1 / 25

THE “WEDGE”

Rod Boswell , Peter Alexander Plasma Research Laboratory, Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering, Henry Gardner , Dave, Hugh, Rhys, Pascal Department of Computer Science, FEIT, and ANU Supercomputer Facility, Australian National University http://wedge.anu.edu.au/.

mandek
Download Presentation

THE “WEDGE”

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Rod Boswell, Peter Alexander Plasma Research Laboratory, Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering, Henry Gardner, Dave, Hugh, Rhys, Pascal Department of Computer Science, FEIT, and ANU Supercomputer Facility, Australian National University http://wedge.anu.edu.au/ THE “WEDGE”

  2. Total 15M pixels over the FOV of 4/3 (4) steradians, most dense in fovea. Pixel resolution 28 seconds of arc - highest resolution 50 seconds of arc - "20/20" vision 1.5 arc - minutes - "20/30" acceptable vision Normal 18" desktop computer at 24" and 1280 x 1024 resolution is at limit of resolution. Small 48 cm. TV at 3 metres and 200 lines resolution can be improved by about a factor of two (eg. SVHS or Digital). Each screen has resolution 1280 x 1024, image area 1.5 x 1.25 metres and viewed from about 1.5 metres yields a FOV of 0.8 steradians per screen. Stand in 4th corner of WEDGE and the corners make 90 degrees, ie. about that of stereo vision, yielding a FOV of /2 ie. about 1.6 steradians. The display limit is about 20% of the eye limit. Limits of Vision of a human eye

  3. 1. Occlusion 2. Perspective projection 3. Binocular disparity 4. Motion Parallax 5. Convergence 6. Accommodation 7. Atmospheric 8. Lighting and Shadow Workstation 1, 2, 7, 8 "VR" adds 3, 4 and 5 Depth Clues from real world

  4. 3D (perspective) computer graphics in stereo Interactivity Mouse 6D Mouse “Head tracking” Robotic arms...... Human Computer Interface research (HCI) High end: Silicon Graphics; supercomputing Games end: PC cards; helmets; fun parlours Virtual Reality (“virtual environments”)

  5. The first Wedge

  6. The big wigs get their day

  7. Rod receives the WORD from Henry

  8. Wedgeorama

  9. The p-Wedge at Wagga-Wagga (outreach)

  10. Headsets are cumbersome and “daggy”? complaints of motion sickness solitary enjoyment? The CAVETM Small “room” with back (and down) projected stereo images “Immersive”; viewers are surrounded by the images Collaborative 6D mouse; head-tracking; maybe audio... Fraternal; user group interaction Expensive “Immersive” projection-based VR

  11. Expensive Applications not fully developed HCI: Visual overload can cause discomfort The Wedge Built from “the bottom up” (including software) Sacrifice interactivity for affordability Driven by a particular application Driven by a particular idea First immersive “VR theatre” in Australia Barriers to the diffusion of VR technology

  12. Two screens (“standard rearlight”) back-projected in stereo Frame made of extruded aluminium flush with the floor Two CRT projectors NEC Multisync XG75 800 x 600 non-interlaced images at 120 Hz (60Hz each eye) Intergraph TDZ2000 Shutter glasses and emitters Ultrasonic head-tracker with 6D mouse (Logitech) The Wedge is...

  13. Dual 300 MHz Pentium II 128 MB RAM 64 MB texture memory 32 MB frame buffer two VX25 graphics boards with frame synchronisation at 120 Hz (two raster accelerators and one geometry accelerator) resolution up to 1824x1386 pixels 1.6 M Gourad shaded triangles per second Intergraph TDZ2000

  14. Logitech (Fakespace) 23 kHz Three loudspeakers and three microphones mounted in plastic equilateral triangles (of length 25 cm and 5cm respectively) Range over 1.5m; cone shaped volume; angle of 100 degrees Resolution of 100 micrometers in position and 0.1 degrees in orientation Tracking speed up to 75cm/s; rate of 50Hz Also 6D mouse Head-tracker

  15. The corner region of the Wedge appears to offer a greater sense of presence than a single screen Depth cue associated with the recession of the screens into the distance Anecdotal evidence based on the experience of thousands of observers (Wedgeophiles) Images ‘in front of screen’ more compelling than images ‘behind the screen’ Driving idea...

  16. Plasma Fusion experiment at ANU: the H-1 Heliac national facility Interactive engineering in a complicated and crowded geometry Understanding and communication of physics results Remote stereo video with lip synch audio for teaching and the virtual university Driving Application

  17. Simple molecules (C60 - “bucky-ball”) with vibrational motion Mathematical minimum energy surfaces: points, wireframe and solid Percolation simulations Presently limited to 10-20,000 polygons @ 10 Hertz; increased this by a factor of 4 in 1999 and with the new Wedge in ANU Comp Sci a factor of 10 or more. Preliminary applications and performance

  18. Resolution, matching, synchronisation all good Ghosting occasionally distracting Light extinction efficiency and spectral bias of the shutter glasses Decay time of the phosphor tubes in projectors Perception of ghosts also depends on Horizontal scan rate Colour palette Movement (animation) Suggestion Ghosts are usually tinged green Image Quality

  19. Synchronised to left/right eye images by infrared signals Use crossed polarising filters; finite extinction efficiency We have examined two types of shutter glasses “industry standard” (about US$600 a pair) “home entertainment” (about US$30) needed to be modified electronically both have about 20% extinction! closed shutter glasses have a bias towards green Shutter Glasses

  20. Measurements of phosphor decay times were carried out using a photodiode and oscilloscope Green (3ms half width) is about 1.5 times longer than red (2ms) Blue is very fast Phase varies through the image (due to finite horizontal scan rate Problems getting CRT projectors as DLPs (Victorian Branch) are taking over Projectors

  21. Wedge is a simple and effective VR system Very popular with the general public Simple JAVA 3D operating system More application developments coming Total equipment cost about US$60k Ideal for remote teaching Conclusions

  22. The field is deeply rooted in cross disciplinary research. We intend to thrust into this virgin soil and break down conceptual barriers to plant the seed of new ideas. Virtual Language

  23. The Wedge was conceived to envelop the user who is drawn into the virtual environment which gives birth to new concepts and nurtures the growth of new ideas. WEDGE Language

More Related