Immersive Virtual Reality CAVE Systems

A CAVE (Cave Automatic Virtual Environment) is a room-sized environment that offers a full body immersive virtual reality experience through stereoscopic displays, computer graphics, and motion-tracking technology. The CAVE provides a highly collaborative environment without the disorientation that can arise from the extended use of head-mounted displays. One or more users can interact with their data or virtual models for extended amounts of time. This maximizes opportunities for information discovery, speeding the path to insight and informed decision-making.

A CAVE can be as small as a 2-sided bench-style or corner display to as large as a 6-sided, fully immersive room environment. Images on the walls can be generated by projectors or made up of direct view LED displays (DVLED) with the capability of displaying up to 8K resolution per screen. The use-cases for the CAVE are nearly endless.

The cost of a CAVE varies greatly. The main cost drivers are the number of screens, the type of display technology (LED or projection), the complexity of computing to generate the 3D imagery, and the necessary software if it is not already VR capable. An experienced CAVE designer can recommend the right solution for your use cases. Ongoing maintenance is another consideration. With ongoing maintenance and computing upgrades, the same CAVE can generate value for 15 years and more.

The CAVE (CAVE Automatic Virtual Environment) was developed in 1992 at the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at the University of Illinois in Chicago. The first CAVE has three walls and a floor, using CRT (cathode ray tube) projectors that displayed images at 1280 x 1024 resolution for a total of just over 4MP of 3D/VR data. Mechdyne became a partner of EVL and licensed CAVE technology and the name shortly thereafter.

Since the initial development of the CAVE, Mechdyne went on to create the first 100 million pixel (16 times the typical CAVE system VR) six-sided CAVE system. We also created the first reconfigurable CAVE, portable CAVE, and the first Direct View LED CAVE solution.

CAVE immersive environments shorten design cycles, enable discoveries, and provide insights that inform decision-making. These benefits are made possible with:

• Fast analysis and interpretation of spatially related data via realistic depth-perception and expanded peripheral viewing, intuitive navigation/interaction and more.
• “Whole-brain” engagement complete viewing field and full-body VR immersion, for enhanced retention.
• Intuitive work within realistic, life-size, or scale-appropriate data for research or design. Users stand inside a molecule or collaboratively design a building, factory, product design or other data.
• The ability to view and collaborate with colleagues directly, using expressions, gestures, and more.

A CAVE is an immersive virtual reality collaborative space that provides value to nearly endless use cases. From product design, spatially-oriented datapoints like molecular and LIDAR data, consumer behavior analysis, visualizing heat maps to visualize the potential spread of contagions, and hands-on virtual reality teaching and training for improved safety and knowledge retention. The applications for a CAVE and its created value are ever-expanding across varied industries globally. We are working to increase the number of applications that can be used in an immersive VR CAVE

Some CAVE systems are promoted as standardized configurations. A standard solution may not be appropriate for specific use case requirements, possibly limiting usability and return on investment. A detailed assessment of needs should be done before a recommendation of necessary components. There are multiple elements that can be customized to ensure all applications will perform as needed:

• The number of display surfaces
• The shape of the display surfaces – square, rectangular, extended, curved
• The size of the virtual space
• The ability to have movable walls – change from CAVE to angled theater to video wall
• The type of display technology used – various types of projection or LED
• Graphics computing power including individual workstation components and cluster configurations
• CAVE software requirements – natively VR-capable software or VR-enabling plug-ins needed
• Network connectivity
• Interaction devices ranging from navigation wands to finger/hand tracking to haptics/force feedback, biometrics and more.

From walls with straight lines to curved wrap-around solutions, and everything in-between. Walls can be designed to be moveable to allow for different configurations to match varying use cases – all in a single system. The configuration options are nearly endless.

Stereoscopic displays, computer graphics, and motion tracking technology make the room-sized CAVE a fully immersive VR experience. Through the use of projectors or LED panels, the CAVE illuminates to display virtual images that allow users to analyze, collaborate, explore, and make decisions through a highly engaging and immersive experience.

Mechdyne has been designing and building CAVE solutions for over 25 years. Our extensive knowledge and experience with virtual reality (VR) applications sets us apart within the audio visual (AV) industry. We have vast experience integrating both the hardware and software required to not only operate a CAVE, but to maximize its return on investment (ROI).

We begin each new discussion about immersive technology as a discovery call – to understand an organization’s overall goals with a CAVE solution before we ever talk about the technology. CAVE VR systems designed for specific use cases have higher utilization rates than those built for the sake of making a sale. We view our clients as partners and strive to deliver immersive solutions that can function as multi-use case environments for many years.

We partner with organizations to design and deliver immersive CAVE solutions that align with their specific workflows and needs. When you’re ready to explore how CAVE solutions could help your organization achieve strategic goals, reach out to talk to one of our CAVE experts.