The virtual setup is basically an exact copy of the real-world setup with the addition of a fisheye projecting light and replacing the projector with a camera. The main elements needed for the virtual setup are: The system will only really work from a one person perspective, but that perspective should be possible to move wherever. I positioned a seat just behind the mirror to allow comfortable viewing of the immersive environment. Nothing fancy is needed… Just lights and clockwork.
FISHEYE MIRROR PRO
The laptop is a thousand year old Macbook Pro running Leopard. A spherical mirror like this can be purchased from Amazon for around £70, but will have a plastic outer coating, which will cause refractive artefacts in the projection. Both of the mirrors I’m using have an external reflective coating, which is best for a high fidelity image, but extremely fragile. A secondary mirror is useful to save space but not a requirement, in fact this will actually reduce the brightness of the projected image slightly. The spherical mirror is an old prototype rig, gratefully borrowed off Richard Lake from Polestar Planetarium. Also, a tilt shift would help maximise the resolution and positioning of the elements to achieve optimal projection.
FISHEYE MIRROR 1080P
Really a 1080p projector would be a much better choice. Nevertheless, it’s all I have and it’s good enough for working things out. I’m using a terrible projector for the purpose, it’s a 4:3 800×600 with no lens shift and a dim lamp by today’s standards. It would have been better to place the mirror at an equal distance away from the walls as the ceiling, but hey, I know for next time. It’s also possible to see just how much light falloff there is as the projection surface gets further away from the mirror. I’m projecting a flat grid here, just to show the raw distortion from the mirror.
More complex surfaces and structures will take longer to produce and require more precise measurements. The area could be almost any structure, although shadows may be cast from the position of the mirror which will be visible if the viewing position differs greatly. The corner of the room should give me a good amount of enclosure to create a panoramic perspective.
The area I’m projecting onto is mainly white walls, which are appropriate for the brightness of projector I have.
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