Virtual Reality

Virtual reality (VR)

Testing products in a virtual environment as markets change, before ever committing to a physical product, gives a company more alternatives and a competitive advantage. Businesses can take advantage of virtual reality as a marketing tool, where consumers can test-drive their products. This opens the door to having multiple products available that interact with each other, simulating their value to the consumer in the real world.

Augmented reality (AR)

Augmented reality is really about leveraging your real environment, while introducing your environment to 3D elements. Rendered on your device into a new reality environment. Then being able to interact with these elements in the new environment to produce an experience that brings value to the user either through entertaining them, educating them or making their life easier to manage. A very good examples of Augmented reality is Ikea place.

iOS

I highly recommend that you build your VR and AR using the recommended specification. Because once you start adding some models, a lot more blueprints, a lot of stuff, it will take a long time to build if you don't follow the recommended specification. This means you're going to have to wait a long time before you can actually test your application. Also you need to have the latest versions for your software programs, which is also important.

Android

The most basic forms of VR utilize the users existing smartphone for the display, rotational tracking, and processing. This is the Google Cardboard platform. The next level up is a system that only works with what are currently the highest end smartphones and it comes with an external input device that can track its own rotation and provide a track pad with a few buttons. The next level is the Oculus with its motion controllers.

Advanced development

Allowing exploration of a Virtual reality environment can greatly expand the user's experience. However, getting around in Virtual reality can be tricky when the inputs are limited. High-end dedicated Virtual reality devices have positional tracking to provide this experience, but even those high-end devices need a way to span large distances quickly. Luckily, with VR, we can allow users to do things that they've never been able to do in real life, like teleporting.

Virtual reality content creation

It's important to note that this is something that's defining the way virtual reality is going to be created. This is the idea of working directly in context with virtual reality. So the idea of working within your engine, building content in virtual reality for virtual reality. Actually working with content directly in virtual reality to build their virtual reality project. And if you think about this it makes sense, right, the idea of building to scale to your actual virtual reality project.

History

The View-Master and the first stereoscopic photo viewers were introduced in the late 1930s.

The 1950s brought us the Sensorama, designed to simulate most of the human senses. The '60s presented the first motion-tracked head-mounted devices.

In 1987 the term Virtual Reality was coined.

Along with all the stylish clothes, the '90s brought us VR arcades and VR devices from major companies such as Sega and Nintendo.

Recently, VR has benefited greatly from increased processing power, mobile graphics processing, and high resolution displays.

Today VR is a combination of technologies that strive to replace our senses with a whole new reality. Even with all the advancement through the years, VR is still in its infancy.

The ultimate goal is to create environments indistinguishable from reality. While we still have a way to go, we can get close enough now that with a little suspension of disbelief, we can provide experiences that immerse people into environments that once only existed in our imagination.

There are many levels of VR experience on the market today. They all vary in features, immersiveness and cost. The features and immersiveness available increase as the price increases.