What is Virtual Reality: How it works and what it can do

Today we are living in a world where technology is already booming and developed so much that people cannot survive without it. Virtual Reality has been gaining popularity in the past few years to move towards a new era. Where users will experience and interact with the world in innovative ways. 

What is Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality creates an immersive 3D environment using computer software and hardware to allow users to explore and interact with a virtual surrounding realistic experience. Where users wear VR accessories to interact with the environment.

How does Virtual Reality work

It combines hardware and software to create immersive 3D experiences. Hardware supports sensory stimulation like sounds, touch, smell, or heat intensity, while software creates the virtual environment.

The 3 types of virtual reality

There are 3 primary categories of virtual reality used today

Non-immersive

A non-immersive experience is one that is achieved by using a computer. It provides a computer-generated environment, where the user has some control over the virtual environment using a keyboard or mouse, but the environment does not interact with you directly.

Example: video game

Semi-immersive

This can be in the form of a virtual environment. You can access it through a computer screen or VR box/headset. The primary focus is the visual 3D space and you are not involved in real physical movement other than your visual experience. It can be used for educational or training purposes.

Example: flight simulator

Fully-immersive simulations

It provides an entirely realistic virtual level of experience like feel, touch, sense, and smells in virtual reality to the user within the virtual world. To experience and interact with these simulations, the user needs the proper VR accessories (VR glasses, controller, gaming mat, etc.) to interact with the environment. And that will make you feel like you are physically present in that virtual world.

Virtual Reality use cases

VR for Industrial Training

Heavily industrial fields are difficult to work and the training, because of the big size of equipment, training costs, and limited manpower. So they're training using simulations in VR, and it's cost-effective, easily accessible, inexpensive, safer and lowers overall risk.

VR for Education

Education with Virtual Reality provides teaching and learning within a three-dimensional environment, which is beneficial for students to develop their social skills.

VR for Fashion

Virtual simulations can be beneficial for a store where the customer try on clothes and has a 360-degree experience as he would in the real world.

VR for Sport

Coaches and players can use virtual reality to train more efficiently, and it helps to measure athletic performance and analyze technique. So they can track and improve their technique.

VR for Marketing & Advertising Product Demos

Now companies are sharing the technology with their customers in VR. They've created virtual showrooms and demonstrated details of the actual products. So users get to see the accurate 3D model's experience of their components, how to use them and how they look.

Other use cases include are:

• Architecture

• Art

• Aviation

• Aerospace

• Medical

• Data Visualization

• Manufacturing

• Museums

Virtual Reality games development platforms

Unity

• It is a VR game development platform used across more industries, such as gaming, automotive, employee training, and entertainment.

• Provide High Definition Render Pipeline.

• Unity has native support for Audio Spatializers for VR games.

• Stereo Instancing that reduces CPU and GPU use, so performance is not impacted.

Blender

This open-source software can help users create and animate 3D models for usage in virtual reality games over the past 20 years. Top feature are

• VR rendering support

• CPU and GPU rendering

• Support for HDR lighting

• Modeling rendering

• PBR shaders

• Real-time preview

OpenVR SDK

• The best part of this tool is that it provides games that interact with VR displays without relying on a specific SDK from a hardware vendor.

• It works in all brands of VR headsets.

Autodesk Maya

It helps to create professional assets and realistic characters for use in VR games.

Virtual Reality Advantages And Disadvantages

Advantages

• Engagement toward a subject.

• The education system has been improved.

• Help in providing High Industrial training.

• Simplifies complex problems.

• Used in various fields.

Disadvantages

• Virtual reality equipment are very expensive.

• Complex technology to use.

• Health Effects

Future of Virtual reality

Today’s Virtual reality is just starting but see, definitely insane in future and is going to be one of the Mainstream mediums. For the following 50 years, Virtual Reality has been a way of simulating a fictional world where we would depend.

The global virtual reality market size is expected to reach USD 87.0 billion by 2030, according to the latest report by Grand View Research, Inc.