Back after a looooooooong time !
Missed all my readers. Final year of college sucks !Anyway i will not waste much of your time in the chitter chatter and jump right inside the battlefield with something which you've experienced every day. Its a generation old topic, thought you should know the finest details of it. So here it is :
Missed all my readers. Final year of college sucks !Anyway i will not waste much of your time in the chitter chatter and jump right inside the battlefield with something which you've experienced every day. Its a generation old topic, thought you should know the finest details of it. So here it is :
VIRTUAL REALITY
We are surrounded by technologies of all kinds. Internet and mobile are our portal to a world which is made up of never ending patters of '0' and '1'. These patters forms a world of its own and we humans are the regular tourists of this world. Sounds like James Cameroon's next venture ?! But the fact of the matter is that the term 'fiction' is slowly loosing its relevance to its meaning and the thin line between imagination and reality is fading quickly than we ever thought.
Virtual Reality is a computer simulation of real world which incorporates I/O devices to allow you to interact with it and experience an artificial environment where you can interact with objects and projections of this environment via touch, gesture, voice and even with your thoughts.
A lot of research is being going on for decades to make a virtual world more believable and closer to reality. Lets dive deep into the enormous ocean of information forming an artificial world.
VRML (Virtual Reality Modelling Language)
In
addition to HTML (HyperText Markup Language), that has become a standard
authoring tool for the creation of home pages, VRML provides three-dimensional
worlds with integrated hyperlinks on the Web. Home pages become home spaces.
The viewing of VRML models via a VRML plug-in for Web browsers is usually done
on a graphics monitor under mouse-control and, therefore, not fully immersive.
However, the syntax and data structure of VRML provide an excellent tool for
the modeling of three-dimensional worlds that are functional and interactive
and that can, ultimately, be transferred into fully immersive viewing systems.
The current version VRML 2.0 has become an international ISO/IEC standard under
the name VRML97.
Input Processor : Controls device which gives input to computer. Objective is to get coordinate data to rest of the system with minimum lag. keyboard, mouse, trackers, voice recog etc. can be the input devices.
Simulation Processor : Core of VR. Takes user I/O along with any tasks programmed into the virtual world and determine the actions that will take place in V world.
Rendering Processor : Create sensation that are O/P to user. Seperate rendering process is used for visual, auditory or haptic systems.
World DB : Stores (coordinates and other info like texture, color, intesity etc) 3D objects of the world + scripts that describes actions of these objects.
DESKTOP VIRTUAL REALITY
Desktop virtual reality (VR) offers a powerful
environment for visualizing structure in large information sets. In
well-designed virtual worlds, users can employ skills from wayfinding in the
real world. With Desktop VR a computer screen is normally used as the display
medium. The user views the virtual environment on the computer screen. In order
to experience the virtual environment, the user must look at the screen the
whole time. Today, the term 'Virtual Reality' is also used for applications
that are not fully immersive. The boundaries are becoming blurred, but all
variations of VR will be important in the future. This includes
mouse-controlled navigation through a three-dimensional environment on a
graphics monitor, stereo viewing from the monitor via stereo glasses, stereo
projection systems, and others. Examples of DVR are playing 3D games on
computer, Watching movies etc. A common criticism of Desktop VR focuses on the
lack of peripheral vision
afforded by a
desktop display, claiming that users are not aware of their
surroundings or of their location
in the virtual
space.Desktop VR focuses on mouse, joystick,
or space/sensorball-controlled navigation through a 3D environment on a
graphics monitor under computer control.
Two recent trends in human-computer interfaces are striking. First, as
the volume and complexity of the information sphere grows, more advanced
techniques are needed to visualize and manage it. Such approaches, generally
known as information visualization, can be seen as moving downward from
abstraction to representation. Second, as the power and sophistication of
computer technology increases, its ability to simulate the world also increases. Such approaches, generally
known as VR, can be seen as moving upward
from concreteness to dematerialization. These 2 trends are starting to meet in the domain of information visualization
using desktop VR. This meeting enables
significant improvements in the everyday accessibility of large information
sets.
Research
on navigation in VR began with urban design studies of the physical world. Work on legibility (imageability) showed that resident
efficiency and enjoyment is enhanced by a design with landmarks, paths,
districts, nodes, and edges in a strong
hierarchy. Later work analyzed wayfinding - the conceptual part of navigation - into 3 iterative stages: mental mapping, route
planning, and plan execution. Recent
research concludes that wayfinding design principles from the real world often
apply to large virtual environments. Design principles for information
landscapes appeared in a summary of wayfinding research with application to
virtual worlds. In related work, a layout algorithm was proposed, based on
hyperbolic visualizations and cone trees. More abstract 3D textual
environments, including Apple Computer’s “HotSauce”, were used to represent
hierarchical information.
