Author: Maredith Byrd

We have upgraded the MIDEN! The new projectors use LEDs with much brighter and higher resolution using four Christie Digital M 4K25 RGB Laser Projectors. The new projectors use LEDs that have a longer lifespan. We used to have to limit how often and how long the MIDEN was run because the previous lamps had a very limited lifespan of just 1250 hours. For a 10′ x 10′ Screen, the resolution for each screen will be 2160×2160, which is double the previous resolution. There are now 25,000 hours of Lifespan at 100% brightness and 50,000 hours at 50% brightness.The new capabilities allow for two people to experience the view at once. They can see the same virtual content aligned to each of their unique perspectives and simultaneously interact with the content.

In a typical setup, 3D stereoscopic content (like what you would experience in a 3D movie) is projected onto three walls and the floor and stitched seamlessly together. Users wear a set of motion-tracked glasses that allow their perspective to be updated depending on where they are standing or looking, and use a motion-tracked video game controller to navigate beyond the confines of the 10’x10’ room. To the user wearing the 3D glasses, the projected content appears entirely to scale and has realistic depth – they can look underneath tables that appear to be situated in front of them, despite the table being projected onto one of the walls.

The MIDEN supports 3D Modeling formats exported by the most popular modeling software: Blender, 3ds Max, Maya, Sketchup, Rhino, Revit, etc. These models can be exported in the following formats and then imported into our “Jugular” software: OBJ, FBX, STL, and VRML formats. The MIDEN can also produce Unreal Engine scenes where we use the nDisplay plugin to split the scene into 4 different cameras to correspond with the 4 projectors in the MIDEN. 

MIDEN users experience immersion in a virtual environment without it blocking their view of themselves or their surroundings as a VR headset does. Since VR “CAVE” is a trademarked term, ours is called the MIDEN, which stands for Michigan Immersive Digital Experience Nexus and the MIDEN takes traditional “CAVE” technology much further – it is driven by our in-house developed rendering engine that affords more flexibility than a typical “CAVE” setup.

The MIDEN is more accessible than VR headsets, meaning it takes less time to set up and begin using compared to headsets. The game controller used is a standard Xbox-type gaming pad, familiar to most gamers. The MIDEN has increased immersion, the vision of the real world is not hidden, so users do not have to worry about trip hazards or becoming disoriented. The MIDEN users see their real body unlike in a VR headset where the body is most likely a virtual avatar. This results in less motion sickness. 

It can be used for Architectural Review, Data Analysis, Art Installations, Learning 3D modeling, and much more. From seeing the true scale of a structure in relation to the body to sensory experiences with unique visuals and spatialized audio, the MIDEN is capable of assisting these projects to a new level.

The MIDEN is available to anyone to use for a project, class exercise, or tour by request. They can contact emergingtech@umich.edu to arrange to use it. Use of the MIDEN does require staff to run it, and we recommend anyone looking to view their custom content in the MIDEN arrange a few sessions ahead of their event to test their content and ensure their scene is configured properly.