The project's goal is to allow a cluster of machines to
project a "spectator" type view from a Quake 3 game/variant.
Each machine within the cluster shall be connected to a single
projector, and together, the images from each projector will
be placed together to form a much larger view.
This has a number of uses:
- Large viewing area for spectators of the game
- Pretty panoramic views
- A type of commander view, whereby a non-player can direct
their "troops"(players), where to attack the enemy in
team based Quake 3 games.
Firstly we need to get a copy of the Quake 3 source, which has
been officially and legally released from
www.3dgamers.com and also from
www.fileplanet.com. Then
begins the fun part! As Quake 3 has limited documentation
available part of this project will involve investigation,
research and also more limited documentation, which will soon
be available
here. Aside from the Quake 3
source and sifting through the vast amounts of occasionally
strange code (and I personally blame Windows for that ...), we
also need a durable design.
The design is being made specifically for this project and as
a result will not be "bullet-proof", it is not intended to be.
we feel that this project is largely one to prove that this
concept is possible and feasible, and if so then it can be done
more intrinsically later down the track by someone else probably.
However, the design is still imperative to consider the project.
The design will be found
here
As a large portion of the project requires research of the Quake
3 source code, the goals may seem a little thin. However, we
will also attempt to document how the Quake 3 source works within
our patched section, which we feel is dually important. The goals
have been outlined as follows:
- Allow the server to create a fixed "camera cluster"
- Allow a spectator client to join the "camera cluster"
- Allow the server to vary viewing parameters of the
"camera cluster", changing the view of the client as
necessary
- Allow the server to create a floating "camera cluster"
- Allow a spectator client joined to the "camera cluster" to
move the "camera cluster"
- Allow the server to create multiple "camera cluster"s
- Allow a spectator client to select the active "camera
cluster"
- Allow multiple spectator clients to be joined to a
"camera cluster", with their combined views matching that
of the server's parameters for the "camera cluster"
- Allow the "camera cluster" containing multiple spectator
clients to be moved as if it contained only one