If None Of This Sounds Familiar

You may have arrived at this web site via a link, page redirection, because you were searching for a term that occurs on these pages, or by accident. In such a case, the information on the top page describing this web site may be confusing or unhelpful.

CaveUT is software that allows someone to set up a CAVE-like virtual reality environment.

"CAVE" is a recursive acronym for "CAVE Automatic Virtual Environment", coined in or near 1991 by Dan Sandin a researcher at the Dept. of Computer Science at the University of Chicago Illinois. He, TomDeFanti (another researcher) and several students were the first to make a small room from (the equivalent of) giant computer monitor screens, using software to present an immersive view of a virtual environment. In other words, someone standing in front of the screens of a CAVE-like display will be able to look up, down, and sideways at the details of the world the screens show, making the experience far more realistic than staring at a computer or TV screen.

CAVE-like systems are used to allow people to experience large environments in a manner similar to walking through and looking at them. Such systems can be used recreationally (allowing people to play in computer games such as "first-person shooters") and educationally (allowing people to experience recreated historical sites, alien worlds, and the like).

The CAVE acronym is a registered trademark of the Trustees of the University of Chicago. This has led to all sorts silly permutations for similar devices. Examples include RAVE, NAVE, BNAVE, Grotto, Alcove, and CaveUT.