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Pokémon GO - Official Shared AR Experience Tutorial Trailer

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Niantic Labs is adding a new augmented reality feature to Pokémon Go next month that will make the virtual creatures look even more realistic. The new feature will let real-world objects obscure parts of the pocket monsters or let them hide entirely behind environmental fixtures like trees or furniture.

The company calls the feature "reality blending," and it's based on the AR technique known as occlusion, which uses a mix of hardware and software features on powerful, modern smartphones to map an environment and understand the shape and depth of real-world objects. Niantic says the feature will come first to Samsung Galaxy S9 and S10 devices as well as the Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 4. More devices are expected to join the list in the future.

Niantic's new reality blending will let pokémon hide behind real-world objects

"Pokémon will be able to hide behind a real object or be occluded by a tree or table blocking its path, just like a pokémon would appear in the physical world," Niantic product manager Kjell Bronder says in a blog post. "As Pokémon Go has grown throughout the years, trainers have been able to photograph, walk, and play with their pokémon buddy. This new feature brings them even closer to reality."

Niantic first demoed its occlusion technology nearly two years ago with a video featuring a life-sized Pikachu darting around a crowded public space filled with walking pedestrians, potted plants, and benches. Each time the Pikachu would go behind a pot or stand with a person in between it and the phone camera, parts of the creature would become obscured.

Niantic has built an impressive team of researchers over the last few years to help it pull off techniques like this using existing phone hardware. It's done so through strategic acquisitions of AR and artificial intelligence companies like Escher Reality, Matrix Mill, and Sensible Object.

More recently, Niantic purchased 6D.ai, a startup dedicated to using AI to 3D map physical spaces. "The research team has grown since the 6D.ai acquisition and now includes world-renowned AR researchers from Oxford Active Vision Lab and the University College London, among others," a Niantic spokesperson tells The Verge.

In addition to reality blending, Niantic is also giving Pokémon Go the ability to contribute to its crowdsourced 3D mapping project, as it does with its original AR game Ingress. Instead of portal scanning, as it's called in Ingress, Niantic says players of Pokémon Go will be able to perform "PokéStop Scanning" to "contribute to building 3D maps of their "favorite PokéStops and Gyms by walking around their favorite public places and recording a stream of images with their phone."

"Techniques such as blurring potentially recognizable objects like faces or license plates are automatically applied to information that trainers choose to send to Niantic," Bronder explains in the blog post. "Niantic does not collect or store any personal data in connection with this information and it is not tied to specific player accounts."

Niantic wants players to help 3D map the real world, when it's safe to go outside again

The feature will be restricted to trainers who are at the max level of 40 before it comes more broadly to lower-level players. Bronder says these images help it generate more realistic 3D maps, which in turn make the game's blending of the real and virtual more believable. "This will allow us in the future to tie virtual objects to real world locations and provide pokémon with spatial and contextual awareness of their surroundings," he says. "For instance, this awareness will help Snorlax find that perfect patch of grass to nap on or give Clefairy a tree to hide behind."

Of course, COVID-19 is complicating these large, collaborative AR games at the moment. Niantic has taken some measures to ensure its games can be played safely from your home, The company laid out a plan back in March to continuously update its games during the pandemic to make easier to record indoor exercise as in-game activity and enhancing the social, exploration, and live event features to better suit players during shelter-in-place.

That's resulted in some nice new features, including remote raiding in Pokémon Go and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite's in-game transportation option to ferry players to the "fortresses" that typically require your physical presence at a real-world landmark or location.

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Niantic adds 'reality blending' to Pokémon Go to make your virtual pals even more realistic

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Niantic is bringing "reality blending" to Pokémon Go, a new AR feature that will make use of its past experimental work with occlusion. Starting in June and on certain smartphones, virtual pokémon will be able to exist in the real world more realistically by hiding behind trees and other fixtures and having parts of their body obscured by other real-world objects.

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2019 was a growth year for virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR)- known collectively as extended reality (XR). The presence of these breakthrough technologies began to be felt far away from the fields of gaming and entertainment, where they first became popular.

The 5 Biggest Virtual And Augmented Reality Trends In 2020 Everyone Should Know About
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Virtual reality - where users wear a headset and are fully immersed in computer-generated environments - has been developed to meet design, marketing, education, training, and retail needs. Augmented reality - where computer images are superimposed onto the user's view of the real world, through a screen or headset - is a more complex challenge, as it requires the software to "see" what is in front of it. But we're getting used to seeing it used for more than adding cartoon features to selfie pictures or spotting Pokemon in the wild.

With global spending on XR technology is forecast to increase by 78.5% next year compared to this year, both technologies will be key trends to watch out for in 2020. We are likely to see a whole load of exciting new hardware offering even greater immersion and realism, as well as innovative use cases as industry gets to grips with what it can do.
Industrial use outpaces gaming and entertainment
Most people's first experiences of VR and AR today are likely to be in gaming and entertainment. That's likely to change, as research shows that the development of enterprise XR solutions is overtaking that on consumer solutions. The 2020 XR Industry Insight report collated by VR Intelligence states that 65% of the AR companies surveyed said they are working on industrial applications, while just 37% working on consumer products and software.

This shouldn't be surprising - although games made the headlines in recent years thanks to Pokemon Go and Facebook's Oculus Rift, the potential to boost productivity and safety using XR makes it an attractive proposition for industry. VR can be used to simulate working in dangerous environments or with expensive, easily damaged tools and equipment, without any of the risks. AR, on the other hand, can be used to relay essential information directly to the user about whatever happens to be in front of them - reducing the time spent by engineers, technicians, or maintenance staff referring to manuals and looking up information online while on the job.
XR takes off in healthcare
The potential uses for these technologies in healthcare are obvious, and over 2020 we can expect to see many of these use cases transition from trials and pilots and gradually into general use. Virtual reality has already been adopted in therapy, where it is used to treat patients with phobias and anxiety disorders. Combined with biosensors that monitor physiological reactions like heart rate and perspiration, therapists can get a better understanding of how patients react to stressful situations in a safe, virtual environment. VR is also used to help people with autism develop social and communication skills, as well as to diagnose patients with visual or cognitive impairments, by tracking their eye movement.

