Www.isl.uiuc.edu University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignBeckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology The Traveling CANVAS Immersive Art takes

www.isl.uiuc.eduUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology

The Traveling CANVAS Immersive Art takes to the Road

Hank Kaczmarski, Nicholas Duchnowski, Abby Watt

April 2008


THE CAVEFIRST DESCRIBED IN A PAPER PUBLISHED IN

COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM IN 1992

3-meter on a side structureTHREE REAR-PROJECTED

WALLS and FRONT-PROJECTED FLOOR

(no rear wall or ceiling)


CAVE™ Technology

CAVE

Automatic

Virtual

Environment


THE CAVE

DRIVEN BYSILICON GRAPHICSSUPERCOMPUTER


THE CAVE

ACTIVE STEREO PROJECTION

96 to 120 frames per second are created by the supercomputer, half drawn from

each of the left and right eye’s perspective. Called “frame-sequential

active stereo” because the images appear in left eye/right eye order more rapidly

than the human visual cortex can discretely view the images due to liquid crystal electronic (hence active) shutter

glasses.


THE CUBEFUNDED BY US NATIONAL SCIENCE

FOUNDATION MAJOR RESEARCH INSTRUMENTATION GRANT IN 2000

Has six 3-meter square surfaces fully rear-projected


THE CUBEDRIVEN BY

PC CLUSTERWHICH

REPLACES A GRAPHICS SUPERCOMPUTER

1/20 THE COSTBETTER PERFORMANCE!

BETTER SCALABILITY


THE CUBEDRIVEN BY

PC CLUSTER

ACTIVE STEREO

GENLOCKED AND FRAME SYNCHRONIZED

GRAPHICS


THE CUBEACTIVE STEREO PROJECTION

STILL MEANS A VERY EXPENSIVE PROJECTOREITHER CRT

WITH LOW LIGHT OUTPUT BUT NUMEROUS RESOLUTION OPTIONS

ORDLP WITH HIGH LIGHT OUTPUT BUT

LIMITED RESOLUTION CHOICES

BOTH CRT AND DLP PROJECTORS FORCE HIGH MAINTENANCE COSTS ON THE

USER


THE CAVE and CUBE

ACTIVE STEREO PROJECTION MEANS

ACTIVE STEREO GLASSES

WHICH MEANSADDITIONAL

FINANCIAL AND MAINTENANCE HEADACHES


CANVAS

PROJECT DRIVEN BY THE DESIRES OF THE ELECTRONIC ARTISTS

ON CAMPUS


CANVAS

GOALS:•USE EXISTING GALLERY SPACE

•MAKE ENVIRONMENT RECONFIGURABLE•MINIMIZE UP-FRONT COSTS

•MINIMIZE LONG-TERM MAINTENANCE COSTS

•MAKE SYSTEM ARTIST-FRIENDLY


CANVAS

AFFORDABILITY:•USE COMMODITY COMPUTERS


CANVAS

…COMMODITY COMPUTERS CONTAINING

COMMODITY GRAPHICS CARDS


CANVAS

AFFORDABILITY:•USE COMMODITY COMPUTERS•USE COMMODITY PROJECTORS

•USE PASSIVE STEREO PROJECTION (TWICE THE NUMBER OF 1/30 THE

COST PROJECTORS)


CANVASLINEAR OR CIRCULAR POLARIZED STEREO

PROJECTIONMEANS

MUCH LESSEXPENSIVE GLASSES

(25X LESS EXPENSIVE)

Possibly less eye strain for long-term viewing as images are presented

to each eye continuously not ½ the time as in active stereo

video schemes


CANVAS

Three walls, no floor projection

Obtuse-angled walls to allow

greater viewing spacebut at the expense of a

somewhat less immersive experience


CANVAS Gallery


CANVAS

ADAPT ACCEPTED COMPUTER PLATFORMS

FOR INTERFACES


CANVAS

ADAPT ACCEPTED INTERACTION DEVICES FOR INTERACTION IN

CANVAS


CANVAS

DRIVEN BYPC CLUSTER

CIRCULAR POLARIZED STEREO

PROJECTION

RENDER NODES

FILE SERVER

OPERATORCONSOLE

AUDIO GAMEPAD CPU

iPAQ


360 in CANVASThree walls

Six projectorsObtuse-angled walls to allow

greater viewing space


CANVAS

VOLUME RENDERING USING HARDWARE

ACCELERATION

UNIVERSITY OF SAO PAULO


Motion Capture in Virtual Enviroments


Creating Art with Programming

• Requires knowledge of:– C++ or Python– OpenGL– Syzygy Distributed OS


How Artists Create for a CANVAS• Program/work with a programmer

• Use KAMScript– Can import .obj models (from 3ds Max, Maya, etc)– Can import .wrl VRML files (models and animations)– Can create art using KAMscript commands


What is KAMScript?

• Simple scripting language• Built with C++/OpenGL• Requires no programming experience• Open-source

• www.canvas.uiuc.edu/KAMscript



Example Scene


Creating Art with KAMScript

This scene is created with 33 lines of KAMScript code.


A History of New

Crayon Land (2007)

Nicholas Duchnowski

Sumi Land (2007)

Nicholas Duchnowski


What is an Icon? - Gallery

• Created by University law professor William Van Hagey– no programming experience– first-time user of KAMScript


KAMScript Variations

MiXTAPEStry (2006)

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign &Duke University


KAMScript Variations

Trees You Can’t Climb (2006)

John JenningsDamien DuffyNicholas Duchnowski


The Traveling CANVAS• Keep all of the application base developed in

the ten years from the the inception of the CAVE through current Cube programs

• Keep all of the economy and usability built into the CANVAS

• Add portability and reconfigurability• Add an electronic docent • Add fault tolerance• Incorporate the technology into a larger

museum venue


The Traveling CANVAS
















CALCULART


CALCULART


CALCULART


CALCULART


Technology – 3D scanning


NextEngine 3D Scanner

• High-quality, low-size scans• Relatively easy to use

– Difficulty with complex models

• Texture mapped models– .OBJ file less than 5 MB


Regel (3.38 MB) Benign Orthanc (3.59 MB)


Corrupt (2.11 MB)

Boy (2.63 MB)

Twirl (1.65 MB)


Scan Textures


Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Rose Marshack, Kathleen Harleman, Benjamin Schaffer, Jim Crowell, Camille Goudeseune, Jim Farrar, Debbie Carrier, George Francis, and Gene Jenneman for their support.

http://www.isl.uiuc.edu/canvashttp://canvas.uiuc.edu/KAMScript

Documents

Www.isl.uiuc.edu University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignBeckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology The Traveling CANVAS Immersive Art takes