Published on <a href="http://ift.tt/2oVQxhz">| Prototyping: From UX to Front End &mdash; Medium</a> Fairy Lai <img alt="" src="http://ift.tt/2ohRUVa">
The first time I got to know the word “Virtual Reality”, what we call VR now, is when I started to learn English in my grade 4 in primary school in China. Soon after, I read a scientific novel about a small girl travelling into the world of virtual reality and experienced a totally different kind of life : people can do whatever they want in the virtual world, just like what we are doing in the reality.This is my initial impression of virtual reality.
After that, the word of VR disappeared from my life. The second time I heard about it is when the VR technology began to be popular and advanced enough to be noticed by the audience, and there are those fancy headsets, motion sensors, controllers….People started talking about VR, AR and MR…Suddenly, it seems those scenes I viewed in the novel will come into being!
I attended a <a href="http://ift.tt/2oW9nVU">VR event</a> and <a href="http://ift.tt/2ohSYbu">an AR meetup</a> last week and it was my very first time to try out those equipments and listen to pioneers in the industry talking about VR,MR and AR.
<h3>Beforehand</h3>
I’m completely new to this field, and my previous experience with VR,AR and MR are probably the same as most of you – I only knew Pokemon Go. And what I’m going to share below is just some of my summary and understanding after the events and a bit of online research.
Feel free to point out if there is any mistake, and welcome to further discuss with me 😀
<h3>The Concepts</h3>
Let’s look at the fundamental definitions of these buzzwords from wikipedia.
<blockquote><a href="http://ift.tt/1I3M8wD">Virtual reality (VR)</a> typically refers to computer technologies that use virtual reality headsets to generate the realistic images, sounds and other sensations that replicate a real environment or create an imaginary setting.</blockquote>
<img alt="" src="http://ift.tt/2ohL4Pw">virtual reality <a href="http://ift.tt/2oW5ald">http://ift.tt/2oW5ald</a>
<blockquote><a href="http://ift.tt/1mdBIix">Augmented reality (AR)</a> is a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented (or supplemented) by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data.</blockquote>
<img alt="" src="http://ift.tt/2oVQSky">Augmented reality <a href="http://ift.tt/29T6tLs">http://ift.tt/29T6tLs</a>
<blockquote><a href="http://ift.tt/1mpseTV">Mixed reality (MR)</a>, sometimes referred to as hybrid reality, is the merging of real and virtual worlds to produce new environments and visualizations where physical and digital objects co-exist and interact in real time.</blockquote>
<img alt="" src="http://ift.tt/2ohV63c">Mixed Reality <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ic_M6WoRZ7k">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ic_M6WoRZ7k</a>
It may look confusing from the words, but it is easier to understand and distinguish them from the pictures. My understanding of the difference of these 3 is: VR is immersing people into a completely virtual environment ; AR is creating an overlay of virtual content, but can’t interact with the environment; MR is a mixed of virtual reality and the reality, it creates virtual objects that can interact with the actual environment.
VR is easy to understand, because based on the current technology, it normally comes with the headset which you need to put on and experience a completely different world. The difference between MR and AR is in a debate because both of them creates virtual content overlay.I think the most important difference is the interaction between the object and the environment. For AR, the virtual content is just an overlay on the environment, for example, in Pokemon GO, you can see a pokemon standing in front of your house through the phone; while for MR, the virtual content has relationship with the reality, for example, the virtual ball you created will bounce once it reaches the floor.
*****I can be wrong, feel free to leave your comments :D*****
Some further readings on the difference among VR, MR and AR
<a href="http://ift.tt/2oVQ1Av">http://ift.tt/2ohRSN2</a>
<a href="http://ift.tt/2oVXaAR">http://ift.tt/2ohSUbQ</a>
<a href="http://ift.tt/2oVYbIU">http://ift.tt/2oVYbIU</a>
<h3>The Equipments</h3>
Virtual Reality
There are mobile VRs, which means you need to put your phone into the headset and watch through the lens, and there are also headsets which phones are not necessary, they can either connect to other devices like computers and game engines or <a href="http://ift.tt/2bZKDa1">even run on their own</a>.
The most typical VR headset — Google Cardboard: cheap but works very well, suitable for beginners, especially someone who is interested and wants to know how a VR experience is like.
<img alt="" src="http://ift.tt/2oVVgA7"><a href="http://ift.tt/27BpzKx">Google Cardboard</a>
And of course, the fancy headsets!
<img alt="" src="http://ift.tt/2oVVibd"><a href="http://ift.tt/2ohBDQk">Google Daydream</a><img alt="" src="http://ift.tt/2oW6IM6"><a href="http://ift.tt/2nlEKFn">Samsung Gear VR</a><img alt="" src="http://ift.tt/2oW8UmD"><a href="http://ift.tt/1DGq8pQ">Oculus Rift(connected with PC)</a><img alt="" src="http://ift.tt/2oi1cAK"><a href="http://ift.tt/1WosCSH">PlayStation VR Headset</a>
VR experience can be very active, where you get controllers to interact with the objects in the virtual world, like playing a game, but it can also be a passive experience when you are not a video gamer like me, you can choose to watch a 360-degree video.
So here comes this very handy ‘headset’, not even a headset, just the lens, which you can put on the phone and enjoy the VR experience in a party without the big headset.