The adoption of AR in healthcare is forecast to grow even more quickly - with the value of the market increasing by 38% annually until 2025. AR can be used by surgeons - both in the theater and in training - to alert them to risks or hazards while they are working. One app which has been developed uses AR to guide users towards defibrillator devices, should they need one when they are out in public. Another one helps nurses to find patients' veins and avoid accidentally sticking needles where they aren't wanted. As these innovations and others like them lead to improved patient outcomes and reduced cost of treatment, they are likely to become increasingly widespread throughout 2020.
Headsets get smaller, more mobile and more powerful
One of the biggest limiting factors with current XR technology is the need for encumbering headsets and display units. This is more of a problem with VR, where the powerful processing hardware needed to generate the graphics is usually contained within the headset. However, hardware devices have started to trend towards being "untethered" - For example, Facebook's Oculus headset initially needed to be connected to a powerful PC, but this year became available as the self-contained Oculus Quest version.

As well as more mobile, headsets will be able to generate increasingly realistic "worlds" for the VR user to explore as the devices are fitted with more and more powerful processors. While early VR worlds were clearly computer-generated using low-resolution polygons, the vistas available to us in 2020 will move closer to reality, allowing for more immersive experiences. Possibly the most anticipated breakthrough will be Apple's forthcoming 8K combined VR/AR glasses that will not be tethered to a computer or phone. The consumer tech giant is hoping that it will be the one to break XR into the mainstream with a high-end but affordable device, in the same way it did with the iPhone.
5G opens new possibilities for VR and AR
Super-fast mobile networks will further boost the potential of XR to strengthen its presence in entertainment and make further inroads into industry during 2020.

The potential for data transfer speeds of up to 3 gigabits per second - by comparison, the average home broadband delivers well under 100 megabits per second - means 5G should be fast enough to stream VR and AR data from the cloud. Rather than needing to be wired up to powerful PCs, or encumbered by on-board hardware, viewing devices will upload tracking data to data centers where the heavy processing will be done. The rendered images can be delivered back to the user in real-time thanks to the speed of 5G and other advanced networks.

Streaming VR has been possible in a limited way for a few years now - Facebook lets you do it with your phone, but the experience is limited due to data transfer speeds and low on-device processing power. Combining it with the cloud and 5G technology means designers of VR and AR tools will be unencumbered by the need to deliver their experiences into a low-bandwidth, low-powered environment. The result will be cheaper headsets and viewing devices and more realistic VR simulations.
More of us will learn through VR and AR
Educational experiences in VR and AR will continue to become increasingly common throughout 2020. The immersive nature of VR means that pupils can engage with learning in fun new ways, and AR brings new flexibility to on-the-job training.

Already students can take a trip through time to visit the ancient Romans, or through space to experience conditions on other planets. But as the technology becomes moves away from niche and becomes part of the fabric of everyday education, we're likely to see growth apart from simply providing "experiences," into solving problems with current education systems. Distance learners could be taught in VR classrooms, meaning they don't miss out on the benefits of learning in a collaborative environment, while AR training aids can ensure that access to the information needed to carry out a job is always on hand.

You might also be interested in some of the best examples of how AR is already being used in business, which I discuss in this video:

... Read More

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The 5 Biggest Virtual And Augmented Reality Trends In 2020 Everyone Should Know About

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2019 was a growth year for virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR)- known collectively as extended reality (XR). The presence of these breakthrough technologies began to be felt far away from the fields of gaming and entertainment, where they first became popular.

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Virtual reality (VR) technology is a growing force beyond entertainment and an important tool in education, science, commerce, manufacturing, and more. Learn the basics and the latest from experts about how VR impacts your world.

In this article, you'll find:

What Is Virtual Reality?

Virtual reality is the use of computer technology to create simulated environments. Virtual reality places the user inside a three-dimensional experience. Instead of viewing a screen in front of them, users are immersed in and interact with 3D worlds.

Simulation of human senses-all five of them-transforms a computer into a vehicle into new worlds. The only limitation to a superb VR experience is computing power and content availability.

Sam Trudgian , a VR developer at Napster, says, "VR and AR are in a state of innovation now. Headsets are getting smaller, faster and wireless.

"We've only just begun the journey into mass-produced consumer headsets, used by businesses to present proposals and products to clients. AR is already popular in architecture and development, and not just with private developers. Local authorities and councils use this technology for town planning and sustainable development. AR doesn't require a headset at this stage, so it's extremely accessible, but I'd like to see AR and VR together in a headset in the future as this currently isn't possible."

The Three Types of Virtual Reality

All three types of VR, from non-immersive, semi-immersive, full immersive or a mixture of them, are also referred to as extended reality (XR). Three types of virtual reality experiences provide different levels of computer-generated simulation.

The three main VR categories are the following:

Non-Immersive Virtual Reality: This category is often overlooked as VR simply because it's so common. Non-immersive VR technology features a computer-generated virtual environment where the user simultaneously remains aware and controlled by their physical environment. Video games are a prime example of non-immersive VR.

Semi-Immersive Virtual Reality: This type of VR provides an experience partially based in a virtual environment. This type of VR makes sense for educational and training purposes with graphical computing and large projector systems, such as flight simulators for pilot trainees.

