Gaming Room Circular Projection Build Log

Post by **suiken_2mieu** » 22 Oct 2009, 21:09

To show the importance of Sol7 in the whole setup, here is a picture example of uncorrected projection (and what your 2D desktop will always look like) vs. Sol7 pre-warped projection. Without pre-warp capability circular projection is ugly. :wink:

I was wondering why you needed sol7. Thanks for the clarification.

Post by **BHawthorne** » 22 Oct 2009, 22:03

Here is my first try at a YouTube video ever. It's just some random IMAX video footage using the record mode on my digital camera. The camera isn't that great for video capture but it works I guess.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqqxV3vJKj4&feature=player_embedded

Post by **MobsterOO7** » 22 Oct 2009, 22:23

To show the importance of Sol7 in the whole setup, here is a picture example of uncorrected projection (and what your 2D desktop will always look like) vs. Sol7 pre-warped projection. Without pre-warp capability circular projection is ugly. :wink:

Since Windows 7 and Vista both use DirectX to render the desktop when Areo is enabled shouldn't it work on the Desktop as well? Or is that too integrated in the OS?

Post by **BHawthorne** » 22 Oct 2009, 22:32

Since Windows 7 and Vista both use DirectX to render the desktop when Areo is enabled shouldn't it work on the Desktop as well? Or is that too integrated in the OS?

I wish it was that simple of an answer, but no. The desktop even if it does use hardware acceleration of sorts doesn't behave the same as full screen mode. If the desktop behaved like full screen mode (or vice versa) we'd never need TH2G and EyeFinity work arounds. :wink:

Deke · Post by **Deke** » 22 Oct 2009, 23:20

Hi BHawthorne,

I've been following this thread, and I have been in just total awe....can't wait to see when the simpit is done.

Great job on all the detail, IMO this is one the neatest gaming rooms I've seen to date.

Most of all, thanks for sharing with eveyone here. :)

Deke

Post by **BHawthorne** » 23 Oct 2009, 18:47

Not much forward progress going on today as I reached a new level of hell called "ceiling mounted projector alignment". :lol:

Man, I wouldn't wish this torture on my worst enemy. Balancing on a crappy ladder with the projector with the mount attached to it in one hand while I have a black magic marker in the other marking the mounting location on the ceiling. You wouldn't think the projectors weight much but after shifting them over your head for a good 2 hours my arms are about to fall off. The first one went real slow, but not I've got a method to it now, so the other 2 shouldn't be quite as bad (I hope). :x

thenjwaslike · Post by **thenjwaslike** » 23 Oct 2009, 18:52

BHawthorne owns!

man.. star trek holodeck got nothing on your setup lol

u can rule the world with that setup =)

Post by **BHawthorne** » 24 Oct 2009, 00:56

Well, the projectors are all mounted on the ceiling now and I've gotten everything alligned again and working. :)

Fatmotti · Post by **Fatmotti** » 26 Oct 2009, 14:10

Great progress BHawthorne! What screen material are you going to get from ebay? As far as gain goes, I wonder if you'll need less than you think because of reflections from opposite sides? Since the sides are traditionally dark in HT setups I wonder if the 2k lumens on the L/R might necessitate gain more as if you had lots of ambient light.

Question for you. Do you think the Sol7 blending would be too distracting in the middle of the screen?

I was thinking about starting out with only 2 of these since they are displayport http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&cs=04&l=en&redirect=1&s=bsd&sku=224-5768 @2560x800

Post by **BHawthorne** » 27 Oct 2009, 21:09

Great progress BHawthorne! What screen material are you going to get from ebay? As far as gain goes, I wonder if you'll need less than you think because of reflections from opposite sides? Since the sides are traditionally dark in HT setups I wonder if the 2k lumens on the L/R might necessitate gain more as if you had lots of ambient light.

Question for you. Do you think the Sol7 blending would be too distracting in the middle of the screen?

I was thinking about starting out with only 2 of these since they are displayport http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&cs=04&l=en&redirect=1&s=bsd&sku=224-5768 @2560x800

I'm getting my screen material from http://stores.shop.ebay.com/protheater__W0QQ_armrsZ1

Interesting projector. It's the first DP projector I've ever ran across. Be sure to check out the lens throw in comparision to the sizescreen you eant to run. Make sure you have enought distance in the room to properly project the screen size. I use the Projector Central calculator.

As far as my setup, no real progress at the moment. It's up and running and I've thrown an area rug into the room and a couch in the back for tv and movie watching.

Post by **suiken_2mieu** » 28 Oct 2009, 03:25

Hey BHawthorne, can we see more pictures of you room running games? It's the coolest thing since Eyefinity around here.

Post by **BHawthorne** » 28 Oct 2009, 03:34

Sure thing, I'll take a few pics the next few days. I've got a fisheye lens adapter being shipped that I plan on using with a webcam to take video with. I'll mount that over the center of the area and try and get full coverage of the game play.

I don't own that many games, so a lot of what I'll show will have to be either stuff I own, free-to-play or demos.

