Scalable Display Manager User Manual

Scalable Display Manager is a software-based platform for multi-projector, multi-megapixel display manage-ment. Scalable Display Manager brings the ease of automation to the difficult task of manually aligning multi-projector display systems.

This guide provides instructions for setting up a basic simulation environment consisting of a host computer and multiple networked Image Generators (IGs) running a Scalable integrated application. It serves as a general guide and overview of the Scalable Display Manager product. However, simulators vary and these instructions may not be appropriate for all installations.

PDF vs HTML Documentation

Hardware Choices and Setup

System Requirements

Scalable Display Manager has specific requirements pertaining to the camera and graphics card. Make sure that your system meets the following requirements before continuing with the system setup.

Minimum Requirements for Host Machine

We recommend running Scalable Display Manager from a separate calibration laptop or a small form-factor PC. The Host machine will need connections to your cameras, and network connections to your IGs and/or warping boxes. It is possible for SDM to run from a PC in your rack, or locally on the image generator, but it is strongly recommended that you have access to the PC (either physically or through VNC, etc.) with the ability to directly view the screen for setup purposes.

• Windows 11 (for Scalable 9.0 or newer)
• Windows 10 64-bit (for Scalable 3.5 or newer)
• 8GB of RAM minimum, 16 GB of RAM recommended
• Intel Core i5 Processor or better
• OpenGL 3.0 compatible graphics card or better
• 200GB or larger SSD with at least 50GB space available.
• Gigabit network adapter
• Laptop with backlit keyboard strongly recommended

Supported Graphics Cards

Scalable Display Manager will always output files that a Scalable SDK integrated application can use to apply the warp and blend. The Scalable SDK does not require any particular graphics card. You can also set SDM to apply the warp and blend in the graphics driver. For GPU warping to work on a PC it must have a supported graphics card listed below.

Please check the website for the latest recommended version of the Nvidia Quadro driver.

• Nvidia Quadro T1000 8GB (compatible only with ScalableDesktop 10.5 or greater)
• Nvidia Quadro T1000 (compatible only with ScalableDesktop 10.5 or greater)
• Nvidia Quadro RTX A6000 (compatible only with Scalable software versions 7.0 or greater)
• Nvidia Quadro RTX A5500 (compatible only with Scalable software versions 7.0 or greater)
• Nvidia Quadro RTX A5000 (compatible only with Scalable software versions 7.0 or greater)
• Nvidia Quadro RTX A4500 (compatible only with Scalable software versions 7.0 or greater)
• Nvidia Quadro RTX A4000 (compatible only with Scalable software versions 7.0 or greater)
• Nvidia Quadro RTX A2000 (compatible only with Scalable software versions 7.0 or greater)
• Nvidia Quadro P2200 (compatible only with Scalable software versions 7.0 or greater)
• Nvidia Quadro RTX8000 (compatible only with Scalable software versions 5.0 or greater)
• Nvidia Quadro RTX6000 (compatible only with Scalable software versions 5.0 or greater)
• Nvidia Quadro RTX5000 (compatible only with Scalable software versions 5.0 or greater)
• Nvidia Quadro RTX4000 (compatible only with Scalable software versions 5.0 or greater)
• Nvidia Quadro GV100 (compatible only with Scalable software versions 4.5 or greater)
• Nvidia Quadro P6000 (compatible only with Scalable software versions 3.50.77 or greater)
• Nvidia Quadro P5000 (compatible only with Scalable software versions 3.50.77 or greater)
• Nvidia Quadro P4000 (compatible only with Scalable software versions 3.50.77 or greater)
• Nvidia Quadro P3000 (compatible only with Scalable software versions 3.50.77 or greater)
• Nvidia Quadro P2000 (compatible only with Scalable software versions 3.50.77 or greater)
• Nvidia Quadro P1000 (compatible only with Scalable software versions 3.50.77 or greater)
• Nvidia Quadro M6000 24GB (compatible only with Scalable software versions 3.1 or greater)
• Nvidia Quadro M6000 (compatible only with Scalable software versions 3.1 or greater)
• Nvidia Quadro M5000 (compatible only with Scalable software versions 3.1 or greater)
• Nvidia Quadro M4000 (compatible only with Scalable software versions 3.1 or greater)
• Nvidia Quadro M2000 (compatible only with Scalable software versions 3.1 or greater)

Contact us to learn more about specific GPU configurations enabling up to 16 projectors from a single PC

Choosing the Right Camera

Scalable Display recommends higher-end cameras, such as the Canon Rebel Digital SLR models or a Gigabit Ethernet Camera. These cameras fully support all features available in Scalable Display Manager and produce the highest quality calibrations. With that in mind, not all installations require the expense of a Canon Rebel, and can instead use more cost-effective webcams. When the installation does not require a large viewing angle, has bright projectors in a dark environment, and will not be using color calibration, a webcam can be used in place of the Canon cameras.

TABLE 1. CAMERA COMPARISON CHART

Supported GigE Cameras

TABLE 2. SUPPORTED GIGE CAMERAS

Supported Canon DSLR Cameras

TABLE 3. SUPPORTED CANON MODELS

† Field of view for the Canon 10-22mm or 10-18mm wide angle lens set at 10mm

TABLE 4. SUPPORTED CANON LENSES

Supported Logitech Cameras

TABLE 5. SUPPORTED LOGITECH CAMERAS

Projector Hardware Setup

Optimizing Projector Placement

There are several factors to consider when placing the projectors including:

• The amount of image overlap
• The image alignment
• The angle that the projected images hit the screen

In addition, there are some other factors that will aid in the quality of the final image that is generated:

• Ensure that all the projectors are from the same manufacturer and the same type of projector
• Ensure that all the projectors are equidistant from the screen
• Ensure that all projectors are properly focused

All of these factors can contribute to the quality of the final image.

Scalable Display Manager works best with an overlap of no less than 15% between projectors. In general the larger the overlap, the better the quality of the resulting blend. If the overlap is too small, the area available to the software to blend the image will be limited and the blend will become more visible. Very small overlaps may also result in visible artifacts in the blend. If the screen will be viewed from very wide angles or be rear-projected, an overlap of about 25% is recommended for best viewing.

To produce the best results, aim the projectors so that they are aligned with each other. The goal isn't to get a perfect alignment by hand. The final warp will simply look better and be less aliased if it does not have to make large changes. Think of editing an image in photoshop. Small rotations and resizes will always look slightly better than bigger changes. Don't worry if you have an odd layout and cannot do this. Scalable Display Manager can correct for just about any projector misalignment if need be. Extreme angles will not look quite as nice though.

Overshooting the screen slightly is also important. You want to give it enough wiggle room so that if it gets bumped or drifts over time the projectors still cover the entire planned image area. An inch or so is usually plenty. There are very distinctive artifacts that show up in the blend if the projectors do not fully cover the image area, visible in the example below. There is usually a small black triangle (because no projector covers that small part of the screen) and a shadow/line extending off of it into the blend. If this happens it is very easy to fix, just shift your projectors so they cover the whole image area, then Recalibrate.

TABLE 6. PROJECTOR ALIGNMENT

Bad Alignment	Good Alignment

Note the image on the left the projectors are not fully illuminating the target screen area and that generates a wedge-shaped artifact in the upper left of the screen. To correct shift the projectors making sure the entire targeted screen area is fully illuminated.

Projectors at extreme angles to the screen will cause straight lines in the content to appear aliased. Projected light falling on curved screens can result in aliasing regardless of position so it is best to anticipate the issue and minimize the aliasing as much as possible.

TABLE 7. ALIASING EXAMPLES

Aliased	Not Aliased

Another factor that can affect the quality of the image is the pixel density of the projected image across the screen. When placing projectors, attempt to maintain uniform pixel density across the screen. If the projected image is keystoned, or has the appearance of a wedge shape, a poor warp and blend may result. In the case of a flat screen, this means creating a rectangular shape from the projected image. On curved screens, such as a dome, the image will curve with the screen geometry making this process more difficult.

TABLE 8. KEYSTONED AND WARPED PROJECTORS IMAGES EXAMPLES

A badly keystoned projector on a flat screen. The uneven pixel distribu-tion will cause significant aliasing and intensity variation in the final image.

The image generated by the projector is rectangular to the screen, result-ing is the best possible image for blending and warping.

On curved screens it may be difficult to determine if a projector is keys-toned. Avoid aiming the projector off axis to the center of the screen. The result of this projector position will be large intensity falloff and small usable blend zones. In this example there is a significant amount of unused pixels falling outside of the screen as well as significant intensity falloff within the screen.

In this case the projector is aimed at a dome section. Instead of mounting the projector low and aiming it at the lower side of the screen, it is best to mount it high and aim it at the lower section of the screen. This may result in an odder looking shape for the light but it results in the light being better distributed and each pixel being less stretched by the screen.

Optimizing Projector Settings

The projector settings can make a noticeable difference in the quality of the blend zone. The images from all projectors should look the same in order to have a seamless edge blend; differences in brightness, color, etc., can result in a visible blend zone. The projectors should be set to display the video signal from the PC without any boost, crop, or other alteration. The best blend results are produced when the projectors are configured uniformly.

Settings that can affect blending

TABLE 9. PROJECTOR SETTINGS

It is generally safe to lower contrast below its default setting. It is good practice to bring your brightest projectors down slightly to match the darkest ones.

It is generally not safe to raise contrast above its default setting. Default contrast settings are chosen so that the brightest white in a video signal gets displayed as the brightest white the projector is capable of outputting. Raising contrast will make grays brighter, but cannot make white any brighter. This has a major side effect of oversaturating/blooming/washing out the image. As bright grays get brighter they turn into pure white, meaning all bright parts of an image end up shown as solid white through the projector. In addition to bright content looking bad, this also messes up the blend zone shading.

It is also generally not a good idea to adjust a projector's brightness setting. Even very small changes have very large effects on most projectors. Like with contrast, the default brightness setting is chosen to be the point where black is as dark as it can get. If you lower it you will only make dark gray appear as full black

too. If you raise it you are raising the "black level" of the projector and making the darkest black it can display brighter. This can be very visible in blend zones with dark content.

It's easy to check if your projectors are oversaturating. Scalable Display Manager has a built-in test image to help. You should see a very thin 1-pixel tall white line in the middle fading to black top/bottom. If you see a thick white line doublecheck contrast and the other projector settings. You can leave the test image up and watch the white bar grow thicker/thinner as you adjust projector settings.

TABLE 10. OVERSATURATION EXAMPLES

Ideal	Exaggerated Oversaturated Problem

Camera Hardware Setup

Optimizing Camera Placement

Proper placement of the camera is important for accurate calibrations and the long term stability of the system.

Position the Camera

• Ensure full coverage of the screen by the calibration cameras.
  
• The software is forgiving of off-axis camera angles but perpendicular viewing angles are best. Avoid oblique angles if possible.
  
• You can use multiple cameras. Use enough cameras such that there is at least a 20% overlap between calibration cameras. Larger overlaps can help in areas where the screen is highly curved.
• More cameras aren’t always better (they can sometimes add unnecessary system and troubleshooting complexity).
• Having cameras perpendicular to the screen, near the design eyepoint, and with very wide camera over-laps can make the calibration more forgiving to inaccuracies in screen dimensions and control point aim.

Mount the camera firmly to a tripod or another type of camera mount; any movement in the camera, screen, or projectors during the calibration process will result in unsatisfactory results. This movement can include people walking around on a floating floor.

If possible, have a dedicated camera for each system and leave the camera permanently mounted so that the software can easily run subsequent calibrations.

Camera Hardware Setup

Warping Box Hardware Setup

 Signal Overlaps

If you plan to use Warping Boxes you will need overlap in your content. There are many different ways overlapped content can be passed to the warping boxes, for example:

• Use of external hardware like a video wall controller
• Overlap capable graphics cards
• Distributed playback solutions
• Content rendered with overlapping video already included
• Perspective warps with overlapping FOVs (only applies to IGs rendering 3D environments)

Pixel overlaps are part of the Mosaic multi-display grouping feature in Nvidia Quadro drivers. The very last step of setting up a Mosaic group gives you the option to specify Pixel overlaps.

Please consult AMD's documentation for information on how to configure pixel overlaps on a FirePro GPU.

USING CLONED DISPLAYS INSTEAD OF PIXEL OVERLAPS

An alternative to setting pixel overlaps is to use cloned displays. This means all of your pixels are duplicated instead of only having several rows/columns of duplicated pixels shared between displays. This is easier to set up but has potential downsides because your cloned video signal will get stretched across all projectors to fill your screen. If the cloned video signal is low resolution stretching it across multiple projectors will make it bigger, but not any sharper. If the video signal aspect ratio does not match the aspect ratio of the physical screen, the content will look stretched or compressed.

1. Right-click on the Windows Desktop.
2. Select Display Settings.
3. Click on your projector in the Desktop layout to select it.
4. Click the Multiple displays dropdown towards the bottom of the settings page.
5. Select Duplicate desktop on 1 and 2.
   (assuming Windows has identified your two projectors as display 1 and display 2)
6. Click on Keep Changes when prompted.

Setting up Nvidia Mosaic

Nvidia's Mosaic Mode can be used to group multiple projectors into a single, unified desktop. Mosaic can be found in the professional Quadro line of graphics cards.

1. Right-click the Windows Desktop and choose NVIDIA Control Panel.
   
2. Under the Workstation category, in the navigation panel, click Set Up Mosaic.
   
3. On the Right, click Create new configuration. A new window will appear.
   
4. Select the Number of displays.
5. Select the Topology.
6. Select the Orientation of the displays.
7. Click Next.
   
8. Select the displays to be used.
9. Choose the Refresh Rate.
10. Choose the Resolution per Display.
11. Click Next.
    
12. Drag the displays one at a time from the top half to the bottom half to determine the order.
13. Click Apply to finish.

Software Installation

How to Install

This section provides an overview of the processes for downloading, installing, and licensing Scalable Display Manager.

For Scalable Display Manager, you will need to perform software installation on all PCs that will participate in the calibration of the system. The Calibration PC requires the installation of Scalable Display Manager, and the remote PCs require installation of the Scalable Display Client. Scalable Display Manager will also install the Scalable Display Client as part of its installation process.

