Triple Monitors and FOV Settings

[nolatron]

So just some tests I did with the FOV setting and my triple monitor setup. I'm using a TripleHead2Go with three 21.5" monitors. My total screen resolution is 5760x1080. I have a outside & cab screenshot plus a camera pic for each FOV setting. Links to full size phots are listed as well(they're huge).

FOV = 60






Full size Links: Outside, Cab, Camera

[nolatron]

FOV = 65






Full size Links: Outside, Cab, Camera

[nolatron]

FOV = 70






Full size Links: Outside, Cab, Camera

[nolatron]

FOV = 75






Full size Links: Outside, Cab, Camera

[nolatron]

FOV = 80






Full size Links: Outside, Cab, Camera

[Machinist]

Nice pics series! Could you post the same for FoV 40, 45 and 50?

Even FoV 60 looks too much unrealistic (I mean looks that your FoV is higher than FoV 60 for single monitor), the exit of Victorville looks farther than it should.

In the splash screen, are you selecting Screen Resolution Triple Head 5760x1080 and Monitor Arrangement 3x1? If not yet, could you set to 3x1 and post one series with your FoV 60?

[Machinist]

When setting 3x1 monitor arrangement the central screen should be the same of 1x1, with no distortion caused by another software.

The FoV 60 in your system is equivalent to "normal" FoV 90 (if not 95 or higher). The position of engine is quite the same, but in your pics the far bridge can't be noticed, all the objects look even more distant.

FoV 65 (Default).jpg

FoV 90 in cab.jpg

FoV 90 external.jpg

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

It seems to me TS2012 or the Matrox grahpics driver doesn't take the monitor placement into account.
The display is treated as a linear plane instead of a curved plane, like in those surround projection theaters mentioned in this thread.
Therefore the widescreen projection has lots of perspective distortion, much like a ultra wide angle lens in photography.
So unless one can specify screen placement and what is to be projected on which screen, the feature is not what I consider usefull.

[nolatron]

Nice pics series! Could you post the same for FoV 40, 45 and 50?

Sure, I can do those tonight.

In the splash screen, are you selecting Screen Resolution Triple Head 5760x1080 and Monitor Arrangement 3x1? If not yet, could you set to 3x1 and post one series with your FoV 60?

Here's my settings, except now the resolution is 5760x1080. Pretty much all defaults still.

[nolatron]

It seems to me TS2012 or the Matrox grahpics driver doesn't take the monitor placement into account.
The display is treated as a linear plane instead of a curved plane, like in those surround projection theaters mentioned in this thread.
Therefore the widescreen projection has lots of perspective distortion, much like a ultra wide angle lens in photography.
So unless one can specify screen placement and what is to be projected on which screen, the feature is not what I consider usefull.

Yeah, the same kinda happens with Flight simulator. Even though a knob is at the far right of the cockpit, it appears larger at it gets further to the right of the right monitor due to the camera's distortion of peripheral objects. Outside scenery though seems to work pretty good. That's why most triple monitor setups have a physical cockpit for controls and the view just on the monitor (something I plan on doing).

Some games just handle the uber-wide resolution better than others. I think TS2012 is one that probably plays better with a single monitor or maybe a lower triple monitor resolution.

It's a new toy so just gotta experiment.

[krellnut]

I don't like any of the pics. The loco is stretched unrealistically long. If that's the best three monitors can do, I'm sticking with 1080x1920.

[Machinist]

I was ever curious about this triple monitors system, let's see if it looks better with lower FoV like 40.

Did someone test NVidia 3D Vision glasses yet? That's another feature that I would like to see, but too much expensive to invest without knowing if it works, or not.

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

I was looking over the Matrox web pages and learned that the TripleHeadToGo isn't an actual videocard/GPU accelerator but rather a clever splitter of sorts.
That explains probably why you cannot "arrange" the monitors in semi-circular fashion, since the display is rendered linear.
Unless the game or program you are using allows for non-linear arrangement of the monitors and needs you to set up "perspective distortion" to allow a surround view setup.

[arizonachris]

Doc, first off, for 3D you need 120Hz monitors, not the regular ones. They cost an awful lot more than a regular monitor. And the Matrox can't do 120Hz. (yet, I'm sure they are working on it) The Matrox is really a fine product, great customer support, too. I had one about 3 years ago. But my CRT's started burning out, I gave up. Now it's just one 24" Asus flat screen, which I really love.

[Machinist]

Chris... now I'm sure I won't have the 3D feature aboard....