Scalable Panel Assembly User Manual

Overview

Scalable Panel Assembly is a software-based platform for multi-projector, multi-megapixel display management. Scalable Panel Assembly 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 IGs running a Scalable integrated application. It serves as a general guide and overview of the Scalable Panel Assembly product. However, simulators vary and these instructions may not be appropriate for all installations.

PDF vs HTML Documentation

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 Panel Assembly 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

Factors to consider

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.

Physical Overlaps

Scalable Panel Assembly 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.

Projector Alignment

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 Panel Assembly 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

Keystoned and Warped Projectors Images
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.

Keystoned and Warped Projectors Images
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

Adjusting Projector Contrast

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.

Checking for oversaturation problems

It's easy to check if your projectors are oversaturating. Scalable Panel Assembly 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.

Camera Mounting

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

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.

HOW TO SET UP NVIDIA MOSAIC

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 Panel Assembly.

For Scalable Panel Assembly, 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 Panel Assembly, and the remote PCs require installation of the Scalable Display Client. Scalable Panel Assembly 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 Panel Assembly 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 Panel Assembly 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 Panel Assembly 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 Panel Assembly 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 Panel Assembly 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 Panel Assembly .
   
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. Additionally, 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 [43]
9. If the unlocking was unsuccessful the following message will appear. if so, please contact a Scalable representative.
   

The Scalable Panel Assembly 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.

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 Panel Assembly 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 Panel Assembly 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 Panel Assembly 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 SPA 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

Symbol	Status of the Display Client License
	Display Client is not licensed.
	Display Client is licensed.

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.

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 Panel Assembly running on your calibration PC.

Alternatively you can install the full Scalable Panel Assembly software on your remote PCs. It includes the Display Client. The downside is potential confusion if a user tries to open SPA 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 Panel Assembly 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.

    

Projectors Panel

The Projectors panel should accurately reflect the number and resolution of the displays connected to your computer. Scalable Panel Assembly 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.

    

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:

Pan Tilt Connections Panel

Pan-Tilt Cameras Function

Allows the software to use a camera mounted on a pan-tilt unit as the calibration method. When to use:

• When the screen deviates from ideal geometry, calibrating the system with a pan-tilt unit at the design eyepoint can improve calibration results substantially.
• Due to space or visibility restrictions that prevent a typical multi-camera setup (e.g. close quarters cockpit calibration).

Configure the pan-tilt device in the Pan-Tilt Connections panel. Issues communicating with the pan-tilt unit are typically due to a missing serial-to-USB device driver.

Configure the pan-tilt positions in the Data Collection panel.

Each position will function as if it were a separate camera on the rest of the software pages.

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 Scalable Panel Assembly 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.

Screens Panel

The Screens Panel allows you to define your screen in one of two ways. If your walls are perpendicular to each other and rectangular, the CAVE option is the best choice. If your walls are not perpendicular or rectangular or you want to manually define the screen, choose the Custom Geometry option.

SPA Screen Options

Options at the bottom of the page applying to all screen types

Camera calibrate single projector panels

By default, the software will use a camera to calibrate every panel. For panels that are illuminated by a single projector, manual calibration without a camera is also possible. If you wish to manually calibrate single projector panels, uncheck this option.

Overfill panels

By default, the projected imagery in each panel will be clipped in software to the end of the defined image boundary for the panel. On some systems, it is desirable to overfill or overproject the imagery on the panels and achieve this image clipping using a physical baffle. Often this produces a more desirable image edge.

Select this checkbox to enable overfilling.

Projector and Panel Order

The ordering of your projectors and panels is very important. You can not directly assign which projector #s belong to which panel #s. You tell the software how many projectors are on each panel, and then it starts filling them in starting with Projector 1 on Panel 1.

Projector and Panel Order Example

This is a simple CAVE room with a wide forward wall and narrow sidewalls. The side walls have 1 projector each and the wider forward wall has 2 projectors.

• Panel 1 (left wall) = Projector 1
• Panel 2 (forward wall) = Projector 2 Projector 3
• Panel 3 (right wall) = Projector 4

How to change projector and panel order

You can't change that ordering logic, but you can change which panel is panel #1 and which projector is projector #1 etc. Ultimately you need to get the software layout to match how you have wired your system. The projector physically aimed at your left panel must match the one the software has assigned to your left panel, and so on.

