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University of Illinois uses a Cluster for Immersive VR

Posted by chrisd on from the since-I'm-remodeling-my-basement-anyhow dept.

It seems the folks down at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have created a 6-sided CAVE like system called ALICE. But, instead of running it off of a SGI Onyx, they've developed a distributed environment for visualization called Syzygy. Slap a few computers together and make your own holodeck!

2 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. Programs and graphics for this needed NOW by Warvi · · Score: 5, Interesting

    See their HOWTO for building up your own setup at


    http://www.isl.uiuc.edu/ClusteredVR/szg/doc/Para me terExamples.txt

    That seems like pretty doable by any geeks with enough boxes.

    That would say if the 3D immersion has any usability to it at all, it will be in common use in 10 yrs. It might become the next big thing in living rooms like TV became 40 years ago.

    However, what makes a new technology break through is not what it enables, but what you get with it. TV would have had no use whatsoever without the television programs made to be watched with it. Computers only broke through when there were programs for it.

    Umm, I sense a great opportunity for all people who can really do great 3D graphics.

    Not to mention what I already said about getting 3D GUIs off the ground at


    http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=25035&cid=27 18 945

    --


    Consistency is overrated.
    1. Re:Programs and graphics for this needed NOW by Mike+Connell · · Score: 5, Interesting

      That seems like pretty doable by any geeks with enough boxes.

      #include "Wry smile.h"

      6 linux boxes and the clustering software is only half of the problem. The harder half is 6 or 12 videoprojectors (or more!), the mirrors and the (back) projection surfaces for the CAVE. Add in the tracking hardware (cost and complexity (ie EM interference)), and you have a lot more work to do.

      Don't get me wrong - it excellent that it's feasable for a department to install their own fully immersive VE without an Onyx and a team of engineers, but you'll still need a team of grad students, builders and time.

      Also dont forget that you need a *big* room for one of these too - say you have 2m high surfaces, you basically need 6-8m of vertical space once you include the space for the projectors and mirrors for the top/bottom 'walls'

      --
      Tales from behind the Lagom Curtain