The NAVE: An Immersive Multi-Projector Display

The NAVE (Non-Expensive Automatic Virtual Environment) is a stereoscopic, multi-projector display system built from off-the-shelf components.  Driven by a commodity PC cluster with standard graphics cards, the system used three rear-projected screens to immerse a user in a virtual environment.  The design includes a mirror-based system to reduce the rear projection space  required for the display.  It also includes a sound system, complete with bass-driven shakers and seats, that provides users with a tactile and realistic spatial audio environment.  The system achieved our goal of supporting immersive virtual reality applications without a head mounted display and for a tiny fraction of the cost of a full CAVE environment (the standard projector-based virtual reality display system at the time).

The prototype system was designed and constructed at Georgia Tech, with subsequent installations appearing at a handful of other labs across the world.  It was also used as part of a cultural festival in Santiago, Spain (one of the European Union’s nine “cultural capitals” for the year 2000).  More details about this effort can be found in the excellent description authored by one of my colleagues on the project.

Publications

Jarrell Pair, Carlos Jensen, Jeff Wilson, Larry Hodges, Dave Gotz, Julian Flores. The NAVE Design and Implementation of a Non-Expensive Immersive Virtual Environment. Presented at SIGGRAPH 2000 Sketches & Applications (2000).
[PDF, 222k]