Fully Immersive Virtual Reality: Right now, there are no completely immersive VR technologies, but advances are so swift that they may be right around the corner. This type of VR generates the most realistic simulation experience, from sight to sound to sometimes even olfactory sensations. Car racing games are an example of immersive virtual reality that gives the user the sensation of speed and driving skills. Developed for gaming and other entertainment purposes, VR use in other sectors is increasing.

The virtual technology definition includes specific shared characteristics. Not only immersive, they are also computer-generated, believable as multidimensional experiences, and interactive.

What's the Difference Between Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality?

Virtual reality (VR) is an all-enveloping artificial and fully immersive experience that obscures the natural world. Augmented reality (AR) enhances users' real-world views with digital overlays that incorporate artificial objects.

VR creates synthetic environments through sensory stimuli. Users' actions impact, at least partially, what occurs in the computer-generated environment. Digital environments reflect real places and exist apart from current physical reality.

In AR, the real world is viewed directly or via a device such as a camera to create a visual and adds to that vision with computer-generated inputs such as still graphics, audio or video. AR is different from VR because it adds to the real-world experience rather than creating a new experience from scratch.

How Does Virtual Reality Technology Work?

The VR process combines hardware and software to create immersive experiences that "fool" the eye and brain. Hardware supports sensory stimulation and simulation such as sounds, touch, smell or heat intensity, while software creates the rendered virtual environment.

Eye and Brain Function and the 3D VR Experience

Immersive experience creation mimics how the eye and brain form visuals. Human eyes are about three inches apart and therefore form two slightly different views. The brain fuses those views to create a sense of depth or stereoscopic display.

VR applications replicate that phenomenon with a pair of exact images from two different perspectives. Instead of a single image covering the entire screen, it shows two identical pictures made to offset the view for each eye. VR technology fools the viewer's brain into perceiving a sense of depth and accept the illusion of a multi-dimensional image.

What Technology Does Virtual Reality Use?

VR technology commonly consists of headsets and accessories such as controllers and motion trackers. Driven by proprietary downloadable apps or web-based VR, the technology is accessible via a web browser.

What Hardware Does Virtual Reality Use?

Virtual reality hardware includes sensory accessories such as controllers, as well as headsets, hand trackers, treadmills and, for creators, 3D cameras.

VR Headsets

A VR headset is a head-mounted device, such as goggles. A VR headset is a visual screen or display. Headsets often include state-of-the-art sound, eye or head motion-tracking sensors or cameras.

There are three main types of headsets:

PC-Based VR Headsets: PC headsets tend to be the highest-priced devices because they offer the most immersive experiences. These headsets are usually cable-tethered from the headset and powered by external hardware. The dedicated display, built-in motion sensors and an external camera tracker offer high-quality sound and image and head tracking for greater realism.

Standalone VR Headsets: All-in-one or standalone VR headsets are wireless, integrated pieces of hardware, such as tablets or phones. Wireless VR headsets are not always standalone. Some systems transmit information wirelessly from consoles or PCs in proximity, and others use wired packs carried in a pocket or clipped to clothing.

Mobile Headsets: These shell devices use lenses that cover a smartphone. The lenses separate the screen to create a stereoscopic image that transforms a smartphone into a VR device. Mobile headsets are relatively inexpensive. Wires are not needed because the phone does the processing. Phones don't offer the best visual experiences and are underpowered by game console- or PC-based VR. They provide no positional tracking. The generated environment displays from a single point, and it is not possible to look around objects in a scene.

VR Accessories

VR accessories are hardware products that facilitate VR technology. New devices are always in development to improve the immersive experience. Today's accessories include the 3D mouse, optical trackers, wired gloves, motion controllers, bodysuits, treadmills, and even smelling devices.

These are some of the accessories used today in VR:

3D Mouse: A 3D mouse is a control and pointing device designed for movement in virtual 3D spaces. 3D mice employ several methods to control 3D movement and 2D pointing, including accelerometers, multi-axis sensors, IR sensors and lights.

Optical Trackers: Visual devices monitors the user's position. The most common method for VR systems is to use one or multiple fixed video cameras to follow the tracked object or person.

Wired Gloves: This type of device, worn on the hands, is also known as cyber gloves or data gloves. Various sensor technologies capture physical movement data. Like an inertial or magnetic tracking device, a motion tracker attaches to capture the glove's rotation and global position data. The glove software interprets movement. High-end versions provide haptic feedback or tactile stimulation, allowing a wired glove to be an output device.

Motion Controllers: These accessories allow users to act in mixed reality. Controllers allow for fine-grained interaction with digital objects because they have a precise position in space.

Omnidirectional Treadmills (ODTs): This accessory machine gives users the ability to move in any direction physically. ODTs allow users to move freely for a fully immersive experience in VR environments.

Smelling Devices: Smell devices are one of the newer accessories in the VR world. Vaqso, a Tokyo-based company, offers a headset attachment that emits odors to convey the size and shape of a candy bar. The fan-equipped device holds several different smells that can change intensity based on the screen action.

What Software Does Virtual Reality Use?

Developers use various software to build VR. They include VR software development kits, visualization software, content management, game engines, social platforms, and training simulators.

VR Content Management Systems Software: Companies use this workplace tool to collect, store and analyze VR content in a centralized location.

VR Game Engine Software: Developers use the tools to create a VR video game experience.

VR Software Development Kit (SDK): SDKs offer a base to design, build and test VR experiences.

VR Social Platforms Software: Users collaborate from remote locations in VR with these tools.

VR Training Simulator Software: This software works for almost any industry for employee training in immersive environments.

VR Visualization Software: Users experience aggregated data in a virtual environment. to fully understand what data means.

