Do you really know Virtual reality (VR)😋

Welcome Readers​

Virtual reality, or VR gives users the chance to experience and interact in a world that is separate to their real, everyday lives.This, in turn, has been used for a variety of reasons, from training pilots without them having to physically fly a plane until ready, to helping architects and investors experience a creation before it has been built. The technology has significantly developed over the last 20 years though and 2016 marks a very exciting time for virtual reality.

So this is your ultimate guide about all you need to know about a VR. It will answer the most important questions surrounding virtual reality.

What is virtual reality (VR)?

Virtual reality is an experience of a world that doesn’t exist. It is most often a 3D world created by computers and is experienced and interacted with through a head-mounted display, and some form of input tracking. The experience is immersive and believable. It enables the user to feel like he or she is part of the created world both visually, aurally and, in many cases, mentally. There are various kinds of virtual reality from immersive and non-immersive to collaborative and web-based.It’s the fully-immersive kind that is exciting though as this type of VR is the explorable and interactive 3D computer-created world that can take you to places reality might not allow for.

The basic equipments:The most important piece of a virtual reality kit is the headset, a device like a thick pair of goggles that goes over your eyes. The more expensive, higher quality headsets need to be connected to a computer to run apps and games, while some cheaper ones use a cellphone clipped to the front of the headset.

All headsets need to be used alongside a good quality pair of headphones, and there are other optional accessories from hand controllers to treadmills that are all designed to enhance your simulated experience of being in another world. Hand controllers translate your real-world gestures into whatever game or application you’re using, although standard gaming joypads can also be used.

VR devices have their own app stores, similar to smartphone app stores, where you can browse and download games and apps.
What is the difference between VR and AR?

As we mentioned above, virtual reality (VR) gives you the ability to experience a different world from the one you live in. There has to be hardware and software involved for it to work and once you’re in that computer-created 3D landscape, your focus will be entirely on that location until you remove the head-mounted display. VR is entirely virtual with no overlap into the real world.Augmented reality on the other hand, or AR, is a computer-generated simulation of a 3D or 2D environment, which is superimposed onto the real world the best example is Pokemon GO! It also needs both hardware and software to work but rather than give a virtual experience like VR, AR is a composite view of graphics and real objects that can add contextual layers of information.

How does a VR work?

1. Seeing is believing

Virtual reality tricks your brain into believing you are in a 3D world. The first way VR does this is with the stereoscopic display. This works by displaying two slightly different angles of the scene to each eye, simulating depth. This along with other ways to simulate depth like parallax (farther objects to you seem to move slower), shading and techniques create an almost life-like experience. 

2. Movement and interaction

This is arguably one of the most important parts of virtual reality. It is one thing to just look around a 3D space, but to be able to move around it and touch and interact with objects is a completely different ballgame. On Android, your phone’s accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer are used to achieve movement of the headset. Using these sensors, your phone can accurately predict where you are looking at any given time while using VR. 

3. The power of sound

The experience would not be complete without audio. Since this is a virtual world, you want the audio to be as close to real life as possible. This is done by spatial audio, also known as 3D audio, which is the virtual placement of sound in a three dimensional environment emulating sounds from different angles. With this technology, virtual reality becomes a more immersive experience and overall improves the quality of VR by quite a bit.

Different uses of Virtual Reality!

1 Journalism and film-making

Journalists, film-makers and a growing number of documentary-makers are using 360-degree cameras to find new angles on stories, if you’ll pardon the pun.

2 Virtual reality beyond gaming

Games loom large in modern-day VR, PlayStation VR headsets were made primarily for gamers, and also because games are the most easily understandable entertainment category to show off this technology. 

3 Sports and music

Would you watch a football match or music concert in a virtual world? A number of companies hope so, and are busy building the technology.One of the key selling points for VR technology is its ability to put you in places you’re unlikely to visit in the flesh, whether too expensive, too dangerous, out of bounds because of mobility issues or just because you don’t like flying.

4 Medical and therapeutic

Virtual reality technology is also being explored by the healthcare industry. Medical Realities is a company using VR, AR and games to train medical students, with its virtual surgeon programme enabling them to experience operations from the surgeon’s perspective