On Mon, Nov 29, 2010 at 8:21 AM, Martin Spott wrote:
> Roberto Waltman wrote:
>
> > My long term interests are to build a multiple computer/multiple monitor
> > system, (already have an X-Plane based system like that, want to try
> > FlightGear) and to try to use/port/convert Microsoft's FS scenery with
> > FlightGear. (Megascenery in particular)
>
> Depending on the format of this "Megascenery", converting scenery might
> prove to be rather difficult. The technical part of converting file
> formats might be feasible, but the way of organizing scenery is
> probably a lot different. So, please be prepared to deal with a few
> surprises :-)
>
> The multi-monitor setup should be rather simple these days - you just
> have to buy the hardware ....
>
>
> https://photos-3.dropbox.com/i/o/k3FspFi0namcvTKhg_pUFqzu_NM83iumPvOgqkeVGec/7455889/1291129200/11c3e98
>
> These are ten screens connected to one single machine running
> FlightGear.
>
Hi Roberto,
Just for the record (and to echo Martin's suggestion) FlightGear supports a
variety of multi-monitor configurations.
1. The old/expensive way is to have one PC for each display and then sync
them together over the network (one master server + "n" clients that sync to
the master.) We have supported this natively for many many years.
2. For the last 2+ (?) years we have supported multiple displays attached to
a single PC. You can get motherboards with multiple PCI express slots for
multiple video cards and typical nVidia graphics cards usually support 2
monitors each. I have played with a machine that had 4 video cards for a
total of 8 monitors, and Martin and Torsten and the FSWeekend group had a
machine with 5 video cards for a total of 10 displays.
FlightGear is based on OSG which supports a highly threaded architecture, so
you can run multiple displays on multiple CPU/core machines and have quite
impressive results.
3. FlightGear also supports drawing a camera view to a portion of the
display. This provides excellent support for devices like the Matrox Triple
Head 2 Go box. Your computer thinks you have 1 large display, but you can
divide that display into 3 separate camera views and set the view parameters
for each camera. This allows you to account for the frame around each
display so that straight lines in the scenery line up from one display to
the next and you avoid "stair stepping" of the horizon in turns.
4. More recently, several of our developers have been looking at supporting
curved displays ... like projecting onto a wrap around cylinder, or even a
parabolic curved screen to produce a collimated display (infinite focus/3d)
like the multimillion $$$ full motion sims use. This code is just being
hashed out right now so it's not ready for prime time. At the moment we are
building the hooks and Tim has a simple demo of a transform that would be
appropriate for projecting inside a dome.
This is all very exciting stuff, especially for those that are interested in
home cockpit building and pushing the state of the art forward and mimicking
what is done at the absolute top end of the simulation world.
Best regards,
Curt.
--
Curtis Olson:
http://www.atiak.com - http://aem.umn.edu/~uav/
http://www.flightgear.org -
http://www.flightgear.org/blogs/category/curt/<http://www.flightgear.org/blogs/category/personal/curt/>
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