Please contact your Scalable representative for the latest version of the software.

1. In order to install Scalable Display Manager on your system, you will be required to accept the End User License. Please review the license terms and then click I Agree to continue. If you are unable to accept the terms, please click Cancel to exit the installation.
   
2. Scalable Display Manager will be installed in the default folder path: C:\Program Files\Scalable Display. If you wish to change the location, please click Browse, set the installation path, and click Next continue.It is strongly recommended that the software be installed in the default location. Errors may occur if files cannot be found in their default location.
   
3. Scalable Display Manager will be installed under the default Start Menu folder titled Scalable Display. If you wish to change the Start Menu folder, enter the new name and click Next continue.
   
4. Decide if you want to Restore an older configuration
   If a version of Scalable Display Manager was previously installed on your PC, you will be prompted to either discard or restore the previous configuration. By default, the previous configuration will be restored. If you don't want to keep your previous calibration and settings, choose Do not restore the old configuration.
   
5. Click Install.
6. If this is the first time you have installed Scalable Display Manager on this PC you will be prompted to install the driver for license keys.
   
7. Once Device Driver Installation Wizard is complete, click Finish to continue the installation of Scalable Display Manager .
   
8. After a few moments you will be notified that the installation has completed. Click Finishto close the window.
   

Scalable Licenses

All Scalable Display products must be licensed via a software or a hardware license key. The fastest and easiest way to obtain a license is through the License Helper application, which will collect a small amount of information about your setup. Once completed and processed, the license will be emailed to you. Additional-ly, if your system requires the use of Remote Display Clients then your license request will need to specify the number of Remote Display Clients you need.

Request a License

1.  Initial Installation
   If this is the initial installation of Scalable's software on this computer, you will be prompted to request a license upon launching the program for the first time. In order to access the License Request Tool open the Scalable Display software, and click the Scalable button on the top left corner of the screen. Select Licensing > License Helper
   
2. The License Helper will open in a new window. Select Request a license and click OK.
   
3. You will be asked if this is the computer on which you will calibrate the display. If that is true, select Yes and you will be able to proceed. However, if you are making the request from a different PC, select No and you will be instructed to make the request from the computer on which you will calibrate the display.
   
4. Confirm that the date on your computer is correct. An incorrect time will render your license unusable.
   
5. Complete the form with your personal contact information. The email address entered here is where the license will be sent.
   
6. Complete the form with descriptive information about your project.
   
7. Lastly, you will be asked how you prefer to upload this license information to Scalable. If you are on a computer with an active internet connection, it is recommended that you choose Email request which will seamlessly send the file to Scalable. If the requesting PC does not have internet, you can save the request and email it using a different PC.
8. Please wait for Scalable to send your license via email. If the need is urgent, please contact your Scalable representative to expedite the license processing.
   

Install a License

1. Open the email you received from Scalable and download the attached .lic file to your local computer.
2. Open the Scalable Display software, click the Scalable button on the top left corner of the screen. Select Licensing ➡ License Helper.
   
3. The License Helper will open in a new window. Select Install a software license key and click OK.
   
4. This will open a file browser. From here, navigate to the location in which your license file was downloa-ded. Select the file and click Open.
5. This will automatically place the license file in the appropriate location within Scalable's Program Files directory.
   

Display Client Unlocking

Systems using Display Clients have a fixed number of Display Client licenses that is determined during the sales process. The number of Display Client licenses is dependent on system architecture and thus is tailored to meet each customer's unique needs.

A Display Client may need to be unlocked for 1 or more, but not limited to, the following scenarios:

• A machine running Scalable Display Client was replaced.
• A machine running Scalable Display Client was upgraded.
• Scalable software license was upgraded.
• Scalable software temporary license expired and was renewed.

HOW TO UNLOCK  A DISPLAY CLIENT

1. In the Scalable Menu select “Licensing” and select “License Helper”.
   
2. Click the drop-down menu, select "Release display client license locks", and click "Next".
   
3. Enter your email address into the empty field highlighted below and select "Send Request". This will send an unlocking request to the Scalable Support Team who will process the request and send an approval code to the email provided.
   
4. Alternatively, you can choose to send the unlocking request code directly to a Scalable representative. Copy the code from the field highlighted below and paste it in your email to our support team.
   
5. When you receive the approval code navigate back to the "License Helper" window, click the drop-down menu, select "Process an approval code", and click "Next".
   
6. Paste the approval code in the box and click "Process Code".
   
7. If the unlocking was successful the following message will appear:
   
8. Once released you will have to go to the Display Clients page to link your clients to your license. Instructions here: Display Client Licensing [52]
9. If the unlocking was unsuccessful the following message will appear. if so, please contact a Scalable representative.
   

Setup

The Scalable Display Manager user interface guides you through the calibration process while allowing you to directly access any enabled panel at any time. The interface also provides important status information and context-sensitive help in every panel.

Warping Box Panel

The Warping Box panel is used to configure and test communication between Scalable Display Manager and the individual warping boxes that are connected to the system.

Configure the Warping Boxes

1. Choose the warping box model.
2. Select the Output Resolution that matches the output resolution of the warping boxes.

Set the Warping Box Connections

Connect to each warping box in the system.

1. Enter the IP Address of the first warping box manually into the text box.
2. Click to test the connection to the warping box. This will cause the projectors to blink.
3. Repeat for the remaining warping boxes.

Troubleshooting Warping Box Connections

If any of the boxes are not connecting they will have a red indicator next to them. You will need to troubleshoot the reason for the connection issue. Check the following:

• Are the boxes powered on.
• Are they connected to the same network hub as the rest of the system.
• Cycle the power and then attempt to reconnect.
• Check the firmware version of the hardware and ensure it is the latest.
• Check to see if the IP matches.

Order the Warping Boxes

Warping boxes must be connected to the system in the same order as your projector layout. It is very important that Warping Box 1 is hooked up to the video signal for Projector 1, etc. Most of the time projector numbering is set up so that #1 is top left, with numbers counting up to the right then looping back to the left for the next row down, and so on.

1. Click on the first warping box to cause it to flash.
2. Use the buttons to move that warping box IP up/down the list to give it the same ID number as the flashing projector it is connected to.
3. Repeat until all warping box and projector IDs match.
   

   NOTE

   To remove a warping box connection, select the warping box and clickEducational_Diagrams_delete.png to remove.

    

Set Overlaps

If the input source is providing overlaps, you must inform the software what the value of the overlap is by entering the input source's overlaps in pixels.

1. Check Use Overlap in Signal.
2. Under Signal Overlap, enter the value of Horizontal overlaps in pixels.
3. Enter the value of the Vertical overlap in pixels.

Show Spot Patterns on the Display Client (Optional)

During calibration Scalable Display Manager puts up a series of patterns that can be displayed using the warping box or through the Scalable Display Manager Display Client. The Display Client is a stand-alone Windows application that displays the calibration patterns. While the Display Client may require additional hardware and setup it can be used when the warping box does not support displaying patterns, or if the patterns are time-consuming to display.

1. Select the Display Client (Software) radio button under Show Spot Pattern On.
2. The Display Clients panel will become enabled.
   

   NOTE

   Temporarily Disable Warping Boxes to complete setup more quickly

   Once you have confirmed all of the warping boxes are being seen by Scalable Display Manager you may wish to temporarily uncheck “Enable Warping Box Connections” at the top of the page. When the boxes are enabled several other pages in the software will trigger communications with them (for example several pages need an unwarped image so they check for and disable the warp on the boxes) That is very helpful once the system is complete, but during initial setup you can save a little time by disabling the boxes and avoiding those pauses. Make sure to return to this page and re-enable warping boxes at the end of setup.

    

Display Clients Panel

The Display Clients panel presents an interface that allows you to set up the connections to the remote computers. The right side of the panel shows the displays connected to the current system, while the left side shows all available Display Clients.

Use the Display Client on the Local Computer

If the computer running Scalable Display Manager is the only computer used in the system, select the radio button Use Local Display Clients Only. No additional setup is required in the Display Clients panel.

Use the Display Client on Remote Computers

If your Scalable Display Manager configuration will require connecting to one or more remote computers, select the radio button for Use Remote Display Clients.

Add a Display Client to the System

Scalable Display Manager automatically detects all Display Clients running on the network subnet. You must install the Display Client on your remote PCs (see next section) before they will show up in the list. The status of each Display Client is displayed in a colored square to the left of its network identifier.

TABLE 11. DISPLAY CLIENT STATUS

On the left is a list of all Display Clients found on the network. On the right is a list of which Display Clients are assigned to this system.

TO ADD A DISPLAY CLIENT TO YOUR SYSTEM:

1. Click to highlight one of the clients on the left.
2. Click Assign to move the client to the right and assign it to this system.
3. Repeat for all remaining clients.
   

   NOTE

   The PC you are running SDM on is automatically assigned to the system. If this PC is not driving a projector you should remove its IP from the list after adding in your remote clients. The list cannot be empty so it will not let you remove the local IP until you have added at least one remote client.

    

Display Client Licensing

Systems using Display Clients have a fixed number of Display Client licenses that is determined during the sales process. The number of Display Client licenses is dependent on system architecture and thus is tailored to meet each customer's unique needs.

The status of each Display Client License is shown by the following icons.

TABLE 12. DISPLAY CLIENT LICENSE STATUS

TO LICENSE A DISPLAY CLIENT:

1. Add all required Display Clients to the system by following the instructions listed in the section above.
2. Click the icon to the right of the Display Client that will be licensed.
3. A dialog box will appear confirming the selection. Click "Yes" to proceed or "No" to cancel.
4. If the licensing was successful the icon should appear next to the licensed Display Client.
5. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for all Display Clients that you want to license.
   

   CAUTION

   Once a license has been assigned to a display client, it cannot be reassigned without contacting the Scalable Display support team. Please verify that the list of display clients assigned to this system is correct before allocating any display client licenses.

   If a client was wrongly assigned and you need to release the Display Client locks follow the procedure here: Display Client Unlocking

    

Set Up Remote Computers

All remote computers must have the Display Client running to show up in the list of available remote PCs. We recommend using the stand alone Display Client installer for simplicity. The installer will configure the Display Client to start on boot. It does not do anything unless actively receiving network commands from Scalable Display Manager running on your calibration PC.

Alternatively you can install the full Scalable Display Manager software on your remote PCs. It includes the Display Client. The downside is potential confusion if a user tries to open SDM on the remote PC, which will be blank with nothing configured, instead of opening it on the calibration PC.

1. Install the Display Client on each remote computer.
2. Ensure all remote computers are on the same network subnet.
3. The installer will automatically add an entry to the Windows firewall.
   

   CAUTION

   If you have additional network security in place you may need to configure it to allow the software through. Scalable Display Manager communicates with the Display Client using both TCP and UDP on ports 30001 - 30002. They also use multicast, sending to 224.0.0.1 and listening to 0.0.0.0.

    

   IF A DISPLAY CLIENT IS NOT DETECTED:

   Display Clients are detected on the network using multicast. Standard network troubleshooting is appropriate when they do not appear in the list of Display Clients available on the network.

   Is the Display Client application running on your remote PC?

   The installer sets it to auto run at boot. You can also launch it from the start menu. This is nearly always safe to do. It will restart the Display Client if it was already running.

   Can you ping the remote PC?

   Do you have a firewall that may be blocking the ports or application?

   Is the remote PC on the same subnet as your calibration PC?

    

Projectors Panel

The Projectors panel should accurately reflect the number and resolution of the displays connected to your computer. ScalableDesktop works by detecting your total desktop resolution and seeing if it is divisible into any of a list of common resolutions. It does not directly query the operating system to check how it thinks the desktop is broken up into displays, because many systems are set up using features that hide the true displays (Nvidia Mosaic, Matrox Tripleheads, etc). If it is unable to detect the current resolution of your display(s), the most common response is that it will simply show a single display at the combined resolution of all your projectors.

Enter the Projector Arrangement

1. Select the physical arrangement of the projectors: Tiled, if the projectors are next to each other, or
   Stacked, if the projectors are on top of each other.
2. Select the number of projectors in a row.
3. Select the number of projectors in a column.
4. Click Redetect Displays to save the settings
   

   NOTE

   It is usually important that your row and column layout match your projector physical layout. The main exception is if you are using perspective warping (if you are calibrating a flight simulator, etc). If your projectors are not physically arranged in a regular grid, the easiest solution is usually to arrange them as if they were a them as a single long row.

    

   CAUTION

   If using warping boxes, it is very important the number, resolution, and order of your projectors on this page match your settings on the Warping Box page.

    

Wrong Number of Projectors or Incorrect Resolution

The Projectors page reads in your desktop resolution and attempts to split it up into commonly known reso-lutions. In most cases, if it does not correctly identify your projectors you cannot fix that here. Please check your Windows desktop or GPU driver settings to confirm that the number, resolution, and arrangement of your displays is correct.

There are two main exceptions:

• If you are using projectors with an unusual resolution, it may not be in the list it checks for.
• If your layout is divisible by more than one common resolution. For example a desktop of 3840x2160 could be a single 4k projector, or four 1080p projectors in a 2x2 layout.

In both cases, the solution is to set a custom resolution. This will ensure the software checks for your resolution and gives priority to your selection if there are multiple possibilities.

1. Click resolution per projector drop down.
2. If you are using a common resolution, select the Width and Height matching the resolution of a single projector in pixels (e.g. 1920 x 1080).
3. If you are using an uncommon resolution:
   1. Select Custom.
   2. Set the Width and Height to the resolution of a single projector in pixels.
   3. Click OK.
4. Click Redetect Displays.

Order the Display Clients (if using Display Clients)

The order of the display clients will have a direct effect on the projector numbering. To properly order projectors, set the displays such that the left-most projectors on the blended display appear first in the list. To change the order, use the arrow key to move the computer IP up or down. Changes here happen one move at a time, so if you have a large number of clients to rearrange it may be faster to go back to the Display Clients page and add each client to the list one at a time in your preferred order.

Show Overlap Percentage

To help with making sure that the projectors reach about an overlap value of 15-20% you can click Show Overlap Pattern. There are 3 sections: Yellow, Green, White. Having the edges of the bands touch will result in the level of overlap it represents.

