How Virtual Reality Works

Narrated slide show describing how virtual reality (VR) and immersive displays work from a perception point of view. This is not about the technology required to build VR environments, but about how users perceive virtual objects as "real."

Please leave comments; I'd like to know whether this way of explaining things works.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• virtual reality
• immersive display
• stereoscopic display
• head tracking
• perception
• 3D graphics
• CAVE
• HMD

[spelunkerucd]

I would have agreed -- but empirical evidence suggests otherwise. I've used these slides in several presentations to mixed audiences (from experts to random people off the street), and gotten a bunch of feedback in terms of "oh, now I understand."

The problem with videos is that they inherently show a first-person view, but can't illustrate really well what happens inside the viewer's eyes and heads. Combining this and that might work; will try that next.

[youso64]

can Virtual Reality be used to amagin things? or look & hear memories, or even

dreams?

[spelunkerucd]

Virtual reality is a way to present computer-generated images in a way that feels very "real." So if there were a way to turn memories or dreams into computer-generated images, then probably yes.

[carlosnba]

This presentation is great!

Thank you very much :-)

[sonicoliver]

There was a stereoscopic cave in Japan at JOYPOLIS in Odaiba... it had support for up to 4 people at once!

[Xjkjk3264X]

This was a big obvious '-'

[sumnerd]

Great explanation, Oliver!

[roidroid]

when explaining topics like this - prolific use of actual video examples is needed.

your video is all technically correct of course, but it relies heavily on wordily explaining abstract concepts - when just simple video examples would be more intuitive.

(eg: show an actual stereoscopic image changing as you alternatively close one eye then the other)