Building a large-scale high-resolution tiled rear-projected passive stereo display system based on commodity components

Abstract

The Boston University Deep Vision Display Wall is a large scale, high-resolution, tiled, rear-projected, passive stereo display system based on commodity components. Using Linux on PC workstations provides an affordable infrastructure for distributed processing and high-end graphics. Passive stereo eliminates the need to genlock the display video cards as well as allowing the use of very inexpensive glasses and inexpensive projectors. By careful selection of projectors, polarizing filters, and screen material, problems such as cross-talk, chromatic aberration, and low luminance are minimized. The 8'x15' display surface at Boston University is installed as one wall of the viewing room. The final installation will use 24 workstations driving 24 projectors to produce a 4096x2304 stereo image. This paper discusses development issues including synchronization of displays, alignment of projectors, blending of overlapping projected images, and constraints on projectors and projection surface to support passive stereo. Performance comparisons are given for configurations including workstations driving one vs. two projectors, Ethernet vs. Myrinet for intermachine communication, and overall display performance. Also discussed are software issues involved in putting the system together and with providing an application environment for our user community.