• Yellow is 15%
• Green is 20%
• White is 25%

Here is an example of a 20% overlap setup:

LED Controller Panel

The LED Controller panel is used to configure communication to systems using LED's for control point detection during recalibrations. This involves having LED's physically mounted on the screen in lieu of traditional control point markings. Detection of the LED's occurs during the Data Collection process.

Using the drop down menus, users can select their model of LED controller, connection style, and can input their connection address.

Currently, we only support the Dataprobe iBoot-G2+ web power switch which communicates over a net-work to turn the switch on or off. When using the Dataprobe switch be sure to enter the switch's IP address in the Connection Address field. After entering the switch's IP address, use the "Turn LEDs On" button to test whether or not the LEDs are working. Once you've confirmed that the LED's can be turned on with the switch please proceed with the calibration.

Alternatively, users can select the "Manual" option if they wish to manually turn the LED's on and off during the calibration.

Procedure for Setting up LED with Dataprobe

1. To begin, please visit the official website of Dataprobe at https://dataprobe.com/support-dmu/ and proceed to download and install the Dataprobe driver.
2. Once the installation is complete, launch the Device Manager Utility (DMU) application.
3. Within the DMU application, navigate to the device tab and select the option to initiate device detec-tion.
4. Once the device detection process is finished, you will be able to view the IP information of your iboot device.
5. If you need to modify the IP addresses on the iboot box, access the "Set" tab and locate the network settings.
6. Within the network settings, make the necessary adjustments to the IP addresses according to your requirements.
7. After configuring the IP address in the Device Manager Utility (DMU), proceed to enter the IP into a web browser.
8. You will then be prompted to provide a username and password. The default username and password are both "admin".
9. After successfully logging in, access the "Passwords" tab on the web browser.
10. In the "Passwords" section, locate the user rights management drop-down menu and choose the option to deactivate users. This will remove the password check when sending network commands to enable/disable the LEDs. Scalable does not currently support using passwords with these network commands.
11. Now, launch the Scalable Software application.
12. To enable the LED Controller page in Scalable, follow these steps: Open the Scalable drop-down menu, navigate to Settings, then Advanced Options. Click on "New" at the top and enter "PreventLEDControl-lerConfiguration". Set the type as "bool" and the value as "False".

Cameras Panel

The Cameras Panel allows you to manage the camera(s) being used in your installation.

The Basic Configuration is recommended for basic systems using a small numbers of cameras. It tracks cameras by the order Windows detects them. This means if you need to replace a camera you can swap it and the new one will automatically be used. The downside is that in rare cases Windows may detect

the cameras in a different order. For basic systems with most settings on automatic this generally does not matter.

The Advanced Configuration is recommended for any complex systems, systems using a large number of cameras, and systems using only a subset of the detected cameras. This guarantees the camera order you specify will never change, which is important if you use any settings that apply to specific cameras. The downside is that if you ever need to replace a camera you have to return to this page to manually remove the old one from the list and add the new one in it's place.

Basic Camera Configuration

Verify that the number and type of cameras detected by ScalableDesktop correspond to your system. If the Automatic type doesn't detect the camera configuration properly, please choose your camera type manually.

1. Use the up and down arrows to re-order the selected camera.
2. Click to refresh the connections to the camera.

Advanced Camera Configuration

1. Click to add the camera from the detected cameras to the list of cameras to be used.
2. Select the correct Camera Lens Combination from the drop down menu. If you are using a GigE camera the default camera lens combination it is most likely the correct one. You may need to change the setting if you are using a GigE with a Fisheye lens.
   There are several very old GigE models in the drop down menu that we no longer officially support or test with, but have not intentionally blocked from the software. Please consult us if you have questions about camera models.
3. Use the up and down arrow to re-order the selected camera.
   

   NOTE

   If your cameras are not detected see the instructions here: Camera Hardware Setup

    

Data Collection Panel

Data collection begins the calibration process by taking various photos of the system. A dark image, bright image, orientation image, and spot image will be collected from each projector.

Adjust the Camera Settings

For proper calibration, it is necessary to focus the camera and adjust its exposure settings. If the camera captures an image that is too bright it will have difficulty detecting the calibration spot patterns. Similarly, not focusing the camera will reduce the accuracy of the camera detection and may cause artifacts in the resulting warp and blend. It is thus important to make sure the camera(s) can see the entire screen and are capturing well-focused and properly exposed images.

CAMERA FOCUS

CAMERA BRIGHTNESS

ScalableDesktop requires the image to appear with normal saturation in order to properly detect the pat-terns displayed during calibration. If the image presented to ScalableDesktop is over or undersaturated, it will result in an error or produce an incorrect geometry calibration. The camera's brightness needs to be set so that there is enough contrast between the light and dark areas of the screen to see the calibration patterns. The image preview window should look similar to how you see the image in real life.

If after manual adjustment the image brightness still has saturation problems, click the Auto Tune button. A series of pictures will be taken to auto-adjust the camera. If the image is not normally saturated after the Auto Tune, you may need to manually adjust the camera's brightness. Follow the instructions below for your particular camera.

Begin Data Collection

Click Begin Data Collection.

The data collection process will begin by showing a solid, white image on each projector, starting with the first projector and going in order to the last. The white image is used to find the location of the projector in the camera image. Make sure that the area of the screen that is intended to be the target area of the screen is completely covered by one or all of the projectors.

Next, two images will be displayed on each projector, starting again with the first projector and going in order to the last. The first image will be a 5-dot pattern which is used to orient the projector. The second image displayed is the grid pattern which is used to map where the pixels are falling on the screen.

TABLE 13. DATA COLLECTION PATTERNS

White Pattern	5 Dot Pattern	Grid Pattern

TABLE 14. DATA COLLECTION ERROR

End Calibration	Ignore and Continue
In this case, the calibration should be stopped so that the camera can be re-positioned to see the entire projected image.	The error action is expected and triggered because the projector is overshooting the screen. Continuing will not cause any issues.

TABLE 15. ERROR ACTION CHOICES

Projector Visibility

The Projector Visibility tab lets you control which cameras take pictures of which projectors during a calibration. For small systems leaving it at full auto works fine. For large systems you can save a lot of time by telling it which to use instead of waiting for it to try and fail on a large number of camera/projector pairs you likely already know it won't see.

In ScalableDesktop, all entries in the Projector Visibility grid are set to Auto by default. This causes the software to attempt to automatically determine which projectors are visible to each camera. When using the Auto setting, the camera will make up to three attempts to detect the full white image displayed by the projector. If the full white image is not detected after 3 attempts, the projector is assumed not to be visible to the camera. To manually specify the visibility of a camera and projector combination, change the corresponding grid entry from Auto to Require or Ignore. Clicking will set the visibility for each projector to the detected setting from the previous calibration run. This can improve the speed of future calibrations. Clicking will turn all of the pairs to Auto.

Advanced Settings

Advanced Settings provides advanced controls for configuring the behavior of the calibration process, includ-ing adjustments for both the display and detection of the pattern displayed during the calibration.

In this version of Scalable, the test patterns can be set as the traditional spot pattern or the new binary pattern used for more advanced needs.

PER PROJECTOR SETTINGS - SPOT CALIBRATION PATTERN

The traditional Spots calibration pattern is the best choice for most situations.

Per Projector Settings allows the customization of the calibration pattern to optimize data collection. For instance, if the pattern is too dense or too fine by default on one projector, the pattern can be adjusted through manual intervention.

TABLE 16. PER PROJECTOR SETTINGS FOR SPOT PATTERN

	Set the effect of the changes to the options. Selecting "Global" affects all of the projectors. Selecting a single projector affects that projector only.
	Pattern Type: Allows the selection of Spot pattern or Binary pattern. This can be set globally or per projector.
	Overall density: The overall density of the calibration pattern. If increased, the pattern will have a higher resolution and the camera will take more pictures.   Checker density: The density of checkers in the calibration pattern. Adding more checkers can be useful in cases of poor image contrast.   Contrast threshold: Minimum allowable image contrast permitted by the software during pattern detection. Increase if the software is detecting too much noise.   Show dots: Project a series of dots that can improve calibration accuracy on complex shapes.
	Normalize Brightness: Compensates for large intensity fall-offs. Use when a section of the projector image is heavily keystoned.   Ignore spots on the screen edges: Set to true if half-spots are being detected as full spots causing errors on the edges.   Cull calibration data based on smoothness: Used when data is being detected off the screen.   Smooth calibration data: Set to true to smooth and slightly extrapolate calibration data.   Minimum brightness region size: When locating a projector, bright regions smaller than this size will be ignored.

PER PROJECTOR SETTINGS - BINARY CALIBRATION PATTERN

The new Binary calibration pattern is better than the traditional spot pattern at handling harsh conditions and difficult calibration environments, but it is also slower and more likely to need customized settings and/or guidance from the Scalable support team to do it's best. The traditional spot pattern is the better choice for most systems.

Per Projector Settings allows the customization of the calibration pattern to optimize data collection.

TABLE 17. PER PROJECTOR SETTINGS FOR BINARY PATTERN

	Set the effect of the changes to the options. Selecting "Global" affects all of the projectors. Selecting a single projector affects that projector only.
	Pattern Type: Allows the selection of Spot pattern or Binary pattern. This can be set globally or per projector.
	Overall density: The overall density of the calibration pattern. If increased, the pattern will have a higher resolution and the camera will take more pictures. Checker density: The density of checkers in the calibration pattern. Adding more checkers can be useful in cases of poor image contrast. Contrast threshold: Minimum allowable image contrast permitted by the software during pattern detection. Increase if the software is detecting too much noise. Show dots: Project a series of dots that can improve calibration accuracy on complex shapes.
	Ignore spots on the screen edges: Set to true if half-spots are being detected as full spots causing errors on the edges. Smooth calibration data: Set to true to smooth and slightly extrapolate calibration data.

GLOBAL SETTINGS

In this section, the delay between when the projector displays the pattern and when the camera takes the picture can be adjusted. Reducing this slider value can improve calibration time, but may cause incorrect pattern detection if the cameras take a picture before the pattern is properly displayed.

TEST DATA COLLECTION

To run a test, select the projector and camera pair and click Test Data Collection.

Calibration Masking

Calibration Masking allows a portion of each projector's image to be masked during the Data Collection process. The mask does not apply to the final calibrated image. Calibration masking is generally used to correct or improve Data Collection.

Example Use Cases:

• The bezel of the screen is causing glare.
• An external light source or reflection from a mirror is interfering with data collection.
  

CREATING OR EDITING A MASK

1. Select the camera you wish to mask.
2. Select the projector you wish to mask.
3. If you have a very large or wide screen you may want to raise the mask resolution before starting. Changing the mask resolution will reset the mask. See the the next section for more information. Fixing Aliasing in the Mask [124]
4. Choose between the cursor edit tool or the shape edit tool. Click the appropriate button top left of the toolbar.
   • Cursor edit tool
     This is selected by default. It allows you to draw directly onto the image with an adjustable size brush.
   • Shape edit tool
     Allows you to draw a multi sided shape using straight or curved lines. This often gives the best results. It creates clean smooth edges that look nicer than what most people can achieve when using the cursor tool.
     • Click and drag to create the initial shape (a rectangle).
     • Click and drag any corner to move it.
     • Click along a line segment to add a new corner at that location.
     • Hit Spacebar with a corner selected to turn it into a curved line. Hitting Spacebar again will turn it back into an angled corner.
     • Hit Enter when done to stop editing the shape and apply it to the mask.
       

       CAUTION

       If you don't hit Enter the shape will not be committed and become part of the mask.

        
5. Click to switch to subtraction mode if you blacked out too large an area and need to erase portions of the mask.
6. Use the preview displayed on your projection screen as a guide to mask out any areas of the final image that you wish.
   Use the camera view in the GUI to mask out any areas of the camera image you wish to black out in all calibration photos during Data Collection.
   Use the preview displayed through your projector as a guide to mask out any areas of the projector that you wish to black out in the calibration patterns during Data Collection.
7. For more advanced editing:
   You can export the mask, edit it with any image editing application, then re import it using the buttons on the right side of the toolbar. This is useful if you want to blur an edge or create a shaded gradient. The software can apply masks with any shade of gray. It cannot use colored masks.
8. Use the Update Calibration button to apply the mask to the final calibration.

TOOLBAR FUNCTIONS

TABLE 18. CALIBRATION MASKING TOOLBAR FUNCTIONS

Tool	Function
	Shape edit mode (1)
	Cursor edit mode (2)
	Select the projector to mask
	Edits will add to mask
	Edits will subtract from mask
	Select the brush size
	Fit the mask to the current window size (F)
	Undo the previous edit (Ctrl + Z)
	Redo the previous edit (Ctrl + Y)
	Reset the mask to its original state removing all edits
	Import a mask from disk
	Export the mask to disk

MOUSE & KEYBOARD CONTROLS

TABLE 19. CALIBRATION MASKING MOUSE AND KEYBOARD CONTROLS

Camera Masking

Camera masking allows a portion of each camera's image to be masked during the Data Collection process. Camera masking can be used to block extraneous light or any other object or reflection visible in the camera view during Data Collection.

CREATING OR EDITING A MASK

1. Select the camera you wish to mask.
2. Select the projector you wish to mask.
3. If you have a very large or wide screen you may want to raise the mask resolution before starting. Changing the mask resolution will reset the mask. See the the next section for more information. Fixing Aliasing in the Mask [124]
4. Choose between the cursor edit tool or the shape edit tool. Click the appropriate button top left of the toolbar.
   • Cursor edit tool
     This is selected by default. It allows you to draw directly onto the image with an adjustable size brush.
   • Shape edit tool
     Allows you to draw a multi sided shape using straight or curved lines. This often gives the best results. It creates clean smooth edges that look nicer than what most people can achieve when using the cursor tool.
     • Click and drag to create the initial shape (a rectangle).
     • Click and drag any corner to move it.
     • Click along a line segment to add a new corner at that location.
     • Hit Spacebar with a corner selected to turn it into a curved line. Hitting Spacebar again will turn it back into an angled corner.
     • Hit Enter when done to stop editing the shape and apply it to the mask
       

       CAUTION

       If you don't hit Enter the shape will not be committed and become part of the mask.