Adjust projector order

You can change which projector is assigned which number by going back to the Projectors page. If you are using multiple remote PCs you can change the order of the computers using the list on the right side of that page.

To change the ordering of multiple projectors attached to the same PC you have to adjust your Windows desktop layout on that PC. The software will label the projector at the top left of your desktop layout as projector #1, then count moving to the right. If the desktop layout has multiple rows it will then loop down to the left side of the next row and keep counting to the right.

Adjust panel order

If you are using the basic CAVE screen type you cannot change the order of the panels. Please adjust your projector order instead.

If you are using the advanced custom screen type you can change which panel is assigned which number by moving them up and down the list on the right side of the page.

Custom geometry example with multiple single projector panels

Imagine a large system with 10 panels and 10 projectors. The projector and panel ordering is all mixed up and does not match how the system is physically wired. Since each panel only has one projector, projector 1 will be on panel 1, and projector 2 will be on panel 2, etc. This means that your goal is to get all the red panel numbers shown on the Screens page to match up with all the green projector numbers that get projected onto your screen when you are on the Projectors page. Write down either the current panel #s or the current projector #s, then adjust the order on the other so that they match.

SPA CAVE Screen

Panels Used

CAVE screens may include up to 6 projection panels including 4 vertical walls plus the ceiling and floor. The 6 panels should be perpendicular to each other forming 90 degree angles to create the shape of a cube.

Select the panels in the provided list that will be used by your CAVE system. For each selected panel, also enter the number of projectors that will be used to illuminate the panel.

Screen Dimensions

Enter the dimensions of your screen in the units of your choosing. All dimensions should be entered as positive values.

SPA Custom Screen

Choose your Origin

Choose an origin for the coordinate system of your screen definition. Recommended choices for the origin include the intended viewer eyepoint or the geometric center of your screen (assuming your entire screen is not a single flat panel). If you will be performing a perspective calibration of the display, the eyepoint will

default to the origin of the screen coordinate system chosen here. Please note that the corner of a panel may not be used as the origin and that the origin must be located some distance away from the screen surface.

Define the first panel

Start by specifying the number of projectors that will illuminate this panel. If a panel has more than one projector, the software will blend them together in the overlap region. Projectors on the same panel will always be blended (conversely projectors on different panels will always be edge-butted along the panel boundary).

Panels are defined by entering the XYZ coordinates of each corner using a measurement unit of your choosing. Our coordinate system has these axes:

• +x axis pointing to the right
• +y axis pointing down
• +z axis pointing forward into the screen

The order you list the corners is very important. The first entry must be the bottom left corner of the facet. Bottom left to a person standing perpendicular to the facet and looking straight at it, not necessarily bottom left of the XYZ coordinate system. Continue in a counterclockwise fashion around the edge of the facet until you have added all corners. If your panel is a rectangle then the second corner will be bottom right, third top right, etc. Each panel must be planar but not necessarily a rectangle. Click Add Corner if you require more than 4 corners on a panel.

Add Remaining Panels

Click the Add Panel button and repeat the same procedure to specify the number of projectors and corner coordinates for each subsequent panel.

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.

Camera Assignment

If using multiple cameras with SPA you must tell the software which camera is aimed at which panel. You also have the option of running an updated Data Collection for one panel at a time in addition to running it for the entire system at once.

Assigning cameras to panels

The camera assignment menu is on the right under the camera settings. It lists out every panel and gives dropdowns to specify which camera sees each one. If this is not set correctly it will try to take photos of a panel with a camera that cannot see it, and the calibration will fail.

Selecting which panels to run Data Collection on

Under the Begin Data Collection button at the bottom right of the page there is a drop down to select which panel you wish to take new calibration photos of. It will run for all panels by default. You can also run one panel at a time. This is useful if:

• You are early in an install and want to get going on one panel before the others are ready
• You are troubleshooting a problem on one panel and want to save time instead of waiting for it to take new photos of all panels

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

Scalable Panel Assembly requires the image to appear with normal saturation in order to properly detect the patterns displayed during calibration. If the image presented to Scalable Panel Assembly is over or under-saturated, 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 15. DATA COLLECTION PATTERNS

White Pattern	5 Dot Pattern	Grid Pattern

Data Collection Error Actions

Some of the most common errors encountered during the data collection process have been included in the Error Actions. Error actions allow you to ignore issues with the data collection images which do not inhibit the data collection.

