Extended View evolved around the idea to create a low-cost solution to create panoramic media. The main goal was to create a simple and accessible system, which provides everyone with the possibility to experiment with that wider angle of vision and to explore the challenges and chances that lie in this format. Furthermore Extended View Toolkit serves as a multi-plattform solution for projection-mapping with scene-based control and automation features.
Extended View Toolkit is based on the open source dataflow programming environment PUREDATA and its GEM extension. It is a set of abstractions for combining multiple video or image sources into a panoramic image and for projection setups with mutliple projectors or projection environments with challenging geometric forms.
Multiple input media (e.g. camera input, video files, image files, 3D renderings) can be processed. It is possible to create imagery or video by either stitching multiple inputs to one continuous, or by unwrapping a 360-degree image taken with a special optical lens system. Such processed media input can then be projected onto even irregular shaped surfaces. It is possible to blend smoothly between multiple projectors, to create seamless immersive media environments.