        
5. Click to switch to subtraction mode if you blacked out too large an area and need to erase portions of the mask.
6. Use the preview displayed on your projection screen as a guide to mask out any areas of the final image that you wish.
   Use the camera view in the GUI to mask out any areas of the camera image you wish to black out in all calibration photos during Data Collection.
   Use the preview displayed through your projector as a guide to mask out any areas of the projector that you wish to black out in the calibration patterns during Data Collection.
7. For more advanced editing:
   You can export the mask, edit it with any image editing application, then re import it using the buttons on the right side of the toolbar. This is useful if you want to blur an edge or create a shaded gradient. The software can apply masks with any shade of gray. It cannot use colored masks.
8. Use the Update Calibration button to apply the mask to the final calibration.

TOOLBAR FUNCTIONS

TABLE 21. CAMERA MASKING TOOLBAR FUNCTIONS

Screens Panel

The Screens Panel shows the screen geometries available to your system. Select the screen geometry that most accurately represents your screen and enter the parameters necessary to define it. Entering accurate dimensions is important for correctly mapping images onto the screen surface.

Screen Type Comparisons

The following table gives an overview of some of the characteristics of each geometry.

TABLE 23. SCREEN CHARACTERISTICS

Screen Type	Shape	Easy Setup	No Dimensions	Partial Screen	Multi Cam	Milsim Accuracy
Flat		✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Cylinder		✖	✖	✔	✔	✔
Dome Section		✖	✖	✔	✔	✔
Extruded Curve		✔	✖	✖	✖	✖
Articulated		✖	✖	✔	✖	✔
Dome		✖	✖	✖	✖	✔
Toroid		✖	✖	✔	✔	✔
Custom		✖	✖	✖	✔	✔

Flat

The Screens Panel shows the screen geometries available to your system. Select the screen geometry that most accurately represents your screen and enter the parameters necessary to define it. Entering accurate dimensions is important for correctly mapping images onto the screen surface.

Flat Screen

The flat screen is the most basic supported screen geometry. It represents anything from a wall to a defined screen. The Flat screen type does not require any parameters.

Cylinder

The Screens Panel shows the screen geometries available to your system. Select the screen geometry that most accurately represents your screen and enter the parameters necessary to define it. Entering accurate dimensions is important for correctly mapping images onto the screen surface.

Cylinder Screen

TABLE 24. CYLINDER SCREEN

Measurements provided by the screen manufacturer are the best source of information for the dimensions of your screen. If these are not available, you can measure the screen yourself. If the result of the initial system calibration is not ideal, measure the screen to ensure the accuracy of the dimensions.

If you are not using the entire physical screen for your display, enter the dimensions of the area of the screen that should be filled with imagery. For example, if your physical screen is 3 meters high, but you are only filling 1.5 meters, use a Height value to 1.5.

CYLINDER SREEN PREVIEW

TABLE 25. CYLINDER SCREEN PREVIEW

After entering the screen dimensions, the panel will show a visualization of the screen using the provided information. Reference the actual screen shape against this visualization to verify the accuracy of the screen parameters.

Dome Section

The Screens Panel shows the screen geometries available to your system. Select the screen geometry that most accurately represents your screen and enter the parameters necessary to define it. Entering accurate dimensions is important for correctly mapping images onto the screen surface.

Dome Section Screen Type

TABLE 26. DOME SECTION SCREEN

DOME SECTION SCREEN RADII

If the screen is spherical, the three screen radii (horizontal, vertical, and depth) should have the same value. Consult your screen dimensions for further information about setting the major axis of a non-perfect spherical or ellipsoid dome section.

DOME SECTION SCREEN ANGLES

All angles are measured in degrees from the center of the dome section and should be entered as positive values.

DOME SECTION SREEN PREVIEW

TABLE 27. DOME SECTION SCREEN PREVIEW

Screen	Parameter	Units
	Horizontal Radius	20
	Vertical Radius	20
	Depth Radius	20
	Left Angle	90
	Right Angle	90
	Top Angle	40
	Bottom Angle	40

Upon entering the screen dimensions, the panel will show a visualization of the screen using the provided information. Reference the actual screen shape against this visualization to verify the accuracy of the screen parameters.

Extruded Curve

The Screens Panel shows the screen geometries available to your system. Select the screen geometry that most accurately represents your screen and enter the parameters necessary to define it. Entering accurate dimensions is important for correctly mapping images onto the screen surface.

Extruded Curve Screen Type

TABLE 28. EXTENDED CURVE

This screen type can be used to accurately fit cylindrical screens using a minimal amount of information. It can only be used with single-camera systems where the camera is able to see the entire screen.

If you are filling a region smaller than the physical screen, adjust the width and height values to represent the portion of the screen that is actually filled. This screen type may not be used with ellipsoidal screens or screens with a curvature along multiple dimensions.The Screens Panel shows the screen geometries available to your system. Select the screen geometry that most accurately represents your screen and enter the parameters necessary to define it. Entering accurate dimensions is important for correctly mapping images onto the screen surface.

Extruded Curve Screen Type

TABLE 29. EXTENDED CURVE

This screen type can be used to accurately fit cylindrical screens using a minimal amount of information. It can only be used with single-camera systems where the camera is able to see the entire screen.

If you are filling a region smaller than the physical screen, adjust the width and height values to represent the portion of the screen that is actually filled. This screen type may not be used with ellipsoidal screens or screens with a curvature along multiple dimensions.

Articulated

The Screens Panel shows the screen geometries available to your system. Select the screen geometry that most accurately represents your screen and enter the parameters necessary to define it. Entering accurate dimensions is important for correctly mapping images onto the screen surface.

Articulated Screen Type

TABLE 30. ARTICULATED SCREEN TYPE

	Parameter
	Number of vertical joints

The Articulated Screen is the combination of many flat facets connecting in vertical joints.

The number of Vertical Joints: The total number of joints on the screen. Ends do not count as joints.

Hemisphere

The Screens Panel shows the screen geometries available to your system. Select the screen geometry that most accurately represents your screen and enter the parameters necessary to define it. Entering accurate dimensions is important for correctly mapping images onto the screen surface.

Hemisphere Screen Type

Table 31. Hemisphere Screen Type

	Parameter	Units
	Dome Radius	Relative
	Maximum Angle	Degrees

The Hemisphere screen type represents a partial sphere. Typically a half-sphere with a 90 degree angle, but potentially less.

Toroid

The Screens Panel shows the screen geometries available to your system. Select the screen geometry that most accurately represents your screen and enter the parameters necessary to define it. Entering accurate dimensions is important for correctly mapping images onto the screen surface.

Toroid Screen Type

TABLE 32. TOROID SCREEN

Screen	Parameter	Units
	Major Radius	Relative
	Minor Radius	Relative
	Left Angle	Degrees
	Right Angle	Degrees
	Top Angle	Degrees
	Bottom Angle	Degrees

TOROID SREEN RADII

A toroidal screen is defined by two different radii. The major radius R and minor radius r will have distinct values.

TOROID SCREEN ANGLES

Angles are measured in degrees and should be entered as positive values. The left and right angles are measured from the center of the major radius R. The top and bottom angles are measured from the center of the minor radius r.

TOROID SCREEN PREVIEW

TABLE 33. TOROID SCREEN PREVIEW

Screen	Parameter	Units
	Major Radius	3
	Minor Radius	2
	Left Angle	90
	Top Angle	40
	Right Angle	90
	Bottom Angle	40

Upon entering the screen dimensions, the panel will show a visualization of the screen using the provided information. Reference the actual screen shape against this visualization to verify the accuracy of the screen parameters.

Custom

The Screens Panel shows the screen geometries available to your system. Select the screen geometry that most accurately represents your screen and enter the parameters necessary to define it. Entering accurate dimensions is important for correctly mapping images onto the screen surface.

Custom Screen Type

TABLE 34. CUSTOM SCREEN TYPE

	Parameters
	Files: OBJ ControlPoint3DLocation

Parameters

The Custom screen type allows you to import a 3D model of your screen. You will need:

OBJ File

• An OBJ is a geometry definition file.
• Its purpose is to represent 3D geometry - specifically, the position of vertexes and the UV position of each texture coordinate vertex.
• The OBJ file must be in Wavefront .OBJ format.

Control Point 3D Coordinates

• You will need a list of the XYZ coordinates of your control points on the surface of your OBJ.
• You can create a ControlPoint3DLocationOverride file or type the coordinates in manually using the Override Control Points button on the Image Boundary page.
  

  COMPLEXITY

  It is highly recommended to contact Scalable Display to consult on any custom screen. We can provide more specific instructions tailored to your system and help you validate your OBJ file and control point coordinates.

   

Image Boundary Panel

The Image Boundary panel allows you to set the image boundary points of your display and complete the calibration.

Flat

The Image Boundary panel allows you to set the image boundary points of your display and complete the calibration.

Image Boundary Panel Instructions

Setting the Number of Points

The number of image boundary points to use depends on the physical screen and your cameras. Each camera needs to see at least 6 points. For a single camera curved screen it is usually easiest to stick with 6 points: top left/center/right and bottom left/center/right.

If you are using multiple cameras you will need more points. Some points will likely be seen by multiple cameras, so the minimum number of points is usually less than # cameras x 6. For complex screen shapes and/or odd camera angles it can help to use more points. High end multi camera systems generally end up with anywhere from 8 to 12 points visible in each camera. There is no maximum number of points, but you do want to avoid using so many that users rush through them instead of aiming each one carefully.

If your screen has visible seams or other evenly spaced repeating elements it can be very helpful to set your number of points to match. It makes aiming much easier. If you have features with known coordinates along your screen, but they aren't evenly spaced along the top and bottom, you can still potentially use them. See the Override Control Points section for information on using customized point locations.

Aim the crosshair for each point at the appropriate location on your physical screen. Each point should be evenly spaced across the borders of the screen and vertically in line with its neighbor below. There is a animation in the bottom right corner of the Image Boundary page showing the rough point locations (click and drag to rotate it). For best results it is very important to stop and measure out the exact positions for each point. Often a tape measure is enough, though laser levels help a lot, and for extremely high accuracy (military simulators, etc) you can use a theodolite or total station. The software will still work if you only aim points roughly correctly, but the final geometry may also end up only being roughly correct.

USE THE MOUSE TO MOVE POINTS LARGE DISTANCES

1. Click a point to select it.
2. Drag the point while watching the crosshair move on your projection screen.
3. Repeat for the remaining points.

Click the Toggle Preview button to turn on/off the real-time preview of the warp. On very large systems rendering this live preview may cause your points to move slowly. Try toggling it off while moving points then back on to check the image. Also remember it is important to measure and aim points accurately. The calibration will not be as reliable long term if you simply move points until the preview looks about right without measuring,

USE THE KEYBOARD TO MAKE SMALL MOVEMENTS AND AIM ACCURATELY

1. Type a number to select a point. You can also tab or hit n for next or p for previous.
2. Use shift + arrow keys to make large movements.
3. Use the arrow keys to move one pixel at a time.
4. Repeat to accurately aim all points.

TABLE 35. IMAGE BOUNDARY KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

Flat Screen

Use the four points to define the area of your screen. When placing the boundary points it is best to ensure they form a rectangular region on the screen surface to reduce aliasing effects in the final warped image.

However, this is dependent on the view the camera has on the screen. If you have a defined screen area use the control points to match the screen as best as possible.

Cylinder

The Image Boundary panel allows you to set the image boundary points of your display and complete the calibration.

Image Boundary Panel Instructions

The number of image boundary points to use depends on the physical screen and your cameras. Each camera needs to see at least 6 points. For a single camera curved screen it is usually easiest to stick with 6 points: top left/center/right and bottom left/center/right.

If you are using multiple cameras you will need more points. Some points will likely be seen by multiple cameras, so the minimum number of points is usually less than # cameras x 6. For complex screen shapes and/or odd camera angles it can help to use more points. High end multi camera systems generally end up with anywhere from 8 to 12 points visible in each camera. There is no maximum number of points, but you do want to avoid using so many that users rush through them instead of aiming each one carefully.

If your screen has visible seams or other evenly spaced repeating elements it can be very helpful to set your number of points to match. It makes aiming much easier. If you have features with known coordinates along your screen, but they aren't evenly spaced along the top and bottom, you can still potentially use them. See the Override Control Points section for information on using customized point locations.

Aim the crosshair for each point at the appropriate location on your physical screen. Each point should be evenly spaced across the borders of the screen and vertically in line with its neighbor below. There is a animation in the bottom right corner of the Image Boundary page showing the rough point locations (click and drag to rotate it). For best results it is very important to stop and measure out the exact positions for each point. Often a tape measure is enough, though laser levels help a lot, and for extremely high accuracy (military simulators, etc) you can use a theodolite or total station. The software will still work if you only aim points roughly correctly, but the final geometry may also end up only being roughly correct.

USE THE MOUSE TO MOVE POINTS LARGE DISTANCES

1. Click a point to select it.
2. Drag the point while watching the crosshair move on your projection screen.
3. Repeat for the remaining points.

Click the Toggle Preview button to turn on/off the real-time preview of the warp. On very large systems rendering this live preview may cause your points to move slowly. Try toggling it off while moving points then back on to check the image. Also remember it is important to measure and aim points accurately. The calibration will not be as reliable long term if you simply move points until the preview looks about right without measuring,

USE THE KEYBOARD TO MAKE SMALL MOVEMENTS AND AIM ACCURATELY

1. Type a number to select a point. You can also tab or hit n for next or p for previous.
2. Use shift + arrow keys to make large movements.
3. Use the arrow keys to move one pixel at a time.
4. Repeat to accurately aim all points.

TABLE 37. IMAGE BOUNDARY KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

Cylinder

For cylinder screens, the boundary points are placed along the top and bottom edges of the screen to aid the software in determining how imagery should be mapped onto the screen surface. The points should be spaced uniformly in an angle across the screen edges with a point at each of the four screen corners as shown below. A 3D visualization will be shown in the bottom right of the corner of the Image Boundary panel. Use this image as a reference when placing the boundary points on the screen. It is important to place the points in the correct order and in the correct position on the screen as failure to do so may result in extreme calibration artifacts.

