Difference between revisions of "Virtual reality"

Revision as of 21:12, 1 January 2017

Introduction

Virtual Reality or VR is a computer-simulated artificial world that can mimic the physical features of the environments in real life and in fantasy. In VR, all of our senses are fooled, temporarily, into believing that this artificial environment is real. The goal of a true VR experience is to create presence, the feeling of physically being somewhere else, being in another reality.

Virtual Reality is an interactive and immersive medium that can be utilized to create unique experiences that are unattainable elsewhere. VR has the power to transform games, films and other forms of media. Some enthusiasts call VR the "ultimate input/output device" or the "last medium" because any subsequent medium can be created within VR, using only software.

While Augmented Reality enhances the real world with digital content, Virtual Reality completely replaces the real world with a virtual one, creating a brand new digital environment for the users to explore.

Hardware Technologies

Head-mounted Display

VR is currently created by head-mounted displays (HMDs) such as the Oculus Rift. HMDs utilize stereoscopic displays and specialized lenses along with motion tracking hardware to give the illusion that the user is physically inside the virtual world.

To create the illusion of depth, a display is placed very close to the users' eyes, covering their entire field of view. Two images that are very similar but have different perspectives are channeled into each eye to create parallax, the visual phenomenon where our brains perceive depth based on the difference in the apparent position of objects.

Specialized lenses are placed between the display and our eyes. There lenses allow our eyes to focus on the images on the display, even though the display is only a few inches in front of our faces. Without lenses, our entire VR world would become blurry because human eyes have trouble focusing on things that are very close.^[1]

The headset tracks the movement of your head and changes the images shown on the display based on it. This process creates the sensation that users are located within the virtual environment. Users of these devices are not only able to experience the computer-simulated environments but also interact with them. Various input methods, from the traditional game controllers and keyboards to the futuristic hand gestures and voice commands, are available or under development.

Motion Tracking

HMD tracks the movement of your head and updates the rendered scene based on its orientation and location. This process is similar to how we look around in real life. There are 2 types of tracking: rotational tracking and positional.

Rotational tracking tracks the 3 rotational movements: pitch, yaw, and roll. It is performed by IMUs such as accelerometers, gyroscopes and magnetometers.

Positional tracking tracks the 3 translational movements: forward/back, up/down and left/right. Positional tracking is usually more difficult than rotational tracking and is accomplished through different Types and Systems.

Motion tracking is not only used to track your head in HMDs but also used to track your hands and rest of your body through various input devices.

Input Devices

Input Devices allow the users to influence and manipulate the virtual realm they are in. These devices include traditional input methods such as gamepad, mouse and keyboard and novel devices that track the position and orientation of your hands, fingers, feet and other body parts.

Platforms

Oculus Rift (Platform)

SteamVR

PlayStation VR

OpenVR

Daydream

OSVR

WebVR

Devices

See also: Virtual Reality Devices

Popular VR Headsets:

• Meta Quest 3
• Meta Quest 2
• Pico 4
• Bigscreen Beyond
• Pimax Crystal QLED

• To make changes to the table, please edit the the infobox of the corresponding device. See Template:Device Infobox for reference.

Apps

VR Apps

Use Cases

See also: Virtual Reality Use Cases

History

Timeline

References

1. ↑ http://doc-ok.org/?p=1360