Skip to content

Running on a Projection Wall - Observer or Single User

Display Options for Projection Systems

Overview: Display Options for Projection Systems

When running a VR session on PRISM or a projection wall, there are two primary display approaches:

  • Observer (Bird's-Eye) View — A free-flying camera that observes one or more users from an external perspective.
  • First-Person View — Displays exactly what a participant sees (single user or a selected client).

Both options work on standard desktop systems connected to projection or PRISM displays.

Running a Bird's-Eye / Observer View (Multi-User)

The observer view works well for classroom demonstrations, research observation, public presentations, and multi-user experiment monitoring.

Projection Hardware Options

Hardware option Use for Setup needed
Projection 2D Standard (non-stereo) projection wall None. Works as-is and is in the default hardware list.
Projection 3D stereo projection wall Set your wall's display size and origin. Requires Local Hardware Configs. See Running a 3D Projection Wall.
Projection 6 Wall 2D CAVE systems Requires Local Hardware Configs, Vizard Enterprise, and the Cluster Master Tool.

For most projection walls, choose Projection 2D. You don't need to change any files.

Step-by-Step Setup

  1. Start the server — Launch the E-Learning Lab Instructor.
  2. Start participant clients — Run the appropriate client scripts for VR users.
  3. Launch an additional client for PRISM/projection — On the computer driving the display system, run one additional client connecting to the same server.
  4. Select client environment — Choose Empty (no visible avatar) or Security Camera (visible camera object).
  5. Choose hardware type — Select Projection 2D. For a 3D stereo wall or a CAVE, select Projection or Projection 6 Wall 2D after setting up Local Hardware Configs.

Movement & rotation:

  • W / A / S / D — Move forward, left, backward, right
  • Z / X — Move down / up
  • Q / E — Rotate left / right

Utility controls:

  • R — Reset viewpoint
  • Shift — Lock/unlock movement
  • / — Take a screenshot
  • . (period) — Toggle overlays (timers, view counts, trial info)
  • F2 — Toggle fullscreen mode

Fullscreen may apply to only one monitor. For PRISM systems, manually stretch the window across displays.

Running a First-Person or Single-User Projection View

For single-user scenarios without a server/client architecture:

  1. Run E-Learning Lab in Single or Instructor Mode (or as an additional Client).
  2. Choose Desktop as the hardware type.
  3. Connect the output to PRISM or the projection system.

This mode mirrors the participant's first-person view directly onto the projection display.

Running a 3D Projection Wall (Advanced Setup)

A 3D stereo wall needs the physical size of your screen and where the viewer stands relative to it. You set these in the Projection hardware configuration file. If you don't need stereo, use Projection 2D instead. It works without any setup.

Local Hardware Configs checkbox and folder button

  1. In E-Learning Lab, go to the Advanced tab and check Local Hardware Configs.
  2. Click the folder icon next to it. This opens the local_vizconnect_configs folder.
  3. Edit vizconnect_config_projection.py in that folder, or replace it with your own configuration file. A replacement must use the exact same name, vizconnect_config_projection.py, because E-Learning Lab loads the Projection option from that file name.

  4. In the display section of the file, set the measurements for your wall (in meters):

    Setting What it is
    frontImageWidth Width of the projected image
    imageHeight Height of the projected image
    imageRise Height of the bottom of the image above the floor
    originLeft / originRight Distance from the origin (where the viewer stands) to the left and right edges of the screen
    shiftRight / shiftUp / shiftForward Optional offsets for fine-tuning alignment
    stereo Stereo mode (default viz.QUAD_BUFFER)

  5. Launch E-Learning Lab and select Projection as the hardware type.

While Local Hardware Configs is checked, every hardware option is loaded from its fixed file name in the local_vizconnect_configs folder (Desktop, OpenXR, OpenXR NoEyeTr, Meta No Eyetracker, SteamVR, Vive Focus Vision, Projection, Projection 2D and Projection 6 Wall 2D); other files in the folder are not listed. Uncheck it to go back to the built-in list.

See also Custom Hardware Configurations.

Best Practices & Tips

  • Use Observer Mode for teaching, demos, and research monitoring.
  • Use First-Person Mode for immersive presentations.
  • Disable overlays for clean public displays.
  • Test fullscreen behavior before live demos.
  • For large PRISM systems, ensure GPU output alignment matches projector mapping.