Note that inaccuracy in the placement of the control points or deviations of the screen geometry from an ideal cylinder may cause the boundary of the final image to differ from that indicated by the placement of the boundary points.

Left Click + Drag:Rotate the 3D model Mouse Wheel:Zoom the 3D Model

Dome Section

The Image Boundary panel allows you to set the image boundary points of your display and complete the calibration.

Image Boundary Panel Instructions

The number of image boundary points to use depends on the physical screen and your cameras. Each camera needs to see at least 6 points. For a single camera curved screen it is usually easiest to stick with 6 points: top left/center/right and bottom left/center/right.

If you are using multiple cameras you will need more points. Some points will likely be seen by multiple cameras, so the minimum number of points is usually less than # cameras x 6. For complex screen shapes and/or odd camera angles it can help to use more points. High end multi camera systems generally end up with anywhere from 8 to 12 points visible in each camera. There is no maximum number of points, but you do want to avoid using so many that users rush through them instead of aiming each one carefully.

If your screen has visible seams or other evenly spaced repeating elements it can be very helpful to set your number of points to match. It makes aiming much easier. If you have features with known coordinates along your screen, but they aren't evenly spaced along the top and bottom, you can still potentially use them. See the Override Control Points section for information on using customized point locations.

Aim the crosshair for each point at the appropriate location on your physical screen. Each point should be evenly spaced across the borders of the screen and vertically in line with its neighbor below. There is a animation in the bottom right corner of the Image Boundary page showing the rough point locations (click and drag to rotate it). For best results it is very important to stop and measure out the exact positions for each point. Often a tape measure is enough, though laser levels help a lot, and for extremely high accuracy (military simulators, etc) you can use a theodolite or total station. The software will still work if you only aim points roughly correctly, but the final geometry may also end up only being roughly correct.

USE THE MOUSE TO MOVE POINTS LARGE DISTANCES

1. Click a point to select it.
2. Drag the point while watching the crosshair move on your projection screen.
3. Repeat for the remaining points.

Click the Toggle Preview button to turn on/off the real-time preview of the warp. On very large systems rendering this live preview may cause your points to move slowly. Try toggling it off while moving points then back on to check the image. Also remember it is important to measure and aim points accurately. The calibration will not be as reliable long term if you simply move points until the preview looks about right without measuring,

USE THE KEYBOARD TO MAKE SMALL MOVEMENTS AND AIM ACCURATELY

1. Type a number to select a point. You can also tab or hit n for next or p for previous.
2. Use shift + arrow keys to make large movements.
3. Use the arrow keys to move one pixel at a time.
4. Repeat to accurately aim all points.

TABLE 39. IMAGE BOUNDARY KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

Extruded Curve

1. Click and drag the top left corner of the rectangle and place it at the corner of your screen.
2. Zoom into the image and align the corner as accurately as possible to the physical corner of the screen.
3. Repeat for the remaining three corners.
4. Click Complete.

Additional points will now appear along the top and bottom edges of the rectangle. Adjust these points so they follow the physical border of your screen in the camera image.

1. Starting from the top of the screen, move each boundary point until it overlaps the top edge of the screen in the camera image.
2. Move the boundary points on the bottom of the screen until they overlap the bottom edge of the screen.
   

   POINTS BEHAVING ERRATICALLY

   Extruded curve is very sensitive, if your boundary points differ from your screen by large amounts it can appear distorted. Move the points back to the screen or press reset boundary to start over.

   

    

After moving all of the boundary points to the edge of the screen you may notice that the indicated screen boundary does not match the true edge of the screen in certain areas. If this is the case, you may add additional points to improve the fit.

1. Right click where the boundary point line is deviating from the physical screen.
2. Click Add Point.
3. A new point will appear under your cursor, drag it to the edge of the physical screen.
4. Repeat for other areas of the screen as needed.

When the screen's physical dimensions as entered on the screens panel differ from the real screen, the lines on the inside of the cylinder may not appear to align vertically. If this occurs, you may straighten them using the Advanced Tools section.

1. Click Advanced Tools to display the Image Uniformity Tweaker.
2. Move the slider until the lines appear vertically uniform.

TABLE 40. IMAGE UNIFORMITY TWEAKER

Before Adjustment	After Adjustment

Articulated

The Image Boundary panel allows you to set the image boundary points of your display and complete the calibration.

Image Boundary Panel Instructions

The number of image boundary points to use depends on the physical screen and your cameras. Each camera needs to see at least 6 points. For a single camera curved screen it is usually easiest to stick with 6 points: top left/center/right and bottom left/center/right.

If you are using multiple cameras you will need more points. Some points will likely be seen by multiple cameras, so the minimum number of points is usually less than # cameras x 6. For complex screen shapes and/or odd camera angles it can help to use more points. High end multi camera systems generally end up with anywhere from 8 to 12 points visible in each camera. There is no maximum number of points, but you do want to avoid using so many that users rush through them instead of aiming each one carefully.

If your screen has visible seams or other evenly spaced repeating elements it can be very helpful to set your number of points to match. It makes aiming much easier. If you have features with known coordinates along your screen, but they aren't evenly spaced along the top and bottom, you can still potentially use them. See the Override Control Points section for information on using customized point locations.

Aim the crosshair for each point at the appropriate location on your physical screen. Each point should be evenly spaced across the borders of the screen and vertically in line with its neighbor below. There is a animation in the bottom right corner of the Image Boundary page showing the rough point locations (click and drag to rotate it). For best results it is very important to stop and measure out the exact positions for each point. Often a tape measure is enough, though laser levels help a lot, and for extremely high accuracy (military simulators, etc) you can use a theodolite or total station. The software will still work if you only aim points roughly correctly, but the final geometry may also end up only being roughly correct.

USE THE MOUSE TO MOVE POINTS LARGE DISTANCES

1. Click a point to select it.
2. Drag the point while watching the crosshair move on your projection screen.
3. Repeat for the remaining points.

Click the Toggle Preview button to turn on/off the real-time preview of the warp. On very large systems rendering this live preview may cause your points to move slowly. Try toggling it off while moving points then back on to check the image. Also remember it is important to measure and aim points accurately. The calibration will not be as reliable long term if you simply move points until the preview looks about right without measuring,

USE THE KEYBOARD TO MAKE SMALL MOVEMENTS AND AIM ACCURATELY

1. Type a number to select a point. You can also tab or hit n for next or p for previous.
2. Use shift + arrow keys to make large movements.
3. Use the arrow keys to move one pixel at a time.
4. Repeat to accurately aim all points.

TABLE 41. IMAGE BOUNDARY KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

Articulated

For the Articulated screen type, the boundary points will be placed at the 4 corners of the screen as well as at the top and bottom of each vertical join. Place each control point in ascending order from left to right

across the top of the screen and from left to right across the bottom. In the example below, the first control point is placed at the top-left corner of the screen followed by points 2-4 in order across the top of the screen. Placing a point out of order will cause extreme distortion in the final image.

Hemisphere

The Image Boundary panel allows you to set the image boundary points of your display and complete the calibration.

Image Boundary Panel Instructions

Setting the Number of Points

The number of image boundary points to use depends on the physical screen and your cameras. Each camera needs to see at least 6 points. For a single camera curved screen it is usually easiest to stick with 6 points: top left/center/right and bottom left/center/right.

If you are using multiple cameras you will need more points. Some points will likely be seen by multiple cameras, so the minimum number of points is usually less than # cameras x 6. For complex screen shapes and/or odd camera angles it can help to use more points. High end multi camera systems generally end up with anywhere from 8 to 12 points visible in each camera. There is no maximum number of points, but you do want to avoid using so many that users rush through them instead of aiming each one carefully.

If your screen has visible seams or other evenly spaced repeating elements it can be very helpful to set your number of points to match. It makes aiming much easier. If you have features with known coordinates along your screen, but they aren't evenly spaced along the top and bottom, you can still potentially use them. See the Override Control Points section for information on using customized point locations.

Placing Image Boundary Points

Aim the crosshair for each point at the appropriate location on your physical screen. Each point should be evenly spaced across the borders of the screen and vertically in line with its neighbor below. There is a animation in the bottom right corner of the Image Boundary page showing the rough point locations (click and drag to rotate it). For best results it is very important to stop and measure out the exact positions for each point. Often a tape measure is enough, though laser levels help a lot, and for extremely high accuracy (military simulators, etc) you can use a theodolite or total station. The software will still work if you only aim points roughly correctly, but the final geometry may also end up only being roughly correct.

Use the mouse to move points large distances

1. Click a point to select it.
2. Drag the point while watching the crosshair move on your projection screen.
3. Repeat for the remaining points.

Click the Toggle Preview button to turn on/off the real-time preview of the warp. On very large systems rendering this live preview may cause your points to move slowly. Try toggling it off while moving points then back on to check the image. Also remember it is important to measure and aim points accurately. The calibration will not be as reliable long term if you simply move points until the preview looks about right without measuring,

Use the keyboard to make small movements and aim accurately

1. Type a number to select a point. You can also tab or hit n for next or p for previous.
2. Use shift + arrow keys to make large movements.
3. Use the arrow keys to move one pixel at a time.
4. Repeat to accurately aim all points.

Table 46. Image Boundary Keyboard Shortcuts

Keyboard Shortcuts	Action
Arrow Key	Move the selected point
Shift + Arrow Key	Large movement of the selected point
Ctrl + Arrow Key	Small movement of the selected point
N	Change selection to the next point
P	Change selection to the previous point
Number Key	Change selection to the numbered point
ESC	Exit the background window

Control Panel vs Background Window

Scalable provides two different interfaces for setting the locations of the image boundary points. The default option is through the Scalable Control Panel. The second hides the interface and allows manually setting the points on a black background.

 

 

Image Boundary Point Alignment Examples

Good  The points are evenly spaced and lined up vertically.
Bad The points do not follow the edges of the screen.	Bad   The points are not aligned with the points below.	Bad The points are not spaced evenly across the screen.

 

 

Override Control Points

Control Points are evenly spaced across the top and bottom of the screen by default. While these are usually the best locations, sometimes you may want to customize them. The Control Point Locations panel allows you to manually specify the locations on the screen where control points should be placed.

PROCEDURE

Manually specify the locations of the control points on the screen using one of the following 3 methods:

1. Manually specifying the X, Y, Z location of each control point. The points should be specified in the same coordinate system as the screen geometry.
2. In Latitude/Longitude coordinates relative to the origin of the screen. This is especially useful when there is a theodolite available to assist in position the control points.
3. Importing a preconfigured set of control point locations.

 

 

Hemisphere

The Boundary Points for the hemisphere screen are used to orient the display. Each point allows you to define the azimuth and the cardinal directions. Place the points in the correct order and as accurately as possible. Placing the control points incorrectly will cause artifacts in the final image.

Table 48. Hemisphere Boundary Point Location

Boundary Point	Location
1	Dome Center (Azimuth)
2	East
3	South
4	West
5	North

Toroid

The Image Boundary panel allows you to set the image boundary points of your display and complete the calibration.

Image Boundary Panel Instructions

The number of image boundary points to use depends on the physical screen and your cameras. Each camera needs to see at least 6 points. For a single camera curved screen it is usually easiest to stick with 6 points: top left/center/right and bottom left/center/right.

If you are using multiple cameras you will need more points. Some points will likely be seen by multiple cameras, so the minimum number of points is usually less than # cameras x 6. For complex screen shapes and/or odd camera angles it can help to use more points. High end multi camera systems generally end up with anywhere from 8 to 12 points visible in each camera. There is no maximum number of points, but you do want to avoid using so many that users rush through them instead of aiming each one carefully.

If your screen has visible seams or other evenly spaced repeating elements it can be very helpful to set your number of points to match. It makes aiming much easier. If you have features with known coordinates along your screen, but they aren't evenly spaced along the top and bottom, you can still potentially use them. See the Override Control Points section for information on using customized point locations.

Aim the crosshair for each point at the appropriate location on your physical screen. Each point should be evenly spaced across the borders of the screen and vertically in line with its neighbor below. There is a animation in the bottom right corner of the Image Boundary page showing the rough point locations (click and drag to rotate it). For best results it is very important to stop and measure out the exact positions for each point. Often a tape measure is enough, though laser levels help a lot, and for extremely high accuracy (military simulators, etc) you can use a theodolite or total station. The software will still work if you only aim points roughly correctly, but the final geometry may also end up only being roughly correct.

USE THE MOUSE TO MOVE POINTS LARGE DISTANCES

1. Click a point to select it.
2. Drag the point while watching the crosshair move on your projection screen.
3. Repeat for the remaining points.

Click the Toggle Preview button to turn on/off the real-time preview of the warp. On very large systems rendering this live preview may cause your points to move slowly. Try toggling it off while moving points then back on to check the image. Also remember it is important to measure and aim points accurately. The calibration will not be as reliable long term if you simply move points until the preview looks about right without measuring,

USE THE KEYBOARD TO MAKE SMALL MOVEMENTS AND AIM ACCURATELY

1. Type a number to select a point. You can also tab or hit n for next or p for previous.
2. Use shift + arrow keys to make large movements.
3. Use the arrow keys to move one pixel at a time.
4. Repeat to accurately aim all points.

TABLE 43. IMAGE BOUNDARY KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

Toroid

The Toroid geometry requires that four points be placed at the four corners of the physical screen.

Additional points may be placed along the top and bottom edges of the screen. A 3D visualization will be shown in the bottom right of the corner of the Image Boundary panel. Use this image as a reference when placing the boundary points on the screen. It is important to place the points in the correct order and in the correct position on the screen as failure to do so may result in extreme calibration artifacts.

Left Click + Drag:Rotate the 3D model Mouse Wheel:Zoom the 3D Model

Custom Screen

Image Boundary Panel Instructions

The number of image boundary points to use depends on the physical screen and your cameras. Each camera needs to see at least 6 points. For a single camera curved screen it is usually easiest to stick with 6 points: top left/center/right and bottom left/center/right.