Non-Headset VR

Napster's Trudgian points out another software technology that may someday disrupt headsets as a standard in VR: "Non-headset VR is coming, as demonstrated by the likes of Spatial, VRChat and RecRoom.
"These apps allow users or players without headsets to connect to the same environment and interact with one another. Adding support for non-headset users serves virtual worlds well by adding a user base on universally accessible devices and platforms. In theory, if a virtual world is not reliant on headset-only users, it can expand in size tremendously; the amount of people who have access to a web browser or smartphone is far greater than that of any headset."

Importance of Audio in Virtual Reality

VR strives to emulate reality, so audio is vital role to creating credible experiences. Audio and visuals work together to add presence and space to the environment. Audio cues are also crucial for guiding users through their digital experience.

Convincing VR applications require more than graphics alone. Hearing and vision are also central to a person's perception of space. People react more rapidly to audio cues than to visual indicators. To produce truly immersive virtual reality experiences, precise environmental noise and sounds as well as accurate spatial characteristics are required.

Binaural or Spatial Audio in Virtual Reality Experience

People hear in three dimensions. They can discern the direction sound comes from and the rough distance from the sound source. Simulation of aural sense delivers a more authentic multi-dimensional experience and is known as biaural or spatial audio.

Biaural or spatial audio emulates how human hearing functions. People have ears on both sides of the head and our brains adjust the sound accordingly. Sounds emanating from the right of the head reach the user's ear with a time delay, and vice versa. We, therefore, perceive sound as if positioned at a specific point in three-dimensional space.

Binaural and spatial audio lend a powerful sense of presence to any virtual world. To experience the binaural audio elements that comprise a VR experience, put on your best headphones and play around with this audio infographic published by The Verge.

VR Technology Coming Soon

Anat Baron, a Futurist , notes, "We are moving to a post-mobile world, meaning fewer consoles and handheld devices and more wearables. In five to ten years, today's headsets will look like first-generation cell phones or boxy CRT TVs.

"This change will be driven by the significant opportunity ahead of a VR creator economy. New tools created for developers and anyone interested in creating VR content are necessary. Remember when YouTube started? Most people weren't making and sharing videos, and now anyone can quickly become a video creator."

"Today, most people don't have a VR headset. Once the hardware is simplified and usage is more widespread, we'll see the same phenomenon. Eventually, wearables like smart glasses of some type will replace smartphones. These wearables will allow even more uses for both VR and AR because users won't need specialized hardware but will take advantage of the same device they use to communicate, search and interact with the world around them."

"VR will provide creators and storytellers the unique ability to put users in other people's shoes. This empathetic process has business implications for corporate training, especially in support of diversity, equity and inclusion."

How Virtual Reality Applications Are Used Today

VR technology is associated with gaming, but it is used to support sales, facilitate learning, simulate travel, communicate, and more. Due to the pandemic, remote work, social interaction and virtual travel have increased VR use.

Virtual Reality Use Case Examples

VR has impacted businesses ranging from medicine to tourism and is a cornerstone of many corporate digital transformation strategies. For example, according to a November 2020 Statista report estimates for business investments in the U.S. industrial maintenance and training are forecast to hit $4.1 billion in 2024.

Futurist Baron says: "There will be significant opportunities for businesses to use VR both within their companies and with potential and existing customers."

Baron offers her insights into these top use cases:

Training: One of the most obvious is the use of VR in employee training. While this currently requires the use of a headset, it can also be done onsite or at home. The ability to put an employee in other people's shoes (whether those of a co-worker or customer) delivers a unique experience that isn't feasible otherwise. As the technology improves, this will become a valuable tool in all corporate training, including situations that require complex decision-making. VR makes sense in education. Imagine an immersive experience in history or science, for example. As technology progresses and our attention spans decrease, we will continue to expect well-rounded experiences when learning anything new.

Travel: Hotels can take you inside their property, so you know what to expect. VR can be beneficial for high-end travel (e.g., honeymoons or luxury resorts). For the user, they'd see (and feel) the location from their perspective instead of watching an online video or looking at 2D photos.

Real Estate: Developers can move beyond 3D models to simulate life inside their new development. VR would work both for homes and commercial spaces. Also, co-working spaces can use VR to put the prospective tenant inside the space before you join.

Healthcare: There are many uses for healthcare practitioners, researchers and patients. Imagine using VR to help patients with disorders such as anxiety or anorexia. It would be invaluable in medical school to help students learn how to deal with situations that may arise when they become doctors (empathy training, for example). VR is already in use for surgical training.

Retail: Retailers can help potential consumers put themselves in situations where they can "try on" clothes or objects and get a sense of how they interact with an environment. For example, a bride-to-be could try a wedding dress and place it in an actual wedding environment. VR is different from AR, where you stay in your current reality.

Military: VR is already a valuable tool in simulations for combat, confrontations and the like. It can replace expensive and sometimes dangerous real-life exercises. The ability to change scenarios makes it attractive for all branches of the military and the defense industry.

Entertainment: The ability to provide immersive experiences will transform entertainment. Gaming and Hollywood will increasingly provide users and viewers with the ability to go from passive to active. Consumers will interact with stories in a highly personalized way (should they wish to). The ability to choose your own POV in a game or movie will continue to provide new forms of engagement.

Other use cases include:

Architecture: VR can render different levels of detail that are important in early-stage design. Architects can create an immersive experience to visualize massing and spatial relationships. Other uses can show how light will affect the proposed space, based on window placement.

Art: VR as a tool for fine art is a staple for artists who aim to push limits. Multimedia artists all over the world are already deeply involved in immersive experiential art forms. Laurie Anderson, a pioneer since the 1970s, was awarded the 74th Venice International Film Festival for her work, The Chalkroom.

Aviation: Realistic cockpits with VR technology are used to train commercial pilots in training programs incorporating live instruction with virtual flight.

