Virtual reality needs spherical displays, say researchers
“It integrates high precision multi-projector calibration, perceptual viewpoint calibration, high fidelity motion tracking and active flicker glasses to create a high frame rate, high resolution spherical display capable of presenting a multi-person mixed reality experience.” Put simply, each player gets their own perspective-corrected 3D experience.
How does Crystal work?
Crystal uses four carefully calibrated high-speed Optoma GT750ST mini short-throw projectors to create the images, which fill a plexiglass sphere coated with translucent projection paint. It uses advanced calibration and graphics rendering techniques to produce a complete, distortion-free 3D image even when viewed from multiple angles.
That calibration is done using an OptiTrack optical tracking headset, so don't think of this as a hardware-killing invention. "We track a person's head so that the image on there looks correct from their perspective as they move around," says Sidney Fels, an electrical and computer engineering professor at UBC. "Using that, the person sees a beautiful 3D scene as they move around."
The researchers tested it over four day with multiple people cooperating in a ‘find the fish’ game, a 3D ping-pong game, and a cooperative apple-grabbing game. The players reported strong, believable 3D and motion parallax effects.
At CES 2019 in January, Belgian company Mimesys demoed a 5G-enabled holographic remote collaboration system with Intel using Magic Leap's mixed reality headsets (and also some awesome holographic business cards). It feels like you're in the room with someone, at least in a rudimentary way, because it overlays their image on to your surroundings.
Crystal is a similarly ambitious kind of mixed reality, and its makers have big plans....
They are now working on a four-person version, which would open up a lot more use-cases such as multiplayer VR gaming, virtual surgery and VR-aided learning.
See the full story here: https://www.techradar.com/news/virtual-reality-needs-spherical-displays-say-researchers