If you are using multiple cameras you will need more points. Some points will likely be seen by multiple cameras, so the minimum number of points is usually less than # cameras x 6. For complex screen shapes and/or odd camera angles it can help to use more points. High end multi camera systems generally end up with anywhere from 8 to 12 points visible in each camera. There is no maximum number of points, but you do want to avoid using so many that users rush through them instead of aiming each one carefully.

If your screen has visible seams or other evenly spaced repeating elements it can be very helpful to set your number of points to match. It makes aiming much easier. If you have features with known coordinates along your screen, but they aren't evenly spaced along the top and bottom, you can still potentially use them. See the Override Control Points section for information on using customized point locations.

Aim the crosshair for each point at the appropriate location on your physical screen. Each point should be evenly spaced across the borders of the screen and vertically in line with its neighbor below. There is a animation in the bottom right corner of the Image Boundary page showing the rough point locations (click and drag to rotate it). For best results it is very important to stop and measure out the exact positions for each point. Often a tape measure is enough, though laser levels help a lot, and for extremely high accuracy (military simulators, etc) you can use a theodolite or total station. The software will still work if you only aim points roughly correctly, but the final geometry may also end up only being roughly correct.

USE THE MOUSE TO MOVE POINTS LARGE DISTANCES

1. Click a point to select it.
2. Drag the point while watching the crosshair move on your projection screen.
3. Repeat for the remaining points.

Click the Toggle Preview button to turn on/off the real-time preview of the warp. On very large systems rendering this live preview may cause your points to move slowly. Try toggling it off while moving points then back on to check the image. Also remember it is important to measure and aim points accurately. The calibration will not be as reliable long term if you simply move points until the preview looks about right without measuring,

USE THE KEYBOARD TO MAKE SMALL MOVEMENTS AND AIM ACCURATELY

1. Type a number to select a point. You can also tab or hit n for next or p for previous.
2. Use shift + arrow keys to make large movements.
3. Use the arrow keys to move one pixel at a time.
4. Repeat to accurately aim all points.

TABLE 45. IMAGE BOUNDARY KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

Control Points with a Custom screen shape

When you import a custom shape the software cannot automatically pick control point locations for you. You must use the Override Control Points button to manually specify the coordinates of your points on the custom screen surface.

Perspective Panel

The Perspective panel allows you to generate perspective meshes and calculate frustum values.

Perspective Eyepoint

Set the Location of the Eye Point

The eyepoint is the intended location of the viewer's eyes or head with respect to the physical screen. The software calculates the perspective correction so that everything appears geometrically accurate from that point of view. If you move your head away from that point, straight lines will look curved, circles will look like ovals, etc.

For most predefined screen types included with Scalable Display Manager , the software will use the geometric center of the screen as the default eyepoint. For example, when using the cylinder screen type the eyepoint will be located at the geometric center of the screen by default. The exception to this is the flat screen type, which requires a special set of options to achieve a correct perspective view. If the default eyepoint is not the intended eye point of the screen, the eyepoint may be altered manually.

When making adjustments to the eyepoint follow these coordinate system conventions. The X-axis points directly to the viewer's right, the Y-axis points directly down into the floor, and the Z-axis points directly ahead into the center of the screen.

Eye Location

Eye Location is the position of the eyepoint relative to the origin of the screen (typically its geometric center). When changing the eyepoint use the same units as specified for the screen dimensions. For example, if the cylinder or dome radius was entered in inches, make adjustments to the eyepoint in inches as well.

• Left/Right: Adjust the eyepoint left or right relative to the viewer, or along the X-axis in the screen coordinate system. Positive adjustments move the eyepoint to the right and negative adjustments to the left.
• Down/Up: Adjust the eyepoint down or up relative to the viewer, or along the Y-axis in the screen coordinate system. Positive adjustments move the eyepoint down and negative adjustments move the eyepoint up. Note this is the opposite of what you might expect.
• Forward/Backward: Adjust the eye point towards or away from the screen relative to the viewer, or along the Z-axis in the screen coordinate system. Positive adjustments move the eyepoint forward and negative adjustments move the eyepoint backward.

View Direction

View Direction is the rotational element of the eye point. It is used to adjust the forward-looking direction of the viewer.

• Yaw: Rotation around the Y-axis in the screen coordinate system. This will rotate the view left or right. Measured in degrees with positive to the right and negative to the left
• Pitch: Rotation around the X-axis in the screen coordinate system. This will rotate the view up or down. Measured in degrees with positive down and negative up.
• Roll: Rotation around the Z-axis in the screen coordinate system. This will rotate the view clockwise or counter-clockwise. Measured in degrees with positive clockwise and negative counter-clockwise.

To change your eye point, enter the appropriate values and then click Update Calibration

Setting the Eyepoint Example

If you have a system with a cockpit that is located a half meter behind, one meter to the left, and half a meter below the geometric center of the screen, you would enter the following values:

TABLE 53. EYEPOINT SETTING EXAMPLE

	left/right	-1
	up/down	0.5
	in/out	-0-5

PERSPECTIVE EYEPOINT VS VIRTUAL CAMERA LOCATION

People often confuse what we call the "eyepoint" with the location of the virtual camera in the simulated environment of the IG. If the viewer actually moves forward and stands closer to the screen, you will want to change the eyepoint so that the program can calculate the perspective correction for the new viewing location. If you want to "move the view forward" and don't intend the viewer to actually stand up and walk closer to the screen, then you want to adjust the location of the virtual camera in the IG, not the eyepoint in Scalable.

 

Multiple Eyepoints

You can add additional eyepoints by clicking Add Eyepoint. This is useful if your simulator uses multiple cockpits of different heights, or if you wish to switch between favoring the pilot/copilot/centered, etc. Any situation where the viewer would be looking at the screen from a different location.

Each eyepoint is calculated separately and will generate it's own set of output files. The file names will be the similar to the default, but with a view profile number added in. For example:

TABLE 54. PERSPECTIVE PANEL MULTIPLE EYEPOINTS

Eyepoint	Perspective warp file name
First/Default	ScalableData.ol
Second	ScalableData.vp2.ol
Second	ScalableData.vp3.ol
…	…

 

 

Perspective Frusta

The Frusta Settings show the automatically generated frustum information for each projector with respect to the current eye point. This information is useful if you must manually enter the frustum settings into an image generator or other system.

MY IG REQUIRES A MESH FILE FOR EACH PROJECTOR

Scalable Display Manager defaults to generating a mesh file for each discrete graphics card. If your image generator instead requires a single mesh per projector you can change this

1. Find Global Settings - Applies to all eyepoints near the bottom of the Perspective panel.
   
2. Select Projector next to Make frustum per.
3. Click Update Calibration to generate the new mesh files.

FRUSTUM

After completing perspective calibration, frustum information will appear. Depending on whether "Per Graphics card" or "Per Projector" mesh generation was chosen, there will be a list of Projectors/Graphics cards and corresponding frustum information.

Tuning

Scalable Display Manager provides additional capabilities for tuning the calibration result such as the tweaking of edge blends and the refinement of the image border. These panels should only be used after ensuring the information in the previous panels has been entered as accurately as possible.

Screen Fitting Panel

The Screen Fitting panel allows the border of the calibrated image to be adjusted to better match the physi-cal boundary of the screen. This option is only available for specific screen types including Flat, Cylinder, and Dome Section. Before adjusting the screen fit it is best to ensure the screen has been defined properly and that the boundary points have been accurately placed. If you find that large adjustments are required to achieve a proper screen fit, please double-check the geometry of the screen and the placement of the control points.

Refine the Screen Borders

Drag the points of the square until the borders of the image align with the physical screen.

1. Click and drag a point towards the physical edge of the screen.
2. Repeat for all edges that are not aligned.
3. Click Update Calibration to save your changes to the mesh file.

Fine Movements

Use the mouse wheel to zoom in on the square. As you zoom in, the points will move in finer increments.

Add an Additional Point

To more accurately follow the border of the screen, add a new control point.

1. Right-click on the boundary line closest to where you wish to add a point.
2. Click Add Control Point.

Test Images

Test images are available for assessing the quality of the final image. Select a test image to use it is the primary background image when adjusting the screen fit.

Keyboard Controls

After selecting a control point, the user can use the arrow keys on keyboard for finer adjustments. Arrow key adjustments move the control points in much smaller increments. Holding while pressing an arrow key results in larger movements.

Color & Intensity Panel

The Color & Intensity panel allows for automatic and manual correction of color and intensity variations across the screen. The correction is applied by making adjustments on a per projector basis using a grid.

Auto-Calibration Options

“Match color to” options:

• Master projector: Use the drop down to select which projector you want to match to
• Standard Illuminant D65: Use this option to match projectors to the standard D65 white point
• Custom white balance: Use the RGB sliders (relative amounts, max 1.0) to achieve a custom white balance
• Custom target: Capture the current color result as a custom matching target to be reproduced by the auto-calibration

Color matching options:

• Matching preference slider: This slider lets you set the balance between optimizing for uniformity or brightness. For example, pushing the slider all the way to uniformity will result in a uniform screen using the lowest brightness found across the projectors. You can push the slider more towards Brightness for a brighter, but potentially less uniform result.
• Grid density: This determines the number of grid points each projector will be broken up into for calibra-tion. A higher grid density breaks up the projector into smaller parts to calibrate and can be more accurate.
• Intensity: This sets the number of intensity/brightness levels the calibration will be performed at. The options are 1, 2, or 4 layers. If you notice that after calibrating at 1 layer that a full white looks off, try calibrating at 2 or 4 layers (or increasing the grid density
  • 1 layer(s) calibrates at 75%
  • 1 layer(s) calibrates at 100% and 50%
  • 4 layer(s) calibrates at 100%, 75%, 50%, and 25%

Layers (Advanced)

Adding layers will allow the correction to be specialized depending on the intensity of the input image. For example, the 100% layer allows the correction to be specialized for bright images while the 50% layer applies to images with mid-range intensities. Up to four layers can be created: 100%, 75%, 50%, 25%. Selecting a layer will automatically display an image with matching intensity.

Toolbar Functions

TABLE 55. COLOR & INTENSITY TOOLBAR FUNCTION

Tool	Function
	Projector selection drop down menu
	Subdivide the grid to make finer adjustments (+)
	Unsubdivide the grid to make coarser adjustments (-)
	Undo the previous action (Ctrl + Z)
	Redo the previous action (Ctrl + Y)
	Reset the adjustment for the selected projector to its original state
	Add layer(s) to adjust intensity and color at different input ranges
	Remove layer(s)
	Flip the adjustments horizontally
	Flip the adjustments vertically
	Copy the current projector’s adjustments to other projectors
	Intensity level to be adjusted

Copy Intensity

The settings from one projector can be copied directly to other projectors. To do so, click on the "Copy Intensity..." button in the toolbar. This will open the "Copy Intensity" window.

Select the projectors you wish to receive a copy of the data and click OK to copy.

This is very useful if several of your projectors have similar intensity variations you are trying to correct out, such as central hotspots due to rear projection or bright top/dark bottom because the projectors are mounted high and keystoned aiming down. Doing a rough initial correction and copying it to all similar projectors as a starting point saves a lot of time.

Mouse & Keyboard Controls

TABLE 56. COLOR & INTENSITY KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

Orthographic Tweaking Panel

The Orthographic Tweaking panel allows for manual correction of non-uniformity in the final calibrated image. This may be necessary for circumstances where the physical screen geometry is non-uniform or deviates from its ideal geometric parameters. Before attempting to use the orthographic tweaking feature, all attempts should be made to ensure the accuracy of the screen parameters and placement of the control points.

Orthographic Tweaking Procedure

ORTHOGRAPHIC TWEAKING PROCEDURE

1. Using the yellow grid displayed on the screen as a guide, adjust the position of each grid point to improve the image uniformity.
2. Subdivide the grid using the toolbar and use the added grid points to make finer adjustments.
3. Repeat steps 1-2 above until satisfied with the image uniformity.
4. Use the Update Calibration button to apply the adjustments to the final calibration.
   

Toolbar Functions

TABLE 57. ORTHOGRAPHIC TWEAKING TOOLBAR FUNCTIONS

Tool	Function
	Grid point edit mode (1)
	Latitude line edit mode(2)
	Longitude line edit mode (3)
	Subdivide the grid to achieve finer adjustments (+)
	Unsubdivide the grid to achieve coarser adjustments (-)
	Subdivide the grid in y-axis
	Unsubdidvide the grid in y-axis
	Subdivide the grid in x-axis
	Unsubdidvide the grid in x-axis
	Fit the grid to the current window size (F)
	Undo the previous adjustment (Ctrl + Z)
	Redo the previous adjustment (Ctrl + Y)
	Reset the grid to its original state removing all adjustments

Mouse & Keyboard Controls

TABLE 58. ORTHOGRAPHIC TWEAKING MOUSE & KEYBOARD CONTROLS

Perspective Tweaking Panel

The Perspective Tweaking panel allows the perspective calibration of the display to be adjusted manually. This is often useful in correcting small errors in the calibration caused by inaccuracies in the screen model, screen parameters, or placement of the boundary points.

Tweaking the Mesh

1. Begin with a coarse mesh subdivision and adjust each point to its proper location on the screen.
2. Subdivide the mesh and adjust the added points to achieve finer adjustment of the calibration.
3. Repeat steps 1-2 above until satisfied with the perspective calibration.

Navigating the Mesh

Toolbar Functions

TABLE 59. PERSPECTIVE TWEAKING TOOLBAR FUNCTIONS

Tool	Function
	Grid point edit mode (1)
	Latitude line edit mode(2)
	Longitude line edit mode (3)
	Subdivide the grid to achieve finer adjustments (+)
	Unsubdivide the grid to achieve coarser adjustments (-)
	Undo the previous adjustment (Ctrl + Z)
	Redo the previous adjustment (Ctrl + Y)
	Reset the grid to its original state removing all adjustments

Mouse & Keyboard Controls

Accurate placement of the points can also be achieved by using the keyboard shortcuts.

TABLE 60. PERSPECTIVE TWEAKING MOUSE & KEYBOARD CONTROL

Image Masking Panel

The Image Masking panel allows for portions of the final image to be removed. This is useful when perform-ing cutouts (e.g. removing a doorway that is not represented in the screen mode or blacking out a portion of the final image falling onto the front of a cockpit).

