Virtual Reality
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 3
WHAT IS VIRTUAL REALITY 4
HOW DOES VIRTUAL REALITY WORK 5
v The Three Levels of VR : 5
THE HISTORY OF VIRTUAL REALITY 7
VIRTUAL REALITY IN THE PRESENT 8
VIRTUAL REALITY IN THE FUTURE 9
THE TECHNOLOGY BEHIND VIRTUAL REALITY 9
v Video Display Devices: 10
v Audio Output Devices: 10
v Tactile Response Devices: 11
v Interactive Input Devices: 11
v Computers and Software: 12
IMMERSIVE & NON IMMERSIVE VR 12
v The Cave: 13
v Head-Mounted Display (HMD): 13
v The Boom: 14
v Input Devices and other Sensual Technologies: 14
v Shared Virtual Environments: 15
v VRML: 15
DRAWBACKS OF VR 16
THE SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF VIRTUAL REALITY 17
v The New Rules of Behavior: 17
v Adverse Effects: 17
Applications of VR 18
v A List of Existing VR examples: 18
DETAILED APPLICATIONS OF VR: 19
v Architecture: 19
v Visualization: 21
v Entertainment: 21
v VR in Movies: 22
v Manufacturing: 25
v Augmented Reality: 25
v Education & Training: 26
v Medical: 27
SUMMARY 27
CONCLUSION 28
BIBLIOGRAPHY 28
INTRODUCTION
Throughout the many stages of media Virtual Reality (VR) has helped us to extend our perception, imagination and manipulation. VR is just an extra step on the long road, bringing the imagination as close and realistic as reality itself.
After the first experiments in the fifties with complex kinesthetic devices like multiple cameras, senso-motoric devices and even smell generators, more elegant head-mounted devices were developed in the early nineties. Both defense research and the computer games industry were the main stimulators of VR.
VR is everything and it is hard to describe what VR is not: It encapsulates all previous media, even books, slides, pictures, audio, video and multimedia. The typical contribution of VR is its effect of
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