Aerospace: Lockheed Martin builds its F-35 plane with virtual reality technology. In addition to design, engineers now use VR glasses to inspect planes. VR enables engineers to work with up to 96 percent accuracy at a 30 percent faster rate.

Conference Rooms: Users equip themselves with a headset that simulates a meeting room, complete with colleagues and furniture. Motion tracking, combined with digital avatars, allows users to control their digital selves and employ gestures. Even those without headsets use webcam video feeds superimposed on the virtual conference room.

Data Visualization: Engineering and scientific data visualization have profited for years from VR. New display technology has aroused interest in everything from weather models to molecular visualization.

Dining: Project Nourished replicates eating by manipulating taste, smell, vision, sound, and touch. People experience the virtual as a gourmet meal. The process uses a VR headset, an aroma diffuser, a system that emulates chewing sounds, a rotating utensil and tasteless, 3D-printed food. The project aims to maximize the practical and therapeutic qualities of beverages, medicine and food while limiting natural resource use.

Education: The use of traditional instruction mediums and textbooks is often ineffective for students with special needs. With the introduction of VR, students have become more responsive and engaged. At Charlton Park Academy in London, teachers use immersive technology to address their students' unique needs better.

Fashion: You can find Dior's VR store on its French website. The brand offers shoppers a 3D, 360-degree e-commerce experience. Users virtually browse the store's offerings, zoom in on preferred items and purchase them online.

Gaming: Say "virtual reality," and gaming is the application people think of first. According to the Entertainment Software Association figures reported in March 2020, 73 percent of the 169 million gamers in the U.S. reported owning a gamin console, while 29 percent said they had a VR capable system.

Manufacturing: Designers and engineers easily experiment with the build and look of vehicles before commissioning expensive prototypes with VR. Brands such as Jaguar and BMW use the technology for early design and engineering reviews. Virtual reality saves the car industry millions by reducing the number of prototypes built per vehicle line.

Journalism: Immersive journalism allows the first-person experience of events or situations described in documentary films and news reports. The Weather Channel uses mixed reality to help communicate everything from wildfires to tornados to flooding.

Law Enforcement: With the advent of VR goggles, virtual reality training has been a boon for law enforcement training. Incident training is realistic and helps prepare officers for everyday situations.

Marketing and Advertising: Virtual reality for marketing allows organizations to bridge the gap between experience and action. VR changes the dynamic between consumers and brands since people seek VR experiences, such as those of Toms Shoes and The North Face.

Museums: Through a mobile phone, projector, headset or web browser, visitors experience locations that would have been unreachable in the recent past. At the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, a permanent VR installation allows visitors to explore different animal species and their links. The exhibit simulates real experiences of interacting or observing animals in their natural habitats.

Religion: There's even an app to experience God. Believe VR and The Virtual Reality Church make it possible for people to worship in depth wherever they are. VR Church became extremely popular during pandemic shutdowns.

Social Media: VR allows people to make connections in a more meaningful way. VRChat gives the power of creation to its community with a wide selection of social VR experiences. Users can hang out, play and chat with spatialized 3D audio, multiplayer VR games, virtual space stations, and expressive lip-synced avatars.

Sports: VR is a training aid in many sports such as cycling, skiing, golf and gymnastics. At least three college programs-Auburn University, Vanderbilt University and the University of Arkansas-and multiple NFL teams use virtual reality systems.

Major Players in Virtual Reality and Latest Entries: Oculus, HTC, Sony and Valve

VR is always improving due to technology refinements, and the latest "category killers" change rapidly. Top-of-the-pack players include ongoing favorites from Oculus, HTC, Sony and Valve.

Top VR Headsets for 2021

Top Mobile VR Headsets for 2021

Benefits of Virtual Reality

VR benefits many industries with its user engagement. VR is an excellent vehicle for training, conferencing, convenience, and communication.

Here are some of the benefits of VR:

Practical Training: VR is a safe way to simulate dangerous situations for training purposes. Firefighters, pilots, astronauts and police can learn in a controlled environment before going into the field. Immersive experience narrows timeframes so trainees can more quickly become professionals.

Engagement and Connection: VR is an engaging and entertaining experience for its users.

Convenient Conferences: Virtual meetings save time and money, yet help maintain a sense of collegiality.

"Tryout" Capability: Shoppers's remorse may become a thing of the past with VR. You can use virtual reality to furnish your home, test-drive a car or try on wedding bands without leaving home.

Challenges of Virtual Reality

VR has some disadvantages despite its appealing sense of engagement, including technical issues, the potential for addiction, loss of human connection, and expense. It's possible to mitigate some problems, but others are a fixed part of the VR experience.

Here are some VR disadvantages:

Addiction: Some people become addicted to the VR experience in gaming and social media applications. People can assume different identifies, which can be addictive and cause social, psychological and biological issues.

Health Problems: Extensive use of VR can create a loss of spatial awareness, nausea, dizziness, disorientation and nausea, also known as simulator sickness.

Screen Door Effect: When you use a headset, the display is within inches of your eyes. That means you see pixels or the spaces between them, no matter how excellent the display resolution may be. This mesh-like effect can irritate some users. Newer headsets have improved but not eliminated the issue.

Loss of Human Connections: When you rely on virtual connections rather than real-life social interactions, trouble may result. Over-reliance on VR can lead to disassociation or depression.

Training Doesn't Translate in the Real World: People trained in virtual reality may do well in the app or platform but can't perform to the necessary standard in real-world situations.

Expense: While prices are coming down, VR systems are not affordable for everyone.

The Future of VR in Business

Businesses differentiate themselves through technological hybrids to interest consumers in innovations, mainly through VR and AR applications. Nowhere is this more evident than in shopping and retail.

