Multi-Resolution-Display System for Virtual Reality Setups

Most large-area video projection systems offer only limited spacial resolution. Consequently, images of detailed scenery cannot be displayed at full fidelity. A possible but significantly more costly strategy is a tiled projection display. If this solution is not feasible then either aliasing occurs or some anti-aliasing method is used at the cost of reduced scene quality. In this paper we describe a novel cost effective multi-resolution display system. It allows users to select any part of a stereoscopic projection and view it in significantly higher resolution than possible with the standard projection alone. To achieve this, a pair of video projectors, which can be moved by stepper motors, project a high-resolution inset into a small portion of the low-resolution image. To avoid crosstalk between the low and high resolution projections, a mask is rendered into the low resolution scene to black out the area on the screen that is covered by the inlay. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our multi-resolution display setup it has been integrated into a number of real life scenarios: a virtual factory, an airplane cabin simulation, and a focus and context volume visualization application (see Figure 1).