Creating or editing a mask

1. Select the camera you wish to mask.
2. Select the projector you wish to mask.
3. If you have a very large or wide screen you may want to raise the mask resolution before starting. Changing the mask resolution will reset the mask. See the the next section for more information. Fixing Aliasing in the Mask [152]
4. Choose between the cursor edit tool or the shape edit tool. Click the appropriate button top left of the toolbar.
   • Cursor edit tool
     This is selected by default. It allows you to draw directly onto the image with an adjustable size brush.
   • Shape edit tool
     Allows you to draw a multi sided shape using straight or curved lines. This often gives the best results. It creates clean smooth edges that look nicer than what most people can achieve when using the cursor tool.
     • Click and drag to create the initial shape (a rectangle).
     • Click and drag any corner to move it.
     • Click along a line segment to add a new corner at that location.
     • Hit Spacebar with a corner selected to turn it into a curved line. Hitting Spacebar again will turn it back into an angled corner.
     • Hit Enter when done to stop editing the shape and apply it to the mask.
       

       CAUTION

       If you don't hit Enter the shape will not be committed and become part of the mask.

        
5. Click to switch to subtraction mode if you blacked out too large an area and need to erase portions of the mask.
6. Use the preview displayed on your projection screen as a guide to mask out any areas of the final image that you wish.
   Use the camera view in the GUI to mask out any areas of the camera image you wish to black out in all calibration photos during Data Collection.
   Use the preview displayed through your projector as a guide to mask out any areas of the projector that you wish to black out in the calibration patterns during Data Collection.
7. For more advanced editing:
   You can export the mask, edit it with any image editing application, then re import it using the buttons on the right side of the toolbar. This is useful if you want to blur an edge or create a shaded gradient. The software can apply masks with any shade of gray. It cannot use colored masks.
8. Use the Update Calibration button to apply the mask to the final calibration.

Fixing Aliasing in the Mask

TABLE 61. MASK RESOLUTION

If the mask resolution is too low then you will likely see aliasing artifacts along the edges of the mask that give it a jagged appearance. Selecting the Mask Resolution button at the top will open a new window that allows you to change the horizontal and vertical resolution of the mask.	An example of low resolution aliasing. Here they are trying to black out all light hitting the front of a cockpit. This could be improved with a higher resolution mask and a little more time spent shaping the mask to match the front of the cockpit.

Toolbar Functions

TABLE 62. IMAGE MASKING TOOLBAR FUNCTIONS

Tool	Function
	Shape edit mode (1)
	Cursor edit mode (2)
	Edits will add to mask
	Edits will subtract from mask
	Adjust the mask resolution (Opens a new window)
	Select the brush size
	Fit the mask to the current window size (F)
	To reverse your last action
	To reverse your last Undo
	Reset the mask to its original state removing all edits
	Import a mask from disk
	Export the mask to disk

Keyboard and Mouse Controls

Accurate masking can be achieved using the keyboard and mouse.

TABLE 63. IMAGE MASKING KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS AND MOUSE CONTROLS

Black Level Panel

The black level panel provides the capability to correct areas of uneven intensity across an image that may appear when viewing dark scenes (see below). These areas of uneven intensity are caused by the inability of projectors to completely eliminate all outgoing light and display a true black.

TABLE 54. BLACK LEVEL

Black Level Before Correction	Black Level After Correction

Basic Correction

The panel shows each detected region on the screen where there may be a change in image intensity as the image transitions from one projector image to another.

PROCEDURE

1. Select each region one at a time and apply an appropriate uplift using the uplift slider. For each selected region, the projectors occupying that region will be displayed. If there are multiple projectors occupying a region, the uplift will be distributed equally between them.
2. Use the "Update Calibration" button to apply the correction results to the final calibration.
   

 Advanced Correction

The advanced correction tab enables the image to be further corrected at intensities that are slightly brighter than pure black.

PROCEDURE

To use this feature, adjust the "Image Intensity" slider slightly up from 0 (pure black) and observe the quality of the black level correction at e.g. intensity 25 (dark grey). If you find the image could benefit from further adjustment, use the "scale" sliders underneath to adjust the correction. Each slider is designated to affect certain regions of the display based on the number of overlapping projectors in that region. Note: The scale sliders will have no effect at image intensity 0.

Collimation Panel

The Collimation Panel allows for manual adjustments to the final image on collimated displays. This is often useful in correcting small errors in the calibration caused by distortion from the mirror, inaccuracies in the screen model, screen parameters, or placement of the boundary points.

 Automatic Grid Adjustment

Before attempting manual tweaking it is recommended to first try the automatic tweaking tool.

1. Click the dropdown menu for Automatic Grid Adjustment to access the tool.
2. Fill in the eyepoint fields with the correct locations of the pilot and copilot eyepoints relative to the origin of the screen geometry selected in the Screens panel and enter the correct mirror dimensions.
3. Click the Auto Adjust button to begin the automatic adjustment.
4. If the result is satisfactory, finish the calibration by clicking Update Calibration.
5. If the result requires further improvement, move onto manual adjustments.
6. Optionally, the slider named “Blend Bias” can be used to create a custom grid adjustment that is more favorable to either the pilot or the copilot in terms of the geometric accuracy of the result as viewed from that position through the mirror. By default, this slider will favor both eyepoints equally.
7. Begin with a 5 degree subdivision and adjust each point to its proper location as viewed from the design eyepoint through the mirror. A theodolite is often a useful aid when performing these adjustments.
8. If more granularity is required (especially near the edges of a mylar mirror), move to a 1 degree subdivision and perform additional tweaks.
9. Once all mesh adjustments have been completed, the Smooth Mesh button in the toolbar can be

Manually Tweaking the Mesh

used to reduce sharp transitions that may have been introduced by the adjustments performed on the mesh. You may click this button multiple times for further smoothing. If the smoothing tool does not seem to be making any improvements to the image, use the Undo button in the toolbar to revert back to the previous state.

Toolbar Functions

TABLE 65. COLLIMATION TWEAKING TOOLBAR FUNCTIONS

Mouse & Keyboard Controls

Accurate adjustment of the points can also be achieved using keyboard shortcuts. It is highly recommended to use the keyboard for fine adjustments.

TABLE 66. COLLIMATION TWEAKING MOUSE & KEYBOARD CONTROLS

Managment and Support

Export Options Panel

The Export Panel allows the user to select alternative forms of warp and blend outputs such as Unreal Engine, MPCDI, and NVIDIA.

Global Options

These options affect the directory that warp files are written to and control edge blending regardless of the warp application method selected.

Allows you to specify where the output warp and blend files will be saved on each PC driving a projector. Each PC will automatically get the files that pertain to its own projectors at the end of each calibration.

Most Scalable SDK integrated applications expect to find these files in our default location. There are a small number of applications that have a different preferred directory, which you can set here.

Allows you to entirely enable or disable software blending. Uncheck this box if you are using a hardware based blending solution such as optical baffles or blend plates.

Allows you to output an additional set of files that have blending disabled. The unblended files will have "_LD" appended to each file name. For example: ScalableData_LD.ol is the unblended version of ScalableDa-ta.ol. This is usually used when building a system that can switch between software and optical blending.

Warp Application Methods

Projector Control Panel

The Projector Control panel allows you to connect to a projector over the network to control its settings. Unlike other pages in our software (which operate by modifying the video signal) this page is directly communicating with the projector and sending it various commands using the projector's network communi-cation API.

Supported Projectors

The list of supported projectors is currently limited. Communication interfaces and APIs for different models and manufacturers vary substantially and often require custom drivers to be written. If you would like to use a projector that we do not currently support, please contact us to discuss it.

The specific settings available will vary depending on projector model. If there is a setting important to you that is not shown please contact your Scalable Display representative to inquire about including it in a future version of the software.

Supported Projector Models

• Barco Pulse
  Barco Pulse is used on newer F series projectors (F70, F80, F90, F40, F400), UDX and UDM projectors, and a few others.
• Barco F50
  An older projector that does not use Pulse.
• Norxe Unify
  Norxe Unify is used on all current and future Norxe projectors. Older models, specifically the P1, P1+, and P2 do not support it.

Supported Features

Feature	Norxe	Bacro
LED Power	Yes	Yes
Shutter	Yes	Yes
Input Source	Yes	Yes
Red Gain	Yes	No
Green Gain	Yes	No
Blue Gain	Yes	No
Enable Iris	Yes	Yes
Iris Control	Yes	Yes
Enable Blacklevel	No	Yes
Blacklevel Intensity	No	Yes
Blacklevel Red Gain	No	Yes
Blaclevel Green Gain	No	Yes
Blacklevel Blue Gain	No	Yes
Enable IR	Yes	No
IR Power	Yes	Yes
IR Red Gain	Yes	Yes
IR Green Gain	Yes	Yes
IR Blue Gain	Yes	Yes
Trigger Port 1	No	Yes
Trigger Port 2	No	Yes
Enable Optical Blends	Yes	No
Enable CLO	Yes	No
Enable WPT	Yes	No
Enable Pixel Shift	Yes	No

 

 

Adding Projectors

1. Select the type of projector you have from the dropdown menu. Note this is a global setting and can be changed later.
   
2. Click "Add Projector" to add a projector entry to the page. Repeat to add multiple projectors to your list.
3. Click in the white box for each projector and type in its IP address.
   
4. Click "Connect All" at the bottom of the list to connect to all projectors. If it connects, the colored circle will turn green. If it fails to connect, it will remain red.

TABLE 67. PROJECTOR CONTROL LIST BUTTONS

Projector Settings

Available settings will vary from projector to projector. We try to include all the settings we believe will be important to projection blending. If there are any missing that you believe are important, or just others you would like to control through this page, please let us know and we may be able to add them in a future release.

Setting names vary between projector models. Individual manufacturers may use different terms to refer to similar settings.

TABLE 68. COMMON PROJECTOR SETTINGS

Custom Projector Profiles

You can create profiles to customize the projector settings for all or each one of the projectors in your sys-tem. You can quickly change between projector settings and select which profile to apply during calibration.

This is useful as a way to ensure that your projector settings are never altered. You can configure it to apply the best projector settings every time you recalibrate, so it will automatically recover if someone has used the projector remote to change the settings and left the system in a bad state.

This is also useful as a way to create multiple profiles of projector settings. For example you could save a Bright/Day profile with LED power maxed out and optical blends disabled, and a Dark/Night profile with LED power lowered and optical blends enabled. You can save up to 10 different profiles.

HOW TO CREATE A NEW PROJECTOR SETTINGS PROFILE

1. Click "Edit Profiles" at the bottom of the Projector Control page.
2. Click "Add Profile".
3. Click on the Pencil icon to rename the profile, or leave it named "Profile 1".
4. On the left, you can adjust the Global settings that will apply to all projectors.
5. On the right, you can override the global settings to customize individual settings on individual projec-tors. Select the projector # you wish to customize using the dropdown on the right side. Then check the box next to any settings you want to customize on that specific projector.
6. As you are adjusting settings, you can hit Apply Profile to apply all current settings to your projectors to see what they look like. You can also check the "Apply profile changes in real time" checkbox to continually send settings to the projector as you change them.
7. All settings are saved as part of the profile as you make changes. You do not need to hit Save. You can just close the Profile Editor popup window when you are finished.

HOW TO CAPTURE CURRENT PROJECTOR SETTINGS

Profiles are saved along the bottom of the Projector Control page.

1. Click on "Capture Current Settings"
2. A new profile called "CaptureProfile #" will be created containing the current projector settings.
3. This profile can be edit or changed using the "Edit Profile ..." icon .

HOW TO APPLY A SAVED PROJECTOR SETTINGS PROFILE

Profiles are saved along the bottom of the Projector Control page.

1. Click the name of the profile you with to apply. Be careful not to click the star. The profile name should be highlighted in blue.
2. Click the Apply Profile button.

HOW TO SET A PROFILE TO BE AUTOMATICALLY APPLIED EVERY TIME YOU RECALIBRATE THE SYSTEM

Profiles are saved along the bottom of the Projector Control page.

1. Click the Star next to the profile name you want to be automatically applied when recalibrating.
2. The profile with a yellow star will be applied every time you recalibrate the system. Click the star again to disable it if you do not want the software to apply a profile every time it recalibrates.

Management Panel

The Management Panel allows you to quickly manage your calibrated display.

Warp and Blend Management

This is only present if you have selected NVIDIA as your warp application method on the Export Options page.

Use the Engage or Disengage buttons to enable or disable the warp.

Engage on Startup

Users can configure the system to engage the warp on system startup by selecting one of the two options shown above.

Selecting the "Immediately" button will attempt to engage the warp immediately on system startup. Users may run into issues with this option if the system attempts to engage a warp before the graphics drivers are loaded. While in theory graphics drivers load immediately on system startup, in practice this may not always be the case. If issues are encountered, select the "After a 30 second delay" button which will give the system some time to load drivers before attempting to engage the warp.

In either case, when a selection is made Windows will prompt the user to confirm the system change. Essentially, this option adds a Scalable engage script to the system startup folder which is why Windows will ask for confirmation. If you are using remote machines you will have to confirm the system change on the remote machines.

Hardware Warp and Blend

This is only present if you have a Scalable Display Manager for Warping Boxes version of the software, and "Enable Warping Box Connections" is selected on the Warping Box panel.

Use the Engage or Disengage buttons to enable or disable the warp on the warping boxes.

The "Warp to Engage" selector on the right lets you change which warp will be engaged. This is most commonly used if you have set up multiple eyepoints on the Perspective page, or if you wish to switch between an orthographic warp (a 2D "stretch to fit" warp) and a 3D perspective warp with an eyepoint.

Redistribute Outputs

Redistribute Outputs distributes the files from your last calibration to each remote PC.

It is very rare to need to do this manually. It happens automatically at the end of every new calibration or update to the calibration. The most common use is if you re imaged or swapped out a remote PC and it no longer has the current calibration files. Sending the files again by clicking Redistribute Outputs is much faster than running a new calibration.

Recalibration Scheduler

The system can recalibrate itself without needing to manually Recalibrate. It can be scheduled to do so on a Daily or Weekly basis, or only One time. This allows the system to maintain optimal calibration automatically.

