Infrastructure

The StarCAVE consists of five walls with three screens each. Two JVC HD2K projectors generate a stereo image for each screen, totalling 30 projectors in the StarCAVE. Every projector pair is driven by an Intel quad core Dell XPS computer running under ROCKS/CentOS, with dual Nvidia Quadro 5600 graphics cards. We use an additional XPS machine as the head node to control the rendering nodes, for a total of 16 nodes. For head and hand tracking we use a wireless, optical tracking system by ART Tracking. It consists of four cameras and a Flystick2 3D joystick. We currently support two software environments to drive the StarCAVE: Electro and COVISE. The StarCAVE is located in room 1608a.

Varrier

The Varrier wall consists of 60 LCD monitors, arranged in a semi cylinder. It can generate autostereoscopic images, which means that the user can see 3D images without glasses. The resolution of the wall is about 40 million pixels per eye. The system consists of 31 AMD Opteron based workstations, each equipped with 4GB RAM, 2.0 TB disk arrays, dual gigabit ethernet network ports, and dual Nvidia Geforce 7900 video cards. Each display node drives four 20" NEC LCD monitors at 1600x1200 pixels per screen. The system is running on Suse Linux 10.0. We support three software environments to drive the Varrier: Electro, SAGE, and COVISE. For head tracking and user input we use a wireless, optical tracking system from Advanced Realtime Tracking (ART). The Varrier is located in room 1608a.

C-Wall

The C-Wall features a single screen, stereo wall, driven by dual Dell XPS computers with Nvidia Quadro 5600 graphics cards, running under Suse Linux 10.2. The computers two JVC HD2k projectors with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels (HD) each, projecting on a 4 by 8 foot screen using rear-projection. We use circular polarization filters and glasses to separate the stereo images. For tracking we use an electro-magnetic Ascension Flock of Birds system with head tracking and a Wanda input device. The concept of the C-Wall is described here. The software driving our C-Wall is COVISE. Writing new software applications for the C-Wall can be done by implementing a C++ module for COVISE, of which the underlying graphics API is OpenSceneGraph. The C-Wall is located in room 6307.

Multipurpose Room

The multipurpose room, a.k.a. Black Box, is a 2-story, reconfigurable performance space for experiments with the audience’s relationship to the physical environment and mediated elements. The room features reconfigurable bleachers with seats for up to 100 people, a multi-channel surround sound system, a fully digitally controlled set of lights, and a stereo projection system. The latter consists of dual Christie projectors with a resolution of 1600x1200 pixels each, driven by an AMD Opteron based workstation with a fast disk array to display losslessly compressed stereo video. The stereo separation is done with passive stereo filters and glasses using circular polarization.

Digital Theater

Calit2's digital theater offers 200 seats with power and ethernet jacks in every seat. The cutting edge technical equipment installed in this room allows it to be used for anything ranging from presentations with Powerpoint slides, over video screenings, presentations of visual and performance art, up to demonstrations of the future of digital cinema: 4k video on a 18 by 32 foot screen. Among the technical highlights of the auditorium are: a 20 channel surround sound system, high definition (HD) video playback from digital HD tapes, real-time virtual reality, and technology we are world leaders in: ultra-high resolution video, called 4k which stands for 4096 pixels per scan line, or 8 megapixels per frame (4096x2160 pixels), which is about four times as many pixels as the current HD standard (1920x1080 pixels). For 4k projection we use a Sony SRX-R110 projector. It can be driven by:

An NTT hardware codec, which can play back JPEG2000 compressed 4k video with multi-channel audio at 24 or 30 frames per second.
A Zaxel video server with lossless compression to playback and record 4k video.
A Silicon Graphics Prism visualization workstation, capable of streaming 4k video at 24 frames per second from an SGI InfiniteStorage RM-660 disk array. The Prism is connected via a 10Gbit/sec network connection to the global OptIPuter network.
A Dell XPS workstation with dual Nvidia Quadro 5600 graphics cards, which allows for real-time computer graphics in 4k. We use an Ascension Flock of Birds tracker with a Wanda input device on the show floor to interact with the virtual environment. Our most popular demonstration using this system is "Walking into a Da Vinci Masterpiece" by Maurizio Seracini, showing multi-spectral, high resolution images on the 4k projector.

Other equipment used in the digital theater includes a digital light mixer, a conventional projector by Christie with a resolution of 1600x1200 pixels, and a remote control system by Crestron which allows presenters to connect their laptops and control video and audio directly from the podium.