Virtual reality in retail is still in its infancy. According to a 2018 VR in Retail and Marketing report from ABI Research, VR technology in the retail and marketing sectors are on track to generate $1.8 billion by 2022. Virtual reality in retail helps vendors plan, design, research and engage customers. The technology offers companies a strong competitive advantage by keeping up to date with current patterns and trends, like 3D eCommerce.

3D Cloud Powers Retail with a VR Experience that Delights Buyers

If you have been looking to add VR to your in-store customer shopping experience but didn't know where to start, we can help. 3D Cloud by Marxent's Virtual Reality shopping solution offers white-glove service and an easy turnkey implementation informed by years of experience and hundreds of VR installations. Our unique Virtual Reality approach pairs the easy-to-use 3D Cloud-powered 3D Room Planner with a Virtual Reality experience that wows customers, supercharges sales, and slashes returns.

After creating a custom floor plan, shoppers can explore the space they built in VR mode with our 360° Panoramas that render in under two minutes. Featuring unmatched industry realism, 360° Panoramas build customer confidence and can be used for designer presentations, social media marketing, or a website gallery.

We invite you to view our VR Shopping Video.

Request a demo to learn more today.

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Virtual Reality Defined & Use Cases | 3D Cloud by Marxent

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Learn the latest about how VR works, the best technologies in 2021 and real-life examples of VR use cases in more than 25 industries.

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Mixed Reality Blends the Physical and Virtual Worlds

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The border between the virtual and real world continues to break down, providing breathtaking experiences that, a short time ago, could only be found in the imagination of sci-fi writers.

Virtual Reality (VR) has been the "next big thing" for several years, but its time has finally come as a way to generate realistic images, sounds, and other sensations that put you smack in the middle of a spectacular imaginary world. Augmented Reality (AR), which adds virtual stuff to your real world environment, is contributing to the buzz, and both technologies should become a big part of our future. With Mixed Reality (MR), you can play a virtual video game, grab your real world water bottle, and smack an imaginary character from the game with the bottle. Imagination and reality have never been so intermingled.

So much is happening so fast that the differences between VR, AR, and MR can seem a little puzzling at first. Each of these spellbinding technologies are accessible to almost everyone, but before you throw down your hard-earned money for the latest head-mounted display, let's take a closer look at what you'll need for an amazing VR, AR, or MR experience.

The History and Future of Virtual Reality
We've been trying to capture "Virtual Reality" for much longer than just the past five to ten years. There were popular peer-through toys in the 1950s and enclosed flight simulators debuted in the 1960s, but the idea of VR goes back even further.

As early as the 1930s, science fiction writers, inventors, and tinkerers dreamt of an environment where you could escape from reality via art and machines. We were weighing questions about Virtual Reality vs. Augmented Reality vs. Mixed Reality long before we had the technology to make them possible.

Technology has caught up to fiction, and market researchers predict rapid growth for the VR industry.

VR and AR Meet MR
First things first, let's define the terminology. Virtual Reality can be used as an umbrella term to describe other technologies similar to, but different from, an actual Virtual Reality experience. But what's the difference between Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality? Here are some more details:

Virtual Reality
VR is the most widely known of these technologies. It is fully immersive, which tricks your senses into thinking you're in a different environment or world apart from the real world. Using a head-mounted display (HMD) or headset, you'll experience a computer-generated world of imagery and sounds in which you can manipulate objects and move around using haptic controllers while tethered to a console or PC.

Augmented Reality
AR overlays digital information on real-world elements. Pokémon GO* is among the best-known examples. Augmented reality keeps the real world central but enhances it with other digital details, layering new strata of perception, and supplementing your reality or environment.

Mixed Reality
MR brings together real world and digital elements. In mixed reality, you interact with and manipulate both physical and virtual items and environments, using next-generation sensing and imaging technologies. Mixed Reality allows you to see and immerse yourself in the world around you even as you interact with a virtual environment using your own hands-all without ever removing your headset. It provides the ability to have one foot (or hand) in the real world, and the other in an imaginary place, breaking down basic concepts between real and imaginary, offering an experience that can change the way you game and work today.

Using Virtual Reality Technologies
From gaming, to movies, to medicine, the uses for Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Mixed Reality are expanding.

Healthcare-For training, such as for surgical simulations

Film and TV-For movies and shows to create unique experiences

Virtual travel-For virtual trips to an art museum-or another planet-all from home

Professional sports-For training programs like STRIVR to help pro and amateur athletes

Gaming-For over 1,000 games already available, from first-person shooters to strategy games to role-playing adventures

What You'll Need: Headsets
There are many, many VR headsets available, all with varying performance levels and prices. Entry-level gear, such as Google Cardboard*, uses your mobile phone as the screen, whereas PC-operated devices, like the HTC Vive* or Oculus Rift*, are immersive-providing a premium VR environment. Microsoft has recently announced their Windows* 10 Mixed Reality platform that initially uses fully immersive headsets offered by Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung.

Some AR headsets are available on the market today, with more rumored to be coming in the future. The Microsoft Hololens*, Google Glass*, and the Meta 2* headset are great examples.

Every PC-connected HMD will have different system requirements, so if you're buying a new Virtual Reality headset, make sure you check with the HMD vendor for their recommended and minimum system requirements.

What You'll Need: Computers
If you are looking for a new computer and you're interested in VR, you'll need something that can handle heavy loads. When it comes to high-end desktops or laptops for Virtual Reality (and other advanced tasks like gaming or video editing), the CPU, GPU, and memory are the most critical components.

Without these high-performing components working in sync, you could have a pretty miserable experience. A powerful system will ensure that you'll have fun as you lean in, stand up, or walk around. VR that lags makes it impossible for the virtual world to respond as you expect, which can lead to more than just disappointment; it increases the risk of motion sickness.

