Our childhood nights had been full of dreams, different worlds, different creatures, etc and dreams are still part of us and will be forever. Dreams make us vision a different environment designed by us only and we have often thought, “I wish it could be true”. Technology is the weapon of humans which makes us realize our dreams. We dreamed of communicating to our far away, we invented telephones, mobiles, and video callings. We dreamed of reaching far away paces in minimal times, we created trains, bullet trains, airplanes, and jets. The topic which we are going to make you aware is one of those realizations of our dreams.
Virtual Reality is the use of computer technology to create a simulated environment. It places a user inside an experience. Users are immersed and able to interact with 3D worlds. By simulating as many senses as possible, such as vision, hearing, touch, even smell, the computer is transformed into a gatekeeper to this artificial world.
Virtual Reality’s most immediately-recognizable component is the head-mounted display (HMD). Human beings are visual creatures, and display technology is often the single biggest difference between immersive Virtual Reality systems and traditional user interfaces.
Digging the history, we found that the perspective in Renaissance Europe created convincing depictions of spaces that did not exist, in what has been referred to as the "multiplying of artificial worlds”. Other elements of virtual reality appeared as early as the 1860s.
During the 1950s, Morton Heilig wrote “Experience Theatres” that could adequately encompass all sorts of senses thus drawing the viewer inside the onscreen activity. He built a prototype of his vision dubbed the Sensorama in 1962, along with five short films to be displayed in it while engaging multiple senses (sight, sound, smell, and touch).
This way, as years passed by, different scientists came with a newer and better technical development of Virtual Reality. The LEEP(Large Expanse, Extra Perspective) optical system developed by Eric Howlett in 1979 is the basis of most of the modern virtuality headsets. Jaron Lanier, one of the pioneers of this field founded VPLResearch which has developed DataGlove, Eyephone, and the AudioSphere.
The 1990s saw the first widespread commercial releases of computer headsets. The Sega VR headset for arcade games and the Mega Drive console used LCD screens in the visor, stereo headphones, and inertial sensors that allowed the system to track and react to the movements of the user's head. By 1994, Sega released the Sega VR-1 motion simulator arcade attraction, in SegaWorld amusement arcades. It was able to track head movement and featured 3D polygon graphics in stereoscopic 3D, powered by the Sega Model 1 arcade system board.
In 2010, Palmer Luckey designed the prototype of the Oculus Rift. This prototype, built on a shell of another virtual reality headset, was only capable of rotational tracking. However, it boasted a 90-degree field of vision that was previously unseen in the consumer market at the time.
In 2012, the Rift is presented for the first time at the E3 video game trade show by Carmack. In 2014, Facebook purchased Oculus VR.
By 2016, at least 230 companies were developing VR-related products. Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Sony, and Samsung all had dedicated AR and VR groups. Dynamic binaural audio was common to most headsets released that year.
In 2016, HTC shipped its first units of the HTC Vive SteamVR headset. This marked the first major commercial release of sensor-based tracking, allowing for free movement of users within a defined space.
With a multiplicity of emerging hardware and software options, the future of wearables is unfolding but yet unknown. Whoever comes out ahead, the simplicity of buying a helmet-sized device that can work in a living room, office, or factory floor has made HMDs center stage when it comes to Virtual Reality technologies.
Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are two sides of the same coin.
Augmented Reality is a VR with one foot in the real world: Augmented Reality simulates artificial objects in the real environment. In Augmented Reality, the computer uses sensors and algorithms to determine the position and orientation of a camera. AR technology then renders the 3D graphics as they would appear from the viewpoint of the camera, superimposing the computer-generated images over a user’s view of the real world.
In Virtual Reality, the computer uses similar sensors and math. However, rather than locating a real camera within a physical environment, the position of the user’s eyes are located within the simulated environment. If the user’s head turns, the graphics react accordingly. Rather than compositing virtual objects and a real scene, VR technology creates a convincing, interactive world for the user.
Virtual reality and augmented reality accomplish two very different things in two very different ways, despite the similar designs of the devices themselves. VR replaces reality, taking you somewhere else. AR adds to reality, projecting information on top of what you're already seeing.
Apart from the gaming industry which is being heavily dominated, Virtual Reality has proved to be a great aid in other fields.
● Virtual Reality has benefitted scientific and engineering visualization in a great way. In comparison to conventional methods, immersing ourselves in the data, advantages of the greater space on offer can be easily taken, leading to more natural interactions, and viscerally analyze multi-dimensional data.
By living in a world of data rather than being a spectator in it, studies have shown that the effectiveness of the visualization is multiplied. This leads to ‘demonstrably better perception of a data scape geometry, more intuitive data understanding, and better retention of the perceived relationships in the data.
● In aviation, medicine, and the military, Virtual Reality training is an attractive alternative to live training with expensive equipment, dangerous situations, or sensitive technology. Commercial pilots can use realistic cockpits with VR technology in holistic training programs that incorporate virtual flight and live instruction. Surgeons can train with virtual tools and patients, and transfer their virtual skills into the operating room, and studies have already begun to show that such training leads to faster doctors who make fewer mistakes. Police and soldiers can conduct virtual raids that avoid putting lives at risk.
● Speaking of medicine, the treatment of mental illness, including post-traumatic stress disorder, stands to benefit from the application of Virtual Reality technology to ongoing therapy programs. Whether it’s allowing veterans to confront challenges in a controlled environment, or overcoming phobias in combination with behavioral therapy, VR has a potential beyond gaming, industrial and marketing applications to help people heal from, reconcile and understand real-world experiences.
Albert Einstein once quoted, “Logic will take you from point A to B; Imagination will take you everywhere” and Virtual Reality is the best example to prove that.
Therefore folks, stay tuned for more blogs and till then “Happy Imagination”!
