What is a Virtual Environment Enclosure?
For the purpose of this discussion it will be defined as a large structure consisting of at least three surfaces where computer generated reality is displayed. These surfaces can be made of either wall, ceiling, or floor sections that are connected together to form some shape of a room. The oldest and most common shape is a three-walled cube with a fourth projection surface on the floor. The typical dimensions are 10 feet on each side, allowing multiple users to be in the virtual environment at the same time. The first functional virtual environment enclosure was the CAVE (CAVE Automatic Virtual Environment) and is pictured below. It was developed at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1991 and first displayed at SIGGRAPH 92. (SIGGRAPH is the Special Interest Group for GRAPHics) As can be seen from the picture, these devices are not easy to move and require very large spaces with strict control over all external light sources. Images are generated by one or more computers and then