A high-end processor assists in positional tracking and controls how real and immersive your virtual environment will be, so you'll enjoy a deeper experience in a higher-fidelity environment. For a great VR experience, consider the latest generation Intel Core™ i7 processor.

A discrete graphics processing unit (GPU) is recommended, or in the case of Oculus Rift*, HTC Vive*, and Windows Mixed Reality Ultra*, it is required. The GPU is responsible for rendering the high resolution, immersive images needed for VR. Oculus, HTC, and Microsoft all have profiler tools that you can download from their websites, and you can use to run on your PC to determine if it meets the minimum requirements for their VR headsets.

Choose Your Experience
New VR and AR technologies and products continue to come to market, making new environments accessible to the masses. Virtual, Augmented, Mixed-the choice for a new reality is up to you. Let your imagination, and your readiness to try new gear, enhance your experience!

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Virtual Reality vs. Augmented Reality vs. Mixed Reality - Intel

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The border between the virtual and real world continues to break down, providing breathtaking experiences that, a short time ago, could only be found in the imagination of sci-fi writers.

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Literally Augmented Reality means "augment your reality", a.k.a the real world with extra layers of digital information projected into it, as AR combines the physical world with computer-generated virtual elements overlay. These 2D or 3D virtual content are projected in reality within people's field of view (through smartphone camera or smartglasses), with the intent to make the physical and virtual world recognize each other & interact together with the help of computer vision and machine learning.

It's also the reason why AR is technically a huge challenge: the virtual & real world must coexist perfectly, and digital information has to recognize the real world, with its obstacles, natural objects, buildings, or people's gestures, faces etc... To permit smooth interactions with it, all this in real-time, which remains quite complicated for now. Most of the time the AR content is also responsive to the user's input.

What's the differences between AR & VR?

If both offer new ways to immerse people and enhance their vision with the help of technology, they do in really different ways. Whereas virtual reality completely replaces what people see and experience, augmented reality actually adds to it. Obviously, the experiences, technologies and devices used are quite different.

(VR) is a computer-generated simulation of an Virtual Reality alternate world that completely immerse the viewer onto an artificial environment, offering a synthetic experience with no sense of the real world. It requires specific sensory equipment, headsets and gloves, and interactions within this alternate reality are digital and not responsive to the real world (excluding hands tracking system that recognize your hands and their movements in this alternate world).

(AR), as we said before, relies on a Augmented Reality real-life view of the world with virtual images projected into it (generally through the camera of a mobile phone). The real world remains central to the experience and is enhanced by virtual elements that generally interact with it.

If today, VR is probably gathering the most well-known immersive experiences, with many experiences available in video games, entertainment (such as theme park and escape game) or is used for training and education in different industries, no doubt that augmented reality will completely flood the market in the future.

AR adoption will be less painful (as VR is also recognized to be physically disconcerting, causing headaches, vertigo, nausea, or loss of reality...) and AR's possibilities with these interactions between real & virtual worlds will open a completely new way to see the world and evolve in it.

It is always possible to see one's environment in AR, which is not possible with VR. This is one of the crucial differences that makes AR likely to be more social and human while VR will remain predominantly individual.

"The AR device needs to be able to do SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping), that means it must be able to detect user movements (directions and rotations) and at the same time analyze data from its sensors to create a 3D representation of the world around the user

Stephane CTO & Co-Founder of Immersiv.io

With AR, discover a new way to interact with the world

With augmented reality, we'll find infinite ways of interacting & enhancing the real world. The main advantage of AR experiences is that content is interactive & personalized, as every person is able to interact freely with the content on his or her screen.

It opens a whole new range of on the user's screen by offering creative content, erasing every limit of the physical world. That's how Google recently brought dinosaurs back to life 3D high-end models that everyone can display at home.

For now, the most famous AR experiences are made for smartphones, as everybody is used to Snapchat & Instagram filters to enhance selfies and create enriched pictures of everyday moments. This spontaneous adoption of AR filters on social media shows that people crave for immersive interactions with an augmented view of the real world.

As a concrete example in retail, the app Ikea Place allows you to place your future sofa in your living room, in AR, to see if it fits your environment and match your colorful carpet.

Everybody has also heard off Pokemon Go, the Niantic's mobile game downloaded 750 million times. The app, based on maps & GPS location, has created the biggest pokemon hunts in the world, allowing people to catch Pokemon in the street, gardens & monuments all over the world. Pokemon Go shows that all it takes is a good experience to accelerate mainstream adoption.

Apart from this type of experience, AR will have to show its daily usefulness to help consumers' adoption.

2020-2025: Acceleration of AR market with smart-glasses

As Tim Cook (Apple's CEO) said oneday, " Augmented reality is going to change everything". For now, AR still has a lot of challenges to overcome (improving occlusion, the process of creating 3D content & assets quality, connectivity, device's computation powers, hardware components' miniaturization...) and if AR on mobile is the first step and will gather most of AR experiences for a couple of years, AR on smartglasses will completely change the user experience. With smartglasses, users will have access to hands-free experiences, with content displayed directly in front of their eyes and an entire augmented vision of the real world.

The smartglasses' market is in its infancy, with the Microsoft Hololens focused on B2B, & the Magic Leap, which are also a gem of technology but not really made for the mainstream. However, in the next 3 years, no doubt that Apple, Google, Facebook, Samsung and other giants will hit the market, following the Nreal Light, the first consumer's glasses ready to come in 2020. For now, Apple and Google are improving their AR toolkits and sensors (with Apple's LiDAR & Google's Depth API) and show promising steps for AR experiences, to better recognize users' environment & create realistic interactions between the digital & real world.

Within 5 years, it will be a complete mass market, with billions of AR-enabled devices and a brand-new way to see the world and interact with digital interfaces, and that's why brands must take into account these technologies right now.

