those Projectors look cool ^^ Android OS ^^ the 1080p version ? I don't get it, what is a native 1280x800 resolution and then you have a expandend 1080p ? but the Airplay/DLNA pat is cool! 3 Projectors and you can beam photos from your Smartphone onto your Monitor you don't need atm. Miracast would be cooler.

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PostPosted: 24 Apr 2013, 23:59 
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For Portability, sell a "Portability Pack" at a reasonable price:
A. Clips to make the screens mount to each other under break-away mounting. Like Push In, release lock, slide screen back.
B. Reflectors should collapse directly into the back of the screen
C. Back Clip for the Reflectors to solidly mount a projector
D. Handle on the top so you can carry it like a briefcase.
E. Carrying case of various sizes that can hold 3 monitors worth of a setup as well as power cords, etc.
F. Clips that will allow the structure of the Screen and Reflector to be used as a stand for the Projector to point it at a wall for presentations. I could see this being an advantage for small offices where they would want to take a projector into a conference room and use the wall.
G. With this now being so portable, ensure that the plugs work well with TH2Go setups so a person could take their laptop, TH2Go and carrying case to a LAN party and use it however they like.

Touch Support
There are projectors out now with Interactivity capabilities, like the Dell S500wi. This uses a Pen/Wand as a mouse for presentations by tracking the wand position real-time. I believe next gen will actually remove the wand and start tracking actual hand movements. Since this is going against screens on a desk, you could just use touch sensitive screen panelling (like what you would clip over a normal screen to make it a touch screen) as an optional add-on. MagicTouch (Keytech, Inc.) make solutions like these for sale.
http://www.magictouch.com/addon.html

Vertical vs Horizontal Surround Support
Make sure your software and hardware can handle the displays being 9:16 vs 16:9 setups. I personally didn't like the way things were when I did it myself, but others seem to love it.

Custom Sizing
Offer the Screen makeup in square footage (or some size) with instructions on how to build your own screen size. So if you offer up to 27" and a customer wants 31" (some odd number) they can buy and cut and build the screens to what they want and then tune the projectors sync software to what they want.


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PostPosted: 25 Apr 2013, 08:15 
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Thanks Jothay, lots of good insights and ideas there. I think you've hit the nail on the head with a component based ecosystem.

There would still be place for a "standard" set-up, but a web-shop selling components that let you build your own would be a very good idea, allowing hobbyists to build within their budget, and to their specific requirements, and add to the set-up over time.

We can use the same projector cradle with lots of different sized screens, so that's def an option. That allows you to increase your screen size without having to invest in new projectors, or to have 2 different set-ups, maybe one for sitting, one for standing, and use the same hardware.

There are several ways of adding touch interfaces, the cheapest/easiest being infra-red/camera. It's not a priority from our point of view, as touch tends to be less and less practical as screen size increases. Kinect, Razor Hydra, and Leap look like interesting alternatives, while joysticks and steering wheels are surely also here to stay.

Since 1998, when I first started messing with Reality Studio (3D panorama tool), I have been waiting for OLED. Unfortunately the day when we have over-sized OLED screens in diverse radii is still many years away. Too many years to keep waiting. LG are possibly releasing a slightly curved (around 5-10 degrees) OLED screen later this year. For a 3 screen set-up it would cost you £30,000 ($45,000, so start saving), and it's *still* got bezels! I read that LG's entire plant is dedicated to a single sized screen (55") as it's too costly to produce different sizes. Prices will fall. Who knows, maybe in 5 years the entire infintx line will be OLED based, on the other hand 4K laser projectors may cost $300 by then. The best way to predict the future is to build it.

Haldi > Unigine, very interesting engine and a new one on me. Thanks for the link :) Obviously you wouldn't apply a distortion profile to a screen that handled it for you. I imagine there's still a preset for "flat monitor". Use that and your problem's solved!
Imagine this http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4yMnsioOpuo#! inside this...

Image

I stress, the "compression wings" concept is just that, a concept for discussion, and may never see the light of day. It is so ultra specific to wide screen, wide FOV 3D engines.

Cheers!


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PostPosted: 26 Apr 2013, 15:03 
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Just don't settle for rectilinear projection on a curved display and everything will be great. Also, if you're doing you own rectilinear to cylindrical blending, use at least 4-5 viewports for 120-140 HFOV, please.


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PostPosted: 30 Apr 2013, 04:20 
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theMightyAtom wrote:
PROJECT UPDATE
Finally we have our large bed laser cutter installed ;)

Image
..and tested...
Image

This means we can build begin building physical prototypes.

I can reveal we've opted for the LUXCINE C7 for our initial test set-ups. As well as being affordable, LED (20000+ lamp life), it features diamond shaped pixels and a virtually invisible grid. The result being you can hardly detect any pixels at all. Another pleasant surprise has been that despite it's 500 ANSI Lumen rating, it's plenty bright enough at the 100" screen-size we envisage for the Infintx D, but also under controlled lighting can drive a MUCH bigger screen if you have the room to spare. For example a 3m diameter, 2.4m high screen- That gives you space for 6 people, or a full-sized car or cockpit.

BRAIN STORMING...

(NOTE: The following is just an idea we would like to discuss, and not necessarily a design proposition.)


One or the most obvious challenges with Widescreen set-ups, that everyone runs into, is the "side stretching" of graphics.
It's a widely misunderstood phenomenon and therefor fills considerable pages on this very forum.
http://www.wsgf.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=68&t=14082
If you want to see what I'm talking about here's a simple demo.
http://www.strombergindustries.com/newPerspective/

...and if you don't have Flash installed here's screenshots.
Image

When you set your FOV for a game to an extreme value (100 degrees plus), you will generally see objects distorted towards the edges. They appear elongated.
This is not an error, but actually because of the mathematical precision of the 3D engine.
If you try the above demo, with your nose up against your monitor (actual distance depends on monitor size), you should notice that the ball looks round from center to extreme left/right, as you are looking at it from the angle it was calculated from. The camera in the 3D engine, the place where the view is calculated, is at that point in 3D space, not way back where you typically have your favorite gaming chair. So why don't they move the virtual camera out to a more natural viewing position? Because that automatically reduces the field of view, which is the reason you lashed out on a triple head in the first place. Here's the simple, illustrated explanation.

Image

So why rake over that age old problem?
We're looking for the optimum shape for the infinitx screen. There's nothing to say it has to be a regular arc. There was an idea to make a flat middle monitor with curved "wings". We're already bending the output image so as to appear correct on the cylindrical screen, why not go a stage further and distort the image to look natural on the screen from a human perspective, rather than mathematically correct, from a flat computer monitor perspective.

It would be possible to build a reflector system that shows a 16:9 area normally in the center of the screen, but then gradually bunches the image up towards the edges, while bending them inwards, compensating for the exaggerated field of view.
In theory at least, that would give you a set-up that shows non-widescreen titles and movies correctly, and super wide fields of view in a more natural looking way.

The screen would look something like this. The checker pattern shows how the wings gradually compress the edges to keep round objects round, when set to the appropriate FOV.

Image

Image

If that makes sense to anyone, I'd be glad to hear about it. Also if it's completely off the mark.

Cheers! :onethumb:




No no no, this is pretty much spot on. :) I did some pictures with FOV and POV angle matching with Borderlands a couple years back but never actually made a post about it. I see you already have the 3D software ready to do this. ;) Might want to use some of these images for the WSGF so we can explain why people need to stop bitching about fisheye.

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PostPosted: 30 Apr 2013, 12:03 
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Quote:
Just don't settle for rectilinear projection on a curved display and everything will be great. Also, if you're doing you own rectilinear to cylindrical blending, use at least 4-5 viewports for 120-140 HFOV, please.


Randomoneh, point taken. The actual game rendering capabilities are for the most part beyond our control. The reality is unfortunately that for most current titles, rectilinear is all you have to work with. The winged monitor shape, with continuous wide angle warping was a concept for combating that, even though mathematically it's completely wrong, perceptually it may deliver what the brain was expecting to see.

Quote:
Might want to use some of these images for the WSGF so we can explain why people need to stop bitching about fisheye.


Be my guest :) Just promise me we'll try and find another term than "fisheye", as it's kind of the opposite of what's happening. The distortion is a product of what Randomoneh refers to, that is a rectilinear projection and NOT a fisheye with is a spherical projection, and would actually work much better for super wide screens.

Cheers!


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PostPosted: 03 May 2013, 17:35 
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theMightyAtom wrote:
Quote:
Might want to use some of these images for the WSGF so we can explain why people need to stop bitching about fisheye.


Be my guest :) Just promise me we'll try and find another term than "fisheye", as it's kind of the opposite of what's happening. The distortion is a product of what Randomoneh refers to, that is a rectilinear projection and NOT a fisheye with is a spherical projection, and would actually work much better for super wide screens.

Cheers!

I've seen the term "fishbowl" used in a similar context.


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PostPosted: 03 May 2013, 23:19 
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That is an interesting Video on YouTube. I might be a bit dense with some of the terms, but what is causing the trees in some parts of the video to bend prior to going off the edge and some are just straight? What causes the terrain to bend around/away from the perspective?


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PostPosted: 04 May 2013, 18:30 
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Just posting to add support to this project, will keep an eye on it for sure! This is something I've been following for years (obviously previous attempts never really took off) so I'm hopeful this time a real contender will emerge...

Think the new (slightly) curved OLED tvs may help public perception of the idea too. I know it's going to be mostly enthusiasts that will want this at first, but gaining even some small traction amongst the (usually fairly conservative) general population is always good :onethumb:


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PostPosted: 06 May 2013, 12:53 
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I hope you will be able to produce a setup that is competitive in price with a monitor setup similar in size. Just the lack of bezels is a huge plus point. Possible better perception with custom screens (wings/flared and such) is another big plus over monitor setups. And finaly if over sea delivery will be possible/affordable you can write me up for 1! :onethumb:

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