The NAVE Digital Worlds Designs Second Generation
NAVE
Building on the success of first generation NAVE systems installed
at Georgia Tech and the University of Santiago de Compostella, researchers
and designers at Digital Worlds are creating the next generation
of affordable immersive theatres.
As demonstrated by the popularity of the CAVE (Cave Automated
Virtual Environment - a virtual reality installation consisting
of several transparent walls on which images are projected), video
projector based environments have generated a great amount of interest
as an alternative to head-mounted displays for use in virtual environments.
However, one of the primary obstacles of these environments has
been cost. And hence, accessibility to engineers and artists.
NAVE is an acronym for Non-expensive (or New) Automated Virtual Environment.
The name also has architectural context in that a nave is the central
part of a cruciform church building designed to focus a person's
attention both upward and into the structure.
The development goal of the NAVE project was to create a low-cost,
multi-screen, multi-user, stereoscopic, multi-sensory virtual environment
that preserves many of the desirable elements of the original CAVE
environment but can be built at a fraction of the cost of a CAVE.
Digital Worlds Institute has replicated and improved the original
design for use in its research and student projects.
Our NAVE is a three-screen environment. Each screen is eight feet
wide by six feet in height. The two side screens can be positioned at
multiple angles to the center screen at angle settings of 90, 120, and
180 degrees. Imagery for each rear-projected screen is generated on
a workstation. Stereoscopic 3D imaging can be achieved if each user
in the audience wears inexpensive polarized or shutterglass technology
glasses. Audio is provided by a surround sound speaker system and other
environmental elements such as wind and vibration are created by bass
shakers and fans.
