Introduction to Virtual Reality (VR)
There has been an increasing amount of attention and excitement around VR in recent years. It is really important for many industries to adopt virtual reality in order to remain ahead of the game.
Virtual reality is the technology that teleports you to an immersive 3D environment. It can be designed for human interaction for specific reasons in order to create experiences not otherwise possible.
In this article, we will discuss more about virtual reality.
Getting Started
Table of contents
- What is VR
- Types of VR
- WebVR
- 360-degree videos
- Best devices for VR experience
- Virtual Reality SDKs
- Applications of VR
- Advantages of VR
- Disadvantages of VR
What is VR
Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that uses pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to provide an immersive feel of a virtual world. Standard virtual reality systems use virtual reality headsets to generate realistic images, sounds and other sensations that simulate user presence in a virtual environment. Virtual reality equipment enables users to look around the artificial world, move around in it, and interact with virtual items.
There are endless applications for virtual reality. It allow us to engage in dry runs on instances such as military trainings that might be risky in real world. The military is currently using virtual reality to assist in training soldiers and battling in environments that might involve risk. Healthcare is using the technology to conduct virtual surgeries remotely by guiding real-world tools with the help of haptic feedback. Virtual try-on is the biggest trend from the fashion world.
Types of VR
Fully immersive
Immersive VR system is closest to the virtual environment. It provides the experience of highest level of immersion. This VR system is expensive than others. It provides the closest feeling of being in virtual world. This VR system comprises of three elements — a plausible and richly detailed virtual world to explore, and a powerful computer that can detect where you are going and adjust your experience accordingly, hardware linked to the computer that fully immerses you in the virtual world when you roam around.
Non-immersive
Non-immersive is the least immersive VR system and is non expensive. It is also known as desktop VR system because the gadgets used are limited to glasses and display monitors. An architect might build a detailed 3D model of a new building to show the clients who can explore it on a desktop by moving the mouse. This scenario can be considered as a non immersive VR.
Semi–immersive
Semi–immersive provides a high level of immersion but the tools and gadgets used are not so advanced and costly.
Collaborative
The idea of sharing an experience in a virtual world with other people is often similar to interacting with people in real time. Collaboration and sharing are the important applications of VR in future. Second Life and Minecraft are the best suited examples for the same.
Web-based
Virtual reality can be experienced through web using a technology called Virtual Reality Markup Language (VRML). It provides new ways to access and publish information of real and virtual contents and to experience and collaborate the same with others. With Facebook’s growing interest in the technology, the future of VR seems likely to be both collaborative and web based.
WebVR
WebVR is an open specification using JavaScript API that introduces a way to experience virtual reality using browser. It makes the opportunity to experience VR regardless of the device. It requires only a web browser and VR headset to experience the virtual content. WebVR API is deprecated, and hence the users are switching to using WebXR api to generate and visualize VR content on web.
Google published some of the webvr experiments in their page. If you are interested to know more about webvr, please check out their site.
A-Frame is a web framework for building virtual reality (VR) experiences.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVetLvb3deE
360-degree videos
360-degree videos, also known as surrounded videos or spherical videos, are video recordings made using omnidirectional cameras. It is done so such that, during playback, the viewer can control the screen and view the clip from any direction they want. Users can control the viewing direction like a panorama during playback on a normal flat display.
Best devices for VR experience
VR headsets can offer immersive experiences, and new way to visualize games, movies, and more. Early headsets includes slotting your smartphone into a plastic holder whereas dedicated VR headsets have advanced tracking and six degrees of freedom (6DoF) to track the user movements more accurately.
- Samsung Gear VR — Samsung Gear VR is a virtual reality headset developed by Samsung Electronics which was released in 2015. It requires a compatible Samsung Galaxy device to act as the headset’s display and processor, the Gear VR unit acts as the controller, and IMU for rotational tracking. It includes a touchpad, a back button on the side, as well as a proximity sensor.
- Meta Quest 2 — Meta Quest 2 is an affordable VR headset which costs around $399. It provides a massive library of immersive VR games along with streaming apps which gives a feel of a virtual concert. It is equipped with powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 chip. Users can experience crisp and smooth visuals with its high-resolution displays over 1080p per eye and a 90–120Hz refresh rate. It’s cable-free. The built-in camera warns users when they get close to obstacles in the VR environment.
- Meta Quest Pro — Meta Quest Pro is a slick, powerful VR device. It is priced around $1499. It can display text in neat format and can read small font with ease. It can track the facial features and eye movements to mimic the user in the virtual spaces to give a sense of connection with other people in virtual spaces. For instance, if a users archs their eyebrows or puff up their cheeks in real life, it will reflect on the VR avatars. It can be used as a mixed-reality headset. It enables a view of the real world in color while interacting with digital objects.
- PlayStation VR — Playstation VR has modest specs with only 960 x1080 resolution per eye, a 96-degree field of view and a 120Hz refresh rate. It provides a full motion tracking through the combination of a headset and motion controllers with visual tracking through the PlayStation Camera.
- Valve Index — The Valve Index has 1,440 x 1,600 per-eye resolution at a buttery smooth 120Hz. Expanded base stations enable you to map larger areas to play in. The controllers have full finger tracking. It is priced around $1799.
- HTC Vive Pro 2 — HTC Vive Pro 2 provides a resolution of 2,448 x 2,448 per eye to avoid the screen-door effect but requires powerful PC to run it. It has a 120-degree FOV and runs at 120Hz. The Hi-Res Certified headphones mount to the headset provides immersive audio experience.
- HP Reverb G2 — The HP Reverb G2 is a VR headset with built-in headphones and has the highest resolution of 4,320 x 2,160. Its physical IPD slider will helps in adjusting the headset based on the eye width. With inside-out tracking, HP can charge much less than Valve for the Index.
Virtual Reality SDKs
There are many libraries and kits available to ease our software development journey. In the section, we will discuss the widely used VR SDKs.
Google VR SDK
Google Cardboard is a paper typed folding container where users can place their smartphone. It’s universal and supports a wide range of smartphone models.
The GVR SDK is a VR SDK developed by Google to create and visualize VR apps in an affordable manner. It is also a NDK (native dev kit) providing an API for native code in C and C++. This SDK for Androids also supports Cardboard along with Daydream View. The advantage of GVR SDK is that the hardware requirements for Cardboard apps are a viewer and a smartphone which is cheap.
Virtual Reality Toolkit (VRTK)
VRTK provides a huge variety of reusable interaction and UI components that can be used for various VR interactions including physical interactions, hand tracking, reactive UI panels, locomotion, etc. It provides very useful boilerplate kind of examples to build VR experiences, as users can “drag and drop” the examples in their projects and make changes as per the requirements.
Windows Mixed Reality Toolkit (MRTK)
MRTK is a VR SDK developed by Microsoft that provides a set of components and features. It is used to accelerate cross-platform MR app development in Unity. It enables cross-platform input system and building blocks for spatial interactions and UI. It supports a wide range of platforms as well.
XR Interaction Toolkit
The XR Interaction Toolkit is a Unity VR package to develop AR VR solutions. It is a part of Unity’s XR Plugin Architecture. It contains a set of components that enable users to create quick and easy XR interactions with minimal effort. It uses Unity’s Input System to identify the input events.
Oculus Interaction SDK
Oculus Integration SDK provides various example scenes to build VR solutions instantaneously. The oculus team has been updating the SDK very frequently. The latest update presents new tools to build more complex and richer interactions. OpenXR is the main API of the SDK, meaning that new features will be delivered through this standard. Oculus SDK enables the passthrough feature using OpenXR which was not supported by the earlier mobile or pc APIs.
Applications of VR
Virtual reality (VR) is primarily used for gaming but in the near future, VR will have a wide range of applications from healthcare to education, retail to manufacturing. The use of virtual reality is not only confined to a specific domain.
Healthcare
VR is making a significant leap in healthcare. Healthcare professionals can use VR to prepare themselves for complex surgeries. It is beneficial for explaining diagnoses and treatment plans to an audience when a surgeon performing surgery. Companies like Osso VR enable surgeons to interact with medical devices and practice surgery on virtual bodies. In the last year, FDA approved prescription-use EaseVRx for the treatment of pain reduction in adults. VR can also be used as an aid for mental health issues. The VR exposure therapy is thought to be particularly effective in the treatment of PTSD and anxiety.
Entertainment
VR has a strong presence in the entertainment industry. It has become an essential component for online and/or console gaming. VR is being used in cinemas and theme parks to simulate movie-like adventures. It could also revolutionize the way that media contents are made. Flipside provides real-time animation and motion capture, enabling creators to build interactive animated shows or live stream animated performances via VR.
Automotive
VR allows engineers and designers to experiment easily with the look and feel of a vehicle without building expensive prototypes. Companies such as BMW, Ford and JLR have been using VR for years to hold early design and engineering reviews to check the visual design and frame of the vehicle. Companies like Toyota and Ford have already started the implementation of VR headsets in the manufacturing and selling process.
Architecture
VR is changing the way that architects design, it is possible to see not just what a building will look like but how it will feel. For instance, if someone was looking to extent their property, they can experience the space and what it will look like before it’s physically built. It becomes casual to visualize home interior and building architectures in VR before it’s actual construction.
Education
VR could revolutionize education by enabling students to learn in an immersive way from anywhere in the world. VR provides the opportunity to democratize education by opening up opportunities to everyone. For instance, Victory XR has partnered with Engage to provide digital twin campuses to enable students to learn in live interactive classes. Other companies like Tech Row enable students to go on a space mission to Pluto, explore Antarctica, or field trips to Egypt without students leaving classroom.
Retail
Using VR and body-scanning technology, users can try on clothes in the virtual world to see how they’d look like in real world. It enables users to verify if the item fits in shape and size, reducing the environmental cost of production and shipping fast fashion. Various companies are attempting to bring in the VR shopping experience. Hugo Boss was launched the first Metaverse Fashion Week in March 2022 which comprised of runways, stores, and fitting rooms virtually.
Military
In the military, virtual reality is been used to train soldiers in a simulated battleground. Virtual reality can provide an experience on risky scenarios during the war. The simulation of the battleground scenarios incorporates medical administration fundamentally along with the virtual boot camps like scenarios. It has been now adopted by the UK and the US military for their training purposes.
Tourism
With the application of VR in tourism, users can travel and experience any part of the world without leaving their homes. VR provides benefits to both individuals, as they can save travel cost, living cost etc. and environment, as there will be less pollution. Try Before You Fly is a VR experience where potential holiday makers can visit stores in different countries in VR before booking it.
Advantages of VR
Immersive experience
Virtual Reality technology is becoming more accessible to common people with the release of devices such as the Oculus Quest 2 and HTC Vive. The biggest advantage of VR is its ability to provide an immersive experience. While using a VR headset, users can experience as though they are actually in the environment they are viewing. It is beneficial for training purposes and for experiencing things that would otherwise be too dangerous or risky.
Increased productivity
Virtual Reality helps to increase productivity in training, work tasks, and communication. It enables users to learn new skills by providing a realistic environment to practice in. For instance, surgeons can rehearse difficult procedures in a safe virtual environment before attempting them on a patient. Dangerous work tasks can be completed in VR instead of in the physical world. This enables users to try more challenging tasks without risking their lives. It enables remote collaboration where people can communicate with each other in a shared virtual environment.
VR helps to save money and resources
The views of the users have started changing dramatically with the advancement of the VR technology. It helps in reducing the cost of training in many fields such as military, medical industries etc. VR provides real training with limited resources. Companies can save cost on investing money on trainers, buying equipments etc. for the training. VR creates equipments virtually with a real feel.
Disadvantages of VR
Health risks
One of the main disadvantages is the health risks associated with using VR headsets. These headsets can cause health issues such as eyestrain, headaches, and nausea. They can also cause motion sickness as user is getting accustomed to using the device.
Social isolation
Another disadvantage of VR is social isolation as people, as they will spend more time alone in their virtual worlds than with other people in the real world. When people use VR headsets, they can become so wrapped up in the virtual world that they lose touch with reality.
Addiction
People get easily addicted with the immersive environment. People may find themselves wanting to spend more time in virtual worlds due to it’s attractive nature. They may begin to neglect important aspects of their lives, such as work or school. This can lead to problems such as depression and anxiety.
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