IMMERSIVE VIRTUAL REALITY
Immersion is the state of consciousness where an
immersant’s awareness of physical self is transformed by being surrounded in an
engrossing environment; often artificial, creating a perception of Presence in
a non-physical world. The term is widely used for describing partial or
complete suspension of disbelief enabling action or reaction to stimulations
encountered in a virtual or artistic environment. The degree to which the
virtual or artistic environment faithfully reproduces reality determines the
degree of suspension of disbelief. The greater the suspension of disbelief, the
greater the degree of Presence achieved. Types of Immersion:
According to Ernest W. Adams, author of
“Postmodernism and the Three Types of Immersion”, immersion can be separated
into three main categories. Staffan Bjork and JussiHolopainen authors of
“Patterns in Game Design” use a similar classification only giving different
titles to the categories and adding a fouth. Dr. Thomas M McLaughlin, motion
capture pioneer and patent holder, has added yet another category to this
rubric: 1.Tactical (or Sensory-motoric)
Immersion is experienced when performing tactile or physical
operations that involve skill. Players feel “in the zone” while perfecting
actions that result in success. 2.Strategic
(or Cognitive) Immersion is more cerebral, and is associated with
mental challenge and decision making. Chess players experience strategic
immersion when choosing a correct solution among a broad array of
possibilities, without a corresponding physical set of reactions to effect that
decision. 3.Narrative (Emotional)
Immersion is realized when the immersant becomes emotionally
invested in a story or experience. 4.Spatial
Immersion occurs when the immersant feels the simulated world is
perceptually convincing and feels he or she is really “there” and the simulated
world looks and feels “real”. 5.Total
Immersion occurs when all four types of immersion previously
described are realized in a single experience.
IMMERSIVE DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT
 |
Cosmopolis
(2005), Maurice Benayoun's Giant Virtual Reality Interactive Installation
|
An immersive digital environment is an artificial, interactive, computer-created scene or
"world" within which a user can immerse themselves.
Immersive digital
environments could be thought of as synonymous with Virtual reality, but without the implication that actual "reality" is
being simulated. An immersive digital environment could be a model of reality, but it
could also be a complete fantasy user interface or abstraction, as
long as the user of the environment is immersed within it. The definition of
immersion is wide and variable, but here it is assumed to mean simply that the
user feels like they are part of the simulated "universe". The success with which an immersive digital
environment can actually immerse the user is dependent on many factors such as believable 3D
computer graphics, surround
sound, interactive user-input and other factors such
as simplicity, functionality and potential for enjoyment. New technologies are
currently under development which claims to bring realistic environmental
effects to the players' environment - effects like wind, seat vibration and
ambient lighting.
MICROSOFT
XBOX 360 KINECT
An XBOX 360
Kinect Game
SOFTWARE
Kinect builds
on software technology developed internally by Rare, a subsidiary of Microsoft Game Studios owned by Microsoft, and on range camera technology by Israeli developer
PrimeSense, which developed a system that can
interpret specific gestures, making completely hands-free control of electronic
devices possible by using an infrared projector
and camera and a special microchip to track the movement of objects
and individuals in three dimension. This 3D scanner system
called Light Coding employs a variant of image-based
3D reconstruction.
HARDWARE
The device
features an "RGB camera, depth sensor and multi-array microphone running
proprietary software”, which provide full-body 3D motion capture, facial
recognition and voice recognition capabilities.
The depth
sensor consists of an infrared laser projector combined with a monochrome CMOS
sensor, which captures video data in 3D under any ambient light conditions. The
sensing range of the depth sensor is adjustable, and the Kinect software is
capable of automatically calibrating the sensor based on gameplay and the
player's physical environment, accommodating for the presence of furniture or
other obstacles.
Kinect
sensor outputs video at a frame rate of 30 Hz. The RGB video stream uses 8-bit
VGA resolution (640 × 480 pixels) with a Bayer color filter, while the
monochrome depth sensing video stream is in VGA resolution (640 × 480 pixels)
with 11-bit depth, which provides 2,048 levels of sensitivity. The Kinect
sensor has a practical ranging limit of 1.2–3.5 m (3.9–11 ft) distance when
used with the Xbox software.
AUGMENTED REALITY
 |
| Nokia CityLens |
Augmented reality (AR)
is a live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose
elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data. It is related to a more general concept called mediated reality, in which a view of reality is modified (possibly even
diminished rather than augmented) by a computer. As a result, the technology
functions by enhancing one’s current perception of reality. By contrast, virtual reality replaces the real world with a simulated one. Augmentation is conventionally in real-time and in semantic context with environmental elements, such as
sports scores on TV during a match. With the help of advanced AR technology
(e.g. adding computer vision and object recognition) the information about the surrounding real world of the
user becomes interactive and digitally manipulable. Artificial information about the
environment and its objects can be overlaid on the real world.
APPLICATIONS & FUTURE SCOPE OF VR
There are numerous applications in the
domains of health care, education and lifelong learning, manufacturing, and
other areas where this technology shows great promise for improving
productivity. Early results show an increase in productivity and a reduction in
cost and resources. Examples of current use include: searching of networked
databases and libraries; manipulation of molecules for development of
nanotechnology devices and chemical systems; shared surgical interventions;
modeling, simulation, and analyses; scientific and technical visualization
applications; prototyping and planning; and training for and monitoring of
complex human-computer tasks. National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) realized the importance of virtual
reality as early as mid ’80.They used this technology for many space-based
operations, such as driving a bulldozer on the Moon by remote control or using
it as a training device. Three-dimensional simulations of the space station,
the landscape of Mars, and other complex scenarios were constructed by NASA.
Useful applications of VR also include
training in a variety of areas (military, medical, equipment operation, etc.),
education, design evaluation (virtual prototyping), architectural walk-through,
human factors and ergonomic studies, simulation of assembly sequences and
maintenance tasks, assistance for the handicapped, study and treatment of
phobias (e.g., fear of height), entertainment, and much more.
0 comments:
Post a Comment