Virtual Reality

Mixed Reality
 Real World + Virtual World
 Virtual Reality (VR)
 Augmented Reality (AR)
Virtual Reality Devices

Oculus Rift VR
Reference: https://www.oculus.com

HTC Vive

Reference: https://www.vive.com
Virtual Reality Devices

Cardboard &
Oculus Rift VR Samsung Gear VR
Reference: https://www.oculus.com Reference: https://www.androidcentral.com/google-
cardboard-vs-samsung-gear-vr

HTC Vive

Virtuix Omni Treadmill

Reference: https://www.vive.com Reference: https://www.virtuix.com/
ICAROS

https://youtu.be/SyTEe2WvkYs

Reference: https://www.icaros.com
What Can We Do With VR?
What Can We Do With VR?
 Psychology research - conduct psych studies in VR
 Games - create an immersive game
 Training and Education - train or learn a skill in VR
 Art - Interactive Art exhibit
 Data Visualization - navigate multi-dimensional data
 Telepresence - present the user in an another time or
location (e.g. teleconference)
 Phobia Treatment - exposure therapy to fear
(e.g. fear of heights)
 Architectural and Design evaluation –
explore a 3d model of a structure
 VR Journalism
What is Virtual Reality?
 Grigore C. Burdea, Rutgers:
 Virtual reality is a high-end user-computer interface
that involves real-time simulation and interactions
through multiple sensorial channels. These sensorial
modalities are visual, auditory, tactile, smell, and
taste. Virtual Reality Technology, Burdea, G.C.

 Burdea’s 3 I’s for VR:

and Coiffet, P., reference: Google Books

 Immersion – believing you are there

 What contributes to it? Our senses.

 Interactivity – user impacts world and get feedback

 Imagination – user ‘buying’ into the experience
 VR is useful for people with prior experience
Three I ’s of v irtual reality, immersion-
interaction-imagination adapted from Burdea
in 1993. © 2003 by John Wiley & Sons I nc.
Frederick Brooks’ What’s Real About Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality Experience
Turing Award Winner, 1999


 User is effectively immersed in a responsive

virtual world.
 Implies → user dynamic control of viewpoint

 Control becomes an important element of

VR systems.
 Differentiates VR from books and movies
(or watching movies in HMD)
 Why is control important?

Reference:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/220518370_Wh
at's_Real_About_Virtual_Reality
Ivan Sutherland’s Image by Ivan Sutherland

The Ultimate Display (1960’s)

 “Don’t think of that thing as a screen, think of
it as a window, a window through which one
looks into a virtual world. The challenge to
computer graphics is to make that virtual
world look real, sound real, move and
respond to interaction in real time, and even
feel real.”

 Ivan Sutherland
 Turing Award Winner, 1988
 “father of computer graphics”
Reference: (Wikipedia)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Sutherland
Ivan Sutherland’s
The Ultimate Display (1960’s)
 Sword of Damocles

https://youtu.be/NtwZXGprxag
A Brief History of Virtual Reality

Image from slide from the EE-267 virtual reality course taught at Stanford University by Gordon Wetzsten, Spring 2016.
A Brief History of Virtual Reality

Image from slide from the EE-267 virtual reality course taught at Stanford
University by Gordon Wetzsten, Spring 2016.
Nintendo Virtual Boy
 770,000 units sold, commercial failure
– judge for yourself
 180 usd at 1995

Image from slide from the EE-267 virtual reality course taught at Stanford University by Gordon Wetzsten, Spring 2019.
Activities at SIGGRAPH 2018
 VR @ 50
Key Elements of Virtual Reality Experience
 1. Virtual World
– content of a given medium

 2. Immersion
– sensation of being in an environment

 3. Sensory Feedback
– information about the virtual

 4. Interactivity
– the virtual world responds to the
user’s actions. Walking Experiment at
UNC – Chapel Hill
VR Usually Implies
 Immersive Technology
 Real-time first person view
 Environment responds to you
(at least at the level of head-motion)
Immersive Technology Virtual Research V8

 Head-mounted Display
 Optical System
 Image Source (CRT or LCD)
 Mounting Apparatus
 Earphones
 Position Tracker

https://humansystems.arc.nasa.gov/groups/
acd/projects/hmd_dev.php
Image from NASA:

26
Immersive Technology Image from Halarnkar, Pallavi N. et al.
“A Review on Virtual Reality.” (2012).

 Multi-screen Projection of stereoscopic images

 Cave Automatic Virtual Environments (CAVE)
 Provides the illusion of immersion by
projecting stereo images on the walls and
floor of a room-sized cube.
 A head tracking system continuously adjust
the stereo projection to the current position of
the leading viewer.

Image from Christie CAVE Image from https://www.vrfitnessinsider.com/vr-shapes-

emotion-body-perception-reaction/
Immersive Technology Data glove

 Data Glove
 Outfitted with sensors on the fingers as well as
an overall position/orientation tracking
equipment.
 Enables natural interaction with virtual objects Image from
https://www.d10d3.net/diy-wearables-data-glove

by hand gesture recognition.

Data glove
 Glove-Free Hand-Tracking

 Leap Motion

Image from https://pin.it/c346lci4xybsur

Leap Motion
Reference: https://www.leapmotion.com/
Immersive Technology

https://youtu.be/0WQw4GmFGVg
Immersive Technology
 Haptics Devices

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=20&v=TJA7psWM8sY
Immersive Technology
 Moving platform
 “Slidemills” systems
 Virtuix Omni, KatVR, …

Image from Wikipedia CES 2016 - V irtuix Omni V R Gaming Demo

https://youtu.be/WW3kO9GxUa8
Immersive Technology
 Moving platform
 Treadmill systems
 Omnideck, Infinadeck, Aperium pod

PAYDAY 2 VR - Omnideck Tech Demo

https://youtu.be/HmbHc71z7T4
 GPU Technology
 Realistic Environment
 Nvidia latest GPU

A Real-Time Ray-Tracing Cinematic

Reference:
https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/design-visualization/quadro/
Scene Powered by NVIDIA RTX
https://youtu.be/KJRZTkttgLw