The error action below will be displayed when a camera cannot fully see a projected image. You are given the choice to "End Calibration" or "Ignore and Continue". If you are expecting that the entire projected image will not be seen, Ignore, and Continue. However, if you are not seeing the entire projected image for other reasons, you should End Calibration and correct the error at its source.

The software can not discern the difference between a projected image that does not fill the screen and one that fills the screen but spills off.

TABLE 16. 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.

REMEMBER ERROR ACTIONS

You can choose to remember your selection by checking the “Remember this action” checkbox which will give you the following options:

 

TABLE 17. ERROR ACTION CHOICES

Choice	Description
Remember this action for this projector for session	Do not stop the calibration for this error on this projector until the software is restarted
Remember this action for this projector forever	Never stop the calibration for this error on this project
Remember this action for all projectors for session	Do not stop the calibration for this error on any projector until the software is restarted
Remember this action for all projectors forever	Never stop the calibration for this error on any projector

 

 

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 18. 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 19. 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 [95]
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 20. CALIBRATION MASKING TOOLBAR FUNCTIONS

Tool	Function
	Shape edit mode (1)
	Cursor edit mode (2)
u
	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 21. CALIBRATION MASKING MOUSE AND KEYBOARD CONTROLS

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 [95]
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 22. CAMERA MASKING TOOLBAR FUNCTIONS

Tool	Function
	Shape edit mode
	Cursor edit mode
	Select the brush size
	Increase brush size
	Decrease brush size
	Decrease brush size
	Zoom in and out of the camera view
	Fit camera view to the 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
	Invert the masked and non-masked areas
	Import from disk
	Export to disk

Mouse & Keyboard Controls

TABLE 23. CAMERA MASKING MOUSE AND KEYBOARD CONTROLS

Image Boundary Panel

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

PLACING IMAGE BOUNDARY POINTS

1. Click on the panel you wish to set the boundary points for.
2. You will see a representation of the panel shaped as you defined it on the screens page.
3. Click on point #1 to select it. Remember point #1 is always the bottom left point.
4. Move the point so that it is aimed at the bottom left corner of the panel. You can click and drag for big shifts, but we strongly recommend using a keyboard to aim the point carefully at the corner. It is very difficult to do this accurately with a mouse.
5. Repeat to aim point #2 at the next corner. Remember point #2 will be the next one counterclockwise. If your panel is a rectangle that means point # 2 is bottom right.
   

   NOTE

   It's OK if the preview image temporarily distorts when you are first aiming your points. The software is drawing a preview of a rigid shape with corners at specific coordinates. By moving the points you are shifting / tilting / rotating that shape. There are often ways to arrange the points that could never happen to the corners of a rigid shape, making for a very odd preview. 

   This is common if you need to move your points far from their starting positions. The preview shape distorts as you move the first point a large amount, and stays distorted until you've finished moving the other points.

    

TABLE 24. IMAGE BOUNDARY KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

Perspective Panel

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

Perspective Frusta

Advanced Frusta Settings

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 Panel Assembly 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 Panel Assembly provides additional capabilities for tuning the calibration result such as the tweak-ing 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.

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 densit
  • 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 27. 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 28. COLOR & INTENSITY KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

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 [95]
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 29. 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 30. 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 actionTo 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 31. 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 32. 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.

Management 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.

Remote Output Directory

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.

Enable Edge Blends

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.

Output Both Blended and Unblended Files

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

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.

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 SPA.

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 recom mend 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.
   

1. 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 restar
   

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.

Importing a Restore Point

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.
   

Exporting a Restore Point

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.
   

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 datase
• 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

General Tab

Verify the following for each image:

3D Viewer Tab

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.

Settings Tab

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.

Advanced Tab

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.

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.

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.

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 Panel Assembly:

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.