Thanks for reading. IEEE SB NITP would like to once again remind its readers to obey the guidelines as issued by the Government and WHO. Stay home and stay safe. Please drop your views in the comment section.
Virtual Reality is the use of computer technology to create a simulated environment. It places a user inside an experience. Users are immersed and able to interact with 3D worlds. By simulating as many senses as possible, such as vision, hearing, touch, even smell, the computer is transformed into a gatekeeper to this artificial world.
Virtual Reality’s most immediately-recognizable component is the head-mounted display (HMD). Human beings are visual creatures, and display technology is often the single biggest difference between immersive Virtual Reality systems and traditional user interfaces.
Digging the history, we found that the perspective in Renaissance Europe created convincing depictions of spaces that did not exist, in what has been referred to as the "multiplying of artificial worlds”. Other elements of virtual reality appeared as early as the 1860s.
During the 1950s, Morton Heilig wrote “Experience Theatres” that could adequately encompass all sorts of senses thus drawing the viewer inside the onscreen activity. He built a prototype of his vision dubbed the Sensorama in 1962, along with five short films to be displayed in it while engaging multiple senses (sight, sound, smell, and touch).
This way, as years passed by, different scientists came with a newer and better technical development of Virtual Reality. The LEEP(Large Expanse, Extra Perspective) optical system developed by Eric Howlett in 1979 is the basis of most of the modern virtuality headsets. Jaron Lanier, one of the pioneers of this field founded VPLResearch which has developed DataGlove, Eyephone, and the AudioSphere.
The 1990s saw the first widespread commercial releases of computer headsets. The Sega VR headset for arcade games and the Mega Drive console used LCD screens in the visor, stereo headphones, and inertial sensors that allowed the system to track and react to the movements of the user's head. By 1994, Sega released the Sega VR-1 motion simulator arcade attraction, in SegaWorld amusement arcades. It was able to track head movement and featured 3D polygon graphics in stereoscopic 3D, powered by the Sega Model 1 arcade system board.
In 2010, Palmer Luckey designed the prototype of the Oculus Rift. This prototype, built on a shell of another virtual reality headset, was only capable of rotational tracking. However, it boasted a 90-degree field of vision that was previously unseen in the consumer market at the time.
In 2012, the Rift is presented for the first time at the E3 video game trade show by Carmack. In 2014, Facebook purchased Oculus VR.
By 2016, at least 230 companies were developing VR-related products. Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Sony, and Samsung all had dedicated AR and VR groups. Dynamic binaural audio was common to most headsets released that year.
In 2016, HTC shipped its first units of the HTC Vive SteamVR headset. This marked the first major commercial release of sensor-based tracking, allowing for free movement of users within a defined space.
With a multiplicity of emerging hardware and software options, the future of wearables is unfolding but yet unknown. Whoever comes out ahead, the simplicity of buying a helmet-sized device that can work in a living room, office, or factory floor has made HMDs center stage when it comes to Virtual Reality technologies.
Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are two sides of the same coin.
Augmented Reality is a VR with one foot in the real world: Augmented Reality simulates artificial objects in the real environment. In Augmented Reality, the computer uses sensors and algorithms to determine the position and orientation of a camera. AR technology then renders the 3D graphics as they would appear from the viewpoint of the camera, superimposing the computer-generated images over a user’s view of the real world.
In Virtual Reality, the computer uses similar sensors and math. However, rather than locating a real camera within a physical environment, the position of the user’s eyes are located within the simulated environment. If the user’s head turns, the graphics react accordingly. Rather than compositing virtual objects and a real scene, VR technology creates a convincing, interactive world for the user.
Virtual reality and augmented reality accomplish two very different things in two very different ways, despite the similar designs of the devices themselves. VR replaces reality, taking you somewhere else. AR adds to reality, projecting information on top of what you're already seeing.
Apart from the gaming industry which is being heavily dominated, Virtual Reality has proved to be a great aid in other fields.
● Virtual Reality has benefitted scientific and engineering visualization in a great way. In comparison to conventional methods, immersing ourselves in the data, advantages of the greater space on offer can be easily taken, leading to more natural interactions, and viscerally analyze multi-dimensional data.
By living in a world of data rather than being a spectator in it, studies have shown that the effectiveness of the visualization is multiplied. This leads to ‘demonstrably better perception of a data scape geometry, more intuitive data understanding, and better retention of the perceived relationships in the data.
● In aviation, medicine, and the military, Virtual Reality training is an attractive alternative to live training with expensive equipment, dangerous situations, or sensitive technology. Commercial pilots can use realistic cockpits with VR technology in holistic training programs that incorporate virtual flight and live instruction. Surgeons can train with virtual tools and patients, and transfer their virtual skills into the operating room, and studies have already begun to show that such training leads to faster doctors who make fewer mistakes. Police and soldiers can conduct virtual raids that avoid putting lives at risk.
● Speaking of medicine, the treatment of mental illness, including post-traumatic stress disorder, stands to benefit from the application of Virtual Reality technology to ongoing therapy programs. Whether it’s allowing veterans to confront challenges in a controlled environment, or overcoming phobias in combination with behavioral therapy, VR has a potential beyond gaming, industrial and marketing applications to help people heal from, reconcile and understand real-world experiences.
Albert Einstein once quoted, “Logic will take you from point A to B; Imagination will take you everywhere” and Virtual Reality is the best example to prove that.
Therefore folks, stay tuned for more blogs and till then “Happy Imagination”!
Thanks for reading. IEEE SB NITP would like to once again remind its readers to obey the guidelines as issued by the Government and WHO. Stay home and stay safe. Please drop your views in the comment section.
Virtual Reality (VR) is an immersive computer-based technology used to replicate an environment, real or imagined, to simulate a user's presence.
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