<img alt="" src="http://ift.tt/2ohUDOy"><a href="http://ift.tt/1MTrHPM">Homido Mini</a>
360-degree video
<blockquote><a href="http://ift.tt/2bFNXVm">360-degree videos</a>, also known as immersive videos or spherical videos, are video recordings where a view in every direction is recorded at the same time, shot using an omnidirectional camera or a collection of cameras.</blockquote>
While watching a 360 video, you can turn around and see every corner of the scene in the video, very amazing. Especially if in a movie, you will feel like you are inside the story! Like some other VR experience, the creator will give you some control to interact with the video content.
What I have experienced is that there is a small dot in the view, and move around to look for butons/interfaces exactly like the ones on PC/mobile, when I stop at the place for a while it will be like pressing a button. It is very intuitive and easy to use, but maybe a bit hard to follow when someone is completely new.
The following are some cameras for making 360 video.
<img alt="" src="http://ift.tt/2oW3msf"><a href="http://ift.tt/21iYXK8">Samsung 360 video camera</a><img alt="" src="http://ift.tt/2oW2XGs"><a href="http://ift.tt/2aQtqvQ">GoPro Omini</a>
For some more details, check out <a href="http://ift.tt/2hY0LIk">this post about some of the best 360 video cameras.</a>
Mixed Reality
For right now, headset is the focus of MR.
<img alt="" src="http://ift.tt/2oVZHL8"><a href="http://ift.tt/2gyFc3p">HoloLens from Microsoft</a>
I have tried this out in an exhibition, the interesting part is that you can actually see virtual objects in the reality through the lens. Plus, by catching the floating point in the air, you can trigger the menu and choose what you want to see.I’m not sure about the technical part, but I guess people need to set up spots in the room first to allow the computer of the lens to connect and generate and render the objects.
Augmented Reality
AR is the most popular one among the three and has been applied widely in all kind of aspects like education, advertising, entertainment etc. There are also large amount of different devices as well.
Let’s start with the most popular game — Pokemon GO.
<img alt="" src="http://ift.tt/2oVXZJT"><a href="http://ift.tt/2aazpPk">Pokemon GO</a><img alt="" src="http://ift.tt/2oW5cJC"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDNzTasuYEw">IKEA AR</a>
Mobile and tablets are the most popular mediums of AR now, through the camera, the apps put an overlay of digital content into the environment.
But things can go further.
<img alt="" src="http://ift.tt/2ohNLRd"><a href="http://ift.tt/214Fflm">Meta 2</a><img alt="" src="http://ift.tt/2oW9osW"><a href="http://ift.tt/214Fflm">Meta 2</a>
What if people can actually interact with the virtual objects projected to the lens? With Meta 2, people can create digital content and interact with them through their hands. But it needs to be connected to a PC via cable.
But it looks very similar with the HoloLens, so what is the difference? From the image above, you can see the virtual object is only a digital overlay and has nothing to do with the actual environment.<a href="http://ift.tt/2ohUFWG">For the difference between Meta and HoloLens, check out this blog post digging into deeper technical details.</a>
<h3>“Mixed reality is the future.”</h3>
In the event, the pioneers all agreed on this. VR still has large impact, especially for gaming and filming. But MR is going to change our life completely. The following is what I think the advantages of MR.
1/MR devices never block your view.
Remember the dizziness after playing with VR headset and the injuries it might cause if you are not paying attention to the reality and walk to the wall? Also the news about people paying too much attention on their mobile to catch pokemon so they hit a car?Through the lens of AR you can see the virtual content and the real environment at the same time, so it will never block your view.
2/You have more control on the virtual content.
You don’t need a controller to interact with the object, you can do so by using your hands. And it can actually interact with the environment, making it part of the environment instead of just an pure digital overlay.
<h3>“VR and MR are developing fast, but AR is still the main for now.”</h3>
Before we arrive to the stage that headsets become handy enough to be put on like a pair of glasses, and cheap enough to allow everyone owns one, VR and MR still remain to be too far for the normal audience. While for AR, in the era when almost everyone has a smartphone, is very accessible.
<h3>“These technologies can absolutely help the world to be a better one, but we need to be careful.”</h3>
These technologies can be applied into education, entertainment, e-commerce, advertising, military…a lot of fields. People can experiment with virtual objects before they move to actual objects, which can save numerous of resources.<a href="http://ift.tt/2od3sL1">Here is a post about manipulate VR and AR technologies to help training.</a>
<h3>Some Tools for developing VR/MR/AR content</h3>
<a href="http://ift.tt/2oi0fYX">Unity game engine</a>
<a href="https://www.layar.com/">LayAR</a>
<a href="http://ift.tt/1Fy2vvS">Aurasma</a>
<a href="http://ift.tt/2ohRT3y">10 tools to bring VR to life</a>
I’m very excited to be able to join the events and got a closer look to the cutting-edge technologies so I summarized some of the basis as well as my thinking here, and I’m sure there are lots of mistakes. Feel free to leave your comments and we can have further discussions.
Fairy is a product designer who is dedicated to utilizing technology to better connect the world. Welcome to connect me via<a href="http://ift.tt/2mOgudU"> Dribbble</a>, <a href="http://ift.tt/2nzxQzS">Linkedin</a>, and <a href="https://twitter.com/fkojiang?lang=en">Twitter</a>.
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<a href="http://ift.tt/2ohSUsm">How far is the future? My summary of VR, AR and MR</a> was originally published in <a href="http://ift.tt/2cAqCpx">Prototyping: From UX to Front End</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

How far is the future? My summary of VR, AR and MR

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