Scalable Commander Integration

Scalable Commander is intended to be used in conjunction with an existing auto-calibrating Scalable soft-ware application, which includes Scalable Display Manager (SDM), Scalable Desktop, Atlas, and Scalable Panel Assembly (SPA)

Enabling this option will allow Scalable Commander to connect to this system for performing control and maintenance tasks such as recalibrating.

Test Images Panel

The Test Images panel provides a few simple test patterns that are useful in evaluating the display.

Test Images

Click one of the image icons to display the test pattern across your display. Keep in mind that these are just stretched image files. If you have a very high resolution or very wide screen you may wish to create your own test images that are a better fit for your system. Click Browse for Image File to display any custom images. You can also click Pick Color to display an unblended solid color across all projectors. If you want to see a blended solid color, make a quick single color image in Paint and show it as a custom test image.

Perspective Images

Perspective images are images of a 3D scene rendered for a designated eyepoint. This eyepoint is the eye location and view direction specified in the Perspective panel.

Our Perspective Scene is a sphere with grid lines. It is a very simple OpenGL program that uses our SDK to read and apply the calibration, the same as any other application using our SDK. If you see a problem in your IG image and are not sure if it is due to an IG setting or due to the calibration files, use the perspective test images to check. If the problem is visible in the perspective test images then it is in the calibration files and can be fixed by troubleshooting in SDM.

PerspectiveScene is a 5 degree grid, with a black backround, rotated so that the lines converge in front of the viewer.

PerspectiveSceneDense is a 1 degree grid, with a white background, rotated so that the lines converge above the viewer. This pattern is essentially a 1 degree latitude/longitude grid and is often the best image to look at while troubleshooting.

New Perspective Image allows you to create custom patterns. You can alter line spacing, dot spacing, rotation, and background color of the sphere.

Backup/Restore

Restore Points let you safely make changes and restore previous set-tings/calibrations

A restore point contains a copy of all current settings and all current calibration files for the system. If you save a Restore Point first, you can safely try making changes to a system and be able to easily revert to the previous settings if need be.

A restore point or backup is created automatically after every Calibration or Update Calibration. The soft-ware will maintain up to 10 automated restore points created in this way. Additionally, a restore point can be created manually at any time using the Back Up/Restore feature.

It is highly recommended that the configuration is backed up manually once the system setup has been completed.

Backup Procedure

To back up your current configuration:

1. Click the Scalable Button → Click Configuration → Click Back Up/Restore
   
2. Click New.
   
3. Give the backup a name such as "Good Calibration 9-15-2020” It is optional to add a description that can help further identify the backup.
   
4. Click Create → Click OK when it tells you the backup has completed.

Restore Procedure

If the current configuration becomes unusable for some reason, you can restore a previously created backup as follows:

1. Click the Scalable Button → Click Configuration → Back Up/Restore
   
   

   NOTE

   Loading a restore point will wipe out your current settings and calibration. We recommend you stop and save a new restore point first in case you may want to come back and look at these settings/results.

    
2. Select the backup and click Restore. Scalable will restart with the restored settings and calibration applied.
   
3. Loading a Restore Point restores all settings and the results of a calibration to the calibration PC. However, it does not automatically push the restored calibration files out to your IGs.
   1. If you loaded the Restore Point because it had a good calibration you want your IGs to use:
      1. Click Management on the sidebar (bottom of the list, under Playback)
      2. Click Redistribute Outputs. This will push the restored calibration files out to your IGs.
   2. If you loaded the Restore Point because it had good settings, but projectors have moved since you made it and you need to recalibrate:
      1. Follow the standard geometry calibration instructions.

Starting Over

If necessary, the configuration can be completely reset to its initial state. This will cause any configuration changes to be lost, and only the installed software license will be carried over. Before attempting a configura-tion reset, please create a backup/restore point for the current configuration.

To perform a full configuration reset:

1. Click the Scalable button → Full Configuration Reset
   
2. Click OK to proceed with the reset. Software will restart
   

Importing and Exporting Restore Points

It is good practice to export a restore point from time to time and save it to an external location. Copy the exported restore point file to a USB stick, or a network location, or burn it to a CD. This will allow you to recover if the PC you are currently using dies or if the hard drive fails.

1. Click the Scalable button → Back Up/Restore
   
2. Click Import. A new window will appear and select the backup from the external location.
   
3. Select the backup and click Restore. Scalable will restart and have the settings that were backed up.
   

1. Click the Scalable button → Back Up/Restore
   
2. Select the backup and click Export. A new window will appear and save the backup in an external location.
   

Datasets Panel

The Datasets panel provides a summary of important information about data that was collected during a calibration. It is primarily intended to be used as a diagnostic and troubleshooting tool. It can be helpful to save a dataset from the system right after install when you know everything is working. This way if you ever do have trouble it becomes straightforward to identify what changed, and fix it.

Additionally, the Datasets panel allows the comparison of two different datasets. This can prove useful when trying to determine what about a system has changed over a span of time or when trying to replicate a system configuration from a master backup.

The Datasets panel also supports the ability to import and export datasets that have been collected on the system.

The information in the Datasets panel is divided into 5 different sections:

• General - High-level information about the dataset
• 3D Viewer - Visualization of the screen as well as cameras & projectors
• Settings - Important configuration settings
• Advanced - All advanced options that been configured for the system
• Calibration Images - A collection of diagnostic images as well as the original calibration images

Datasets Panel Tabs

Verify the following for each image:

The 3D Viewer tab shows a rendering of the screen geometry. Optionally, this rendering can be overlaid with a visualization of the projector or camera layout. In addition, support for showing the camera weights of each camera is displayed. The display of data can be toggled between two selected datasets for easy comparison.

The Settings tab distills the software configuration into several important sections which are likely to have a large impact on the calibration result. Differences between selected datasets are highlighted automatically.

The Advanced tab shows a list of all Advanced Options that have been entered for the system. If a compari-son dataset is loaded, any differences will be highlighted.

Calibration Images

The Calibration Images tab provides a viewer for examining both the raw calibration images as well as the several types of diagnostic images. The images can be filtered based on a projector or camera number as well as image type. If a comparison dataset is loaded, it is possible to toggle the display of the selected image between the two datasets.

When troubleshooting, it is highly recommended to examine both the "Detected Spots" and "Camera Align-ment' image categories.

As part of the calibration, the software finds the center of each white spot and connects them into a grid. Verify the following for each image:

• There is a grid of blue lines connecting the spots.
• The blue lines connecting do not cross one another.
• There are no holes or missing sections of connected lines.
• The lines correctly pass through the center of each spot.

Most things that can go wrong make sense if you look at the image and think about why finding spot centers and connecting them might be hard. If there is something blocking part of the projector or camera it won't see spots there. If the camera is out of focus the spots might blur into each other. If the image is extremely

bright/dark it might not be able to make out the white spots against the black background. If the camera mount slipped it might not see the whole screen anymore. Etc.

If any of the above issues are present, please adjust your camera settings and attempt the calibration again.

Verify the following for each image:

• A wireframe mesh of the screen is displayed. The outline of the mesh should match the silhouette of the screen in the image.
• The location of the control points will be displayed as red circles with their control point number. Verify that each point is aligned with its corresponding blue point.
• For curved screens, verify that at least 6 red control points are displayed in the image.

If any of the above issues are present, please double-check the accuracy of the control point locations and screen parameters.

Advanced Options

What are Advanced Options?

Advanced Options are software variables that are not used frequently enough to be implemented as settings in the main GUI. They let the software adapt to a huge variety of odd situations and challenging calibration environments. If you call for support we may ask you to enter an Advanced Option to fix your problem.

How to add an Advanced Option

1. Click blue Scalable button top left → Support → Advanced Options.
2. Click Add.
3. Enter the option name, type, and value.
4. Click Accept.
5. Click Finish when done.
6. Click blue Scalable button top left → Restart

(Only some options actually need a restart, but it's a good habit and only takes a second)

Troubleshooting

Calibration Images

Camera Alignment

Verify the following for each image:

• A wireframe mesh of the screen is displayed. The outline of the mesh should match the silhouette of the screen in the image.
• The location of the control points will be displayed as red circles with their control point number. Verify that each point is aligned with its corresponding blue point.
• For curved screens, verify that at least 6 red control points are displayed in the image.

If any of the above issues are present, please double-check the accuracy of the control point locations and screen parameters.

Detected Spots

As part of the calibration, the software finds the center of each white spot and connects them into a grid. Verify the following for each image:

• There is a grid of blue lines connecting the spots.
• The blue lines connecting do not cross one another.
• There are no holes or missing sections of connected lines.
• The lines correctly pass through the center of each spot.

Most things that can go wrong make sense if you look at the image and think about why finding spot centers and connecting them might be hard. If there is something blocking part of the projector or camera it won't see spots there. If the camera is out of focus the spots might blur into each other. If the image is extremely bright/dark it might not be able to make out the white spots against the black background. If the camera mount slipped it might not see the whole screen anymore. Etc.

If any of the above issues are present, please adjust your camera settings and attempt the calibration again.

Troubleshooting Display Client (IG) Communications

If you get an error about communicating with the Display Clients while using SDM:

1. Click Display Clients on the left sidebar. The left column will show you all Display Clients found on the network. The right column will show you the Display Clients assigned to this system. If SDM cannot communicate with any of the assigned Display Clients those will have a red status icon. You can hit the Refresh button in between the columns to retest communications and check if the problem is fixed as you perform the steps below.
   
2. If no Display Clients are found:
   1. Confirm the ethernet cable is plugged into the calibration PC.
   2. Confirm the other end of the ethernet cable is plugged into the same network as your IG PCs.
   3. Try unplugging and replugging each end of the cable.
   4. Try disabling and reenabling the ethernet port.
   5. Continue to follow the procedure below.
3. If some Display Clients are found and some are missing:
   1. Confirm that the missing IGs are turned on.
   2. Try pinging the IP address of the missing IG.
      1. Go to Start Menu> Windows System > Command Prompt.
      2. Type “ping 192.168.0.1” (using the IP of the missing display client instead of 192.168.0.1) and then hit enter.
      3. If ping gives you an error reboot the affected IG computer and try again. Contact the network administrator for assistance if ping still fails after reboot.
      4. If ping succeeds, restart the Display Client on that IG.
         1. VNC into the IG.
         2. Go to Start menu → Scalable Display → Scalable Display Client.
            If it was not already running, this will start it. If it was already running, it will automatically close and then restart it for you.
   3. Try rebooting the affected IGs.

Troubleshooting GigE Camera Communications

If you get an error about communicating with the cameras while using Scalable Display Manager:

If no cameras are found:

1. Confirm the ethernet cable is plugged into your calibration PC.
2. Confirm the other end of the ethernet cable is plugged into your switch.
3. Try unplugging and replugging each end of the cable.
4. Try disabling and reenabling the ethernet port.
5. Check that the POE switch is powered and running correctly.
6. Try restarting the calibration PC.

If one camera is missing:

Use the Pylon IP Configurator to check if the camera is visible on the network and assigned a proper IP address.

If cameras show up on the Cameras page, but you get an error on the Data Collection page:

This indicates there is a more complicated networking problem. The connection is good enough for basic communication such as reporting serial numbers, etc but it starts to have errors and dropped connections when it is attempting to download high-resolution images and video. It could be a poor physical connection, or dropped packets caused by other traffic on the network. If the problem persists contact the administrator for assistance.

Upgrading Scalable Software

The Scalable installer will automatically import your existing configuration.

If your system is very complex, or you are doing a very large software version jump, or you just want an extra layer of backups, you can also take a couple minutes to manually save and and export your current configuration before running the new installer:

1. Click the Scalable Button → Click Configuration → Click Back Up/Restore
   
2. Click New.
   
3. Give the backup a name such as "Before Upgrade 2022-2-17”. It is optional to add a description that can help further identify the backup.
   
4. Click Create → Click OK when it tells you the backup has completed.
5. Export the restore point and save it in a safe location outside of the software. Select the restore point, and then click Export and choose desired location.
   
6. Run the installer for the new version of the software. During the installation process when prompted choose to "Restore the old configuration (Scalable Display Manager #.##.#.###)" and click Install.
   
7. If upgrading from any version of Scalable that is 6.0 or older: Your old license will no longer work and you will need to request a new license from the newly installed software. Please see documentation on How to Request a License.

Support

If you have any outstanding questions or support issues that you were unable to answer yourself, please do not hesitate to contact the Scalable Support Team.

The Support Team can be reached at (617) 864-9300 or support@scalabledisplay.com.

Exporting a Dataset

1. A dataset can be exported using the "Export Dataset" menu (shown below).
   
2. After opening the "Export Dataset" dialog, select the dataset you wish to export and click "Export...".
   

Uploading a Dataset

A dataset is a record of calibration. It contains the images taken during the calibration and the settings used. It is useful for debugging any problems you may encounter.

We may ask you to export and send us a dataset as part of troubleshooting. With it, we can emulate your system, duplicate the problem, test potential solutions, and then get back to you with instructions to fix your issue.

We also have a Dropbox folder set up to receive large files. Please zip files before uploading to Dropbox. Scalable Dropbox

Additional Data

A dataset folder allows us to see a representation of your screen, but it does have limitations. Support times can be dramatically reduced by providing additional information. If you have any of the following please include them:

• A known good data set from before your problem occurred.
• Pictures of the problem
• Close-ups of the issue
• Wide overview
• Multiple angles
• Engineering diagrams of the screen and projector layout
• Intended content to be displayed

Additional support data can be emailed to support@scalabledisplay.com.

Keyboard Shortcuts

The following is a list of keyboard shortcuts to assist with software use:

Global Shortcuts

• CTRL+E: Dataset Export Window Populates.
• CTRL+R: Configuration Back Up/Restore Window Populates.
• CTRL+O: Advanced Options Window Populates.
• CTRL+P: Saves a clip of all camera(s) currents FOVS to the Temp Folder.

Mapping Tweaking Specific

• P: Toggles whether to display the output of the selected Projector.
• C: Toggles whether to display the effect of the current Correction or tweaks for the selected projector.
• G: Toggles the display of the Grid.