The more the technologies around AR will be reliable, the more storytellers, designers & brands will face opportunities & challenges to help consumers' adoption.

One of the biggest challenges for augmented reality creators will be to succeed in playing with the current space in order to create stunning user experiences. For example, the game Fragments on Microsoft Hololens, perfectly uses current space recognition, with AR avatars sitting on your sofa, like they were here.

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What is Augmented Reality? How does it work? Let's see!

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Literally Augmented Reality means "augment your reality", a.k.a the real world with extra layers of digital information projected into it, as AR combines the physical world with computer-generated virtual elements overlay.

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The definition of virtual reality comes, naturally, from the definitions for both 'virtual' and 'reality'. The definition of 'virtual' is near and reality is what we experience as human beings. So the term 'virtual reality' basically means 'near-reality'. This could, of course, mean anything but it usually refers to a specific type of reality emulation.

We know the world through our senses and perception systems. In school we all learned that we have five senses: taste, touch, smell, sight and hearing. These are however only our most obvious sense organs. The truth is that humans have many more senses than this, such as a sense of balance for example. These other sensory inputs, plus some special processing of sensory information by our brains ensures that we have a rich flow of information from the environment to our minds.

Everything that we know about our reality comes by way of our senses. In other words, our entire experience of reality is simply a combination of sensory information and our brains sense-making mechanisms for that information. It stands to reason then, that if you can present your senses with made-up information, your perception of reality would also change in response to it. You would be presented with a version of reality that isn't really there, but from your perspective it would be perceived as real. Something we would refer to as a virtual reality.

So, in summary, virtual reality entails presenting our senses with a computer generated virtual environment that we can explore in some fashion.

In technical terms...

Answering "what is virtual reality" in technical terms is straight-forward. Virtual reality is the term used to describe a three-dimensional, computer generated environment which can be explored and interacted with by a person. That person becomes part of this virtual world or is immersed within this environment and whilst there, is able to manipulate objects or perform a series of actions.

How is virtual reality achieved?

Although we talk about a few historical early forms of virtual reality elsewhere on the site, today virtual reality is usually implemented using computer technology. There are a range of systems that are used for this purpose, such as headsets, omni-directional treadmills and special gloves. These are used to actually stimulate our senses together in order to create the illusion of reality.

This is more difficult than it sounds, since our senses and brains are evolved to provide us with a finely synchronised and mediated experience. If anything is even a little off we can usually tell. This is where you'll hear terms such as immersiveness and realism enter the conversation. These issues that divide convincing or enjoyable virtual reality experiences from jarring or unpleasant ones are partly technical and partly conceptual. Virtual reality technology needs to take our physiology into account. For example, the human visual field does not look like a video frame. We have (more or less) 180 degrees of vision and although you are not always consciously aware of your peripheral vision, if it were gone you'd notice. Similarly when what your eyes and the vestibular system in your ears tell you are in conflict it can cause motion sickness. Which is what happens to some people on boats or when they read while in a car.

If an implementation of virtual reality manages to get the combination of hardware, software and sensory synchronicity just right it achieves something known as a sense of presence. Where the subject really feels like they are present in that environment.

Why have virtual reality?

This may seems like a lot of effort, and it is! What makes the development of virtual reality worthwhile? The potential entertainment value is clear. Immersive films and video games are good examples. The entertainment industry is after all a multi-billion dollar one and consumers are always keen on novelty. Virtual reality has many other, more serious, applications as well.

There are a wide variety of applications for virtual reality which include:

Virtual reality can lead to new and exciting discoveries in these areas which impact upon our day to day lives.

Wherever it is too dangerous, expensive or impractical to do something in reality, virtual reality is the answer. From trainee fighter pilots to medical applications trainee surgeons, virtual reality allows us to take virtual risks in order to gain real world experience. As the cost of virtual reality goes down and it becomes more mainstream you can expect more serious uses, such as education or productivity applications, to come to the fore. Virtual reality and its cousin augmented reality could substantively change the way we interface with our digital technologies. Continuing the trend of humanising our technology.

Features of virtual reality systems

There are many different types of virtual reality systems but they all share the same characteristics such as the ability to allow the person to view three-dimensional images. These images appear life-sized to the person.

Plus they change as the person moves around their environment which corresponds with the change in their field of vision. The aim is for a seamless join between the person's head and eye movements and the appropriate response, e.g. change in perception. This ensures that the virtual environment is both realistic and enjoyable.

A virtual environment should provide the appropriate responses - in real time- as the person explores their surroundings. The problems arise when there is a delay between the person's actions and system response or latency which then disrupts their experience. The person becomes aware that they are in an artificial environment and adjusts their behaviour accordingly which results in a stilted, mechanical form of interaction.

The aim is for a natural, free-flowing form of interaction which will result in a memorable experience.

Summary

Virtual reality is the creation of a virtual environment presented to our senses in such a way that we experience it as if we were really there. It uses a host of technologies to achieve this goal and is a technically complex feat that has to account for our perception and cognition. It has both entertainment and serious uses. The technology is becoming cheaper and more widespread. We can expect to see many more innovative uses for the technology in the future and perhaps a fundamental way in which we communicate and work thanks to the possibilities of virtual reality.

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What is Virtual Reality? - Virtual Reality Society

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The definition of virtual reality comes, naturally, from the definitions for both 'virtual' and 'reality'. The definition of 'virtual' is near and reality is what we experience as human beings. So the term 'virtual reality' basically means 'near-reality'. This could, of course, mean anything but it usually refers to a specific type of reality emulation.

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Mixed Reality is a blend of physical and digital worlds, unlocking the links between human, computer, and environment interaction. This new reality is based on advancements in computer vision