A need for speed….

(Read the prior blog entry to this for details on the projector stands)

After completing the projector stands it was time to finally use the damn things! 🙂

Because of the flexibility of modern games and the popularity of “triple head gaming”, new games like Need for Speed: Shift support the resolutions that can be found using a TripleHead2Go. In my case that’s 3072×768 because I’m using three 1024×768 projectors.

My friend Dave is a nut for this game and I finally understand why. It’s insanely fun to play on a 180 degree wraparound display. 😀

Here’s how it was set up:

The projectors are configured in a “cross fire” setup. This means that the projector on the left is handling the arc on the right, and the right side projector is handing the arc on the left.

The projectors are set up to give a roughly 6″ overlap to each other in order for the screen to be blended properly.

I use a program called Nthusim that will allow me to distort and align the projected image in order to make it seamlessly conform to the curved screen. It works VERY well.

In order to get Nthusim set up, you need to set it up in configure mode and start adjusting things:

Those white lines are where the alignment points are. At the ends and intersections of each lines is a point that you can drag with the mouse in order to make the image conform to the screen. Unfortunately this only works in programs that use DirectX and OpenGL, but not the 2D desktop. Makes life interesting when you’re just working with the desktop. 🙂

The pictures are very blurry because I took them in a totally dark room with my DSLR. Because I didn’t have a tripod handy, I had to hold as still as I could while the shutter was open – in those and some following images, the shutter open time was a full second or more!

Here’s three more pics that show Need For Speed: Shift in it’s widescreen gaming glory. My friend Dave is at the controls. (he drives better than I do)