Running Unity in a multi-projector dome

Community Showcases
1

Greetings all,
Last fall, we had a game engine shoot-out here at the Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI). After considerable testing, we chose Unity as our pick for creating interactive 3D applications. One of our first tasks was to get Unity running in our unusual display environments.

After some inspired work by David Borland and Mike Conway (both of RENCI), we have gotten Unity running on a 5-meter diameter full hemisphere dome projection system. The application runs at 2Kx2K, split between four projectors. The dome supports a field of view of about 175 degrees, and provides an excellent sense of immersion and 3D. It’s a great format for simulation, serious games, plain ol’ fun games and more.

You can read more about this project, download the multi-projector JavaScript for Unity, read a brief tutorial and see a video on the UNC RENCI website. We’ve already got several projects lined up that will use Unity in the dome!

2

That looks very cool! Is Chapel Hill near Blowing Rock, or Winston-Salem?

3

UNC is closer, I think, to Winston-Salem than Blowing Rock. We’re located in the middle of the state, near the state capital of Raleigh.

4

Hello Eric,

Looks very promising, but the link from UNC RENCI website for the JavaScript is not working. Could you update it.

Thanks

5

My apologies. There appears to be a problem with the site. While I’m fixing it, here is the actual code:

/*=========================================================================

Name: DomeChannel.h

Author: David Borland, The Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI)

Copyright: The Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI)

License: Licensed under the RENCI Open Source Software License v. 1.0.

See included License.txt or
http://www.renci.org/resources/open-source-software-license
for details.

=========================================================================*/

// Set the field of view
camera.fieldOfView = 86.0;
camera.aspect = Mathf.Tan(56.0 * Mathf.PI / 180.0) /
Mathf.Tan(43.0 * Mathf.PI / 180.0);

// Make sure we start with an identity transformation
transform.localPosition = Vector3(0.0, 0.0, 0.0);
transform.localRotation = Quaternion.identity;
transform.localScale = Vector3(1.0, 1.0, 1.0);

// How much to pitch in the dome.
// Keep this private so that every instance of the script has the same value.
private var pitch = 0.0;

// Select per-channel heading and viewport
var channel = 1;

private var x = 0.25;
private var y = 0.25;
private var heading = 90.0;

switch (channel) {
case 1:
x = 0.0;
y = 0.0;
heading = -45.0;
break;

case 2:
x = 0.5;
y = 0;
heading = 45.0;
break;

case 3:
x = 0.0;
y = 0.5;
heading = -135.0;
break;

case 4:
x = 0.5;
y = 0.5;
heading = 135.0;
break;
}

// Do the rotation
transform.Rotate(Vector3(90.0 - pitch, 0.0, 0.0));
transform.Rotate(Vector3(-52.5, heading, 0.0));

// Do the viewport
camera.rect = Rect(x, y, 0.5, 0.5);

function Update () {
}

6

Hello People,

i am a Student of Media Art at the Bauhaus University Weimar, Germany and i am working together with the Zeiss Planetarium Jena. We are working for a solution to show RealTime Content in Fulldome. This means a 180*360 degree projection.
This is a multiprojectorsystem and uses the so called “domemaster” format.

I’ve seen some fulldome-unity examples which aren’t “real” fulldome, because they are just “fisheyed”, but not with that immersion like when you render offline with a spherical cam in 3D Max or something like that. So Top should stay top and front is front, and back is back.

You can see an example here for better visualisation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VhSo2PJwbw

I want to have a camera (or camerascript for a variety of cameras (like this 4 camerathing above) in Unity working like this one in the Video.
I am not a programming expert, so i need help from outside ;). I tried these Scripts from RENCI, but i dont get access to the site with the documentation? And i am not getting this script to work.

So i hope someone can help me. This will be part of my work for Master of Fine Arts, so it should be under common licence. I will credit it and spread around in the fulldome community in germany. Unity is great tool and would be even greater, when it could be used for Fulldome. The possibilites are endless :).

Thank you for regarding

7

Yes, unfortunatly the UNC RENCI site is down. I’m also very interested in reading the blog and maybe getting my hands on the tools if available.

Eric, is there by any chance another site we have a look at? Best regards, Kristian

8

Yeah, the site is throwing a 500. Very interested to see what you’ve done here! (The movie is nice tho)

9

Hello,
I’m finishing a software for fulldome projection compatible with Unity Pro via Syphon.
I’ll be showcasing it for the first time at the Fulldome UK festival on November 16-17 2012, where it will be used mainly for VJing, but we may run games too, who knows?
Everybody is welcome to come check it out, and if you have a great dome game, well, submissions are still open.
After the festival I’ll think about licencing.
Cheers,
Roger

10

Hi to all! Are there any interesting developments for Unity 3D about Fulldome technology? Fulldome camera for Unity, for example?