Virtual Environment Enclosures

1
Virtual Environment Enclosures

• by
• LCDR Brian Christianson

2
Presentation Overview

• Origins of Virtual Environment Enclosures
• Creation of the first CAVE
• Offshoots and Improvements
• More walls
• Improving physical surrounding

3
Where did it all start?

• University of Illinois at Chicago in 1991
• Based on The Simile of the Cave found in Plato's
  Republic
• CAVE Automatic Virtual Environment
• Motivation rooted in scientific visualization and
  the SIGGRAPH '92 Showcase effort
• Minimizing user attachments and encumbrances were
  the main goals as well as high resolution grapics

4
The First CAVE Construction

• Screen is a 10 x 30 rear projection material
• Corners are made by 1/8 cables
• This causes occlusion when an object crosses the
  corners and it loses its depth appearance
• Floor painted to match the color of the walls
• Stereoscopic display with magnetic head tracker
  and shutter glasses
• Uses a wand to fly through the environment

5
(No Transcript)
6
Popularity of the CAVE

• Commercially available through Pyramid
  Systems(just bought Fake Space)
• Current CAVE users
• General Motors, Electronic Data Systems,
  Caterpillar, NASA, National Center for
  Supercomputing Applications, Argonne National
  Laboratories and DoD ARPA.
• Comes with both hardware and software support
• Immersadesk I, II and III

7
C2 - CAVE One Better

• Created at Iowa State in 1996 by Carolina
  Cruz-Neira
• Based on CAVE, but folded optics more and added
  3D sound system. Takes only half the volume of
  a CAVE
• Uses 3 separate screens to fix wire in the corner
  problems of the CAVE

8
(No Transcript)
9
CABIN Five Wall VE

• Created in 1997 at Univ of Tokyo
• Computer Aided Booth for Image Navigation
• Hard to get info since its in Japanese
• Uses tempered glass for all five walls
• Future plans are to incorporate additional
  sensational inputs for users

10
CABIN Layout and Display
11
Educational Institution Alternatives

• NAVE Automatic Virtual Environment
• Georgia Tech Virtual Environments Group 1999
• Total hardware cost of approximately 60K
• Only 3 walls, but attempts to enhance the other
  30 of the senses in the environment
• Excellent audio system
• Floor shakers
• Fans to change air speed and temperature
• Strobe lights to simulate lightning

12
(No Transcript)
13
NAVE Layout

• Designed for 2 people in the rumble seats
• Force feedback joystick in center

14
Developing Systems

• C6
• Massive six wall system being developed at Iowa
  State
• 4 stories high
• MechDyne Corp is helping in construction
• Will be linked with campus C2 environment for
  Networked AVE exploration