The Proto Holodeck Debuts AMD FX Processor Technology

No. It’s not a Holodeck. But it begins to tell the story of how to build one. Not in an abstract way, but concretely. What are the steps required to get from here to Holodeck? This is the Proto Holodeck I devised for E3. It is an 86 degree circular arc measuring 22′ around that arc. The projector height and throw is such that at 6′ tall I can stand about 5′ from the screen and I am visually immersed by it. What does that mean? It means that my periphery vision is encompassed, there are no artifacts or seams breaking my view to the virtual space. Being a curved screen, as I look about, the image is presented not orthogonally, but almost so, enough that I am visually satisfied. And when standing in the center, playing, my experience is transformed by these visual niceties. I am immersed. I have a little trouble keeping balance.

The visual performance of an AMD Radeon HD 6000 series GPU, say a 6870, is enough to dish out 5760×1080 pixels to three 1080p projectors. These projectors were particularly bright and high-end, but less expensive projectors could be used if ambient light could be better controlled. We debuted the AMD FX processor on this screen, which shined as the engine for Dirt 3 and it’s stunning use of AMD Eyefinity multi-screen technology.

None of this would have been possible without optical correction for the curvature of the screen provided by NTHUSIM. Their application is remarkably easy to calibrate once the camera position is where it ought to be (equadistant from the center point of equally distributed points, edge aligned). It works seamlessly with AMD Eyefinity technology and it was impossible to see the image distortion once calibrated.

Thousands came by and seemed to enjoy it at E3 2011. I can only hope that the journey continues, and that the next will be more immersive, more enjoyable, and more like an ideal Holodeck.

 

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