Games I have installed and I know work with the setup:
SecondLife (maximized window mode only)
Alganon
Rise of Flight Demo
HAWX Demo
Eve Online
Dark Age of Camelot
Entropia Universe
Orbiter (OLGA beta client)

Video players that work:
VLC (OpenGL mode)
Zoom Player (VMR9 renderless mode)

Post by **suiken_2mieu** » 28 Oct 2009, 03:37

Sure thing, I'll take a few pics the next few days. I've got a fisheye lens adapter being shipped that I plan on using with a webcam to take video with. I'll mount that over the center of the area and try and get full coverage of the game play.

I don't own that many games, so a lot of what I'll show will have to be either stuff I own or demos.

Awesome, thanks.

salterre · Post by **salterre** » 31 Oct 2009, 07:23

I'm putting together a similar 3 projector setup and have just finished my back of the napkin calculations for screen size, etc. Here are some considerations when optimizing megapixels and aspect ratio:

1. Your calcs should all originate with the native resolution of the 3 projectors. (i.e. BHawthorne has 3 XGA projectors for a total of 3072x768 or 2.36 MegaPixels.)

2. If using sol7 edge blending,you need to take into account the pixel overlap region. (http://immersaview.com/overlap.html) i.e. using sol7's 12.5% overlap metric with 3 XGA projectors, it will reduce the resolution region to 2816x768 or 2.16 MegaPixels.

3. Take the calculated aspect ratio from the overlapped resolution (3.67:1) and apply this ratio to your desired screen height or desired screen width.
Solving for Height Example: You want a 6 foot high screen, then you will need to go 22 feet wide (6*3.67)
Solving for Width Example: You have a 15 feet long room, so you will need to go 4.1 feet high (15/3.67)

Excel spreadsheet if anyone's interested: https://ispace.utmb.edu/xythoswfs/webview/_xy-244646_1

One last thought in terms of megapixels, if you used 2 1080p projectors they would yield 3600x1080 after correcting for overlap, which is 3.80 megapixels and an aspect ratio of (3.33:1). These calcs are making me think about purchasing two 1080P projectors which down the road I could eventually get a third after switching to eyefinity.

Post by **BHawthorne** » 31 Oct 2009, 18:10

using sol7's 12.5% overlap metric with 3 XGA projectors, it will reduce the resolution region to 2816x768 or 2.16 MegaPixels.

Abstract vs real world, I think 12.5% is too high an overlap. I really suggest a minimal overlap. Only enough to allow for no pixel gaps otherwise your desktop is totally disfunctional.

salterre · Post by **salterre** » 31 Oct 2009, 18:32

good point as I think you are the only one who is living in the non-abstract 3 projector setup world at the moment! glad to hear minimal overlap is working well.

have you figured out any way to get the geometric correction to work for the desktop?

Post by **BHawthorne** » 01 Nov 2009, 01:01

good point as I think you are the only one who is living in the non-abstract 3 projector setup world at the moment! glad to hear minimal overlap is working well.

have you figured out any way to get the geometric correction to work for the desktop?

No, but I've pondered using something like vnc in local host mode. The vnc renderer would have to be within a DirectX or OpenGL rendering mode though. Anyone know of a vnc that uses OpenGL or DirectX in a full screen mode? I wonder how hard it would be for someone to just whip up a non-network version of VNC that just renders in full screen mode using OpenGL or DirectX 9?

I did find a trick to at least fix the desktop wallpaper. Sure, that's no where near the same thing, but at least it looks cleaner. I take a desktop picture I want to use and load it in vlc. I then screen cap the picture with it being corrected in full screen mode. I paste it into whatever photo app (photoshop, ms paint, gimp, etc...) save it and then apply it as my desktop. That makes for a visually correct background picture at least.

Although my projectors are 1024x768 native, the scaler in them can go a lot higher. Depending on how good the scaler in your projectors are, I suggest using them in non-native larger resolutions as needed if the game user interface or desktop window size requires it. I run mine almost always at 3840x1024 and would just as soon have them always at 5040x1050. I'm working with ImmersaView on a few minor issues with that.

I recently exchanged some email with ImmersaView on Sol7 b11 compatability issues with resolutions over 3840x1024. They're now aware of some issues I brought to thier attention on higher resolution TH2G Digital compatability issues. They also have stated they now have a EyeFinity test rig setup to use for compatibility testing.

salterre · Post by **salterre** » 02 Nov 2009, 06:37

Great news that sol7 is working on the eyefinity front as well! As for the desktop rendering issue you may be able to run a virtual machine in full-screen mode - there's gotta be a vm client that takes advantage of directx/opengl. although when i do some searches its only showing results related to directx and opengl 'inside' the vm and not necessarily related to the vm client...

oh, and what about some of these fancy 3d desktops, like http://www.spheresite.com ?

Post by **BHawthorne** » 02 Nov 2009, 19:32

Great news that sol7 is working on the eyefinity front as well!

No idea about EyeFinity and Sol7 compatibility yet. I just know ImmersaView has testing hardware now. I'm still holding off till the 6 port card for myself. They also mentioned a new beta build. No idea when it'll be released though. b11 works pretty good for me but has a few issues that hopefully b12 will fix.

amcquaid · Post by **amcquaid** » 02 Nov 2009, 23:06

How much did you pay for your sol7 software? I was told that the cost was 4000 per projector. I was told hat there was a beta version of a consumer release but that it didn't have any edge blending capability. Can you still buy the flight sim version?

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