Thursday, October 11, 2012

What Exactly is Virtual Reality?

Mentioning the term virtual reality to others would normally result in a similar perception, that is wearing gears to stimulate our senses and immerse ourselves in a 4 dimensional world. This is most likely because it was made popular by films such as Matrix and Avatar, whereby the main character is 'sent' to another world by devices and machines.

But virtual reality need not only refer to the simulator. Virtual reality is basically a generic term for a world that exist in a computer generated environment where one could interact with at a certain degree. One of the most common virtual reality that most people have experienced is gaming. Game developers nowadays are coming up with more realistic gaming environment to give gamers a sense of reality. The surroundings are much more interactive than before and there are cities and towns to explore much like how one would when visiting a foreign country.

However, the virtual world isn't only limited to games. Designers are using it to their own benefit to assist them it whatever ways that are limited with pen and paper. There are millions of possibilities when it comes to virtual architecture as there are no limit to its boundaries. Walkthroughs, 3D, and possibly one day the technology to use a VR simulator to walk the client through a CG building would come through.

Having discovered so many aspects to look at in the field of virtual reality, it is only possible for me to look at specific ones. Perhaps I should investigate on the relationship between the designers and users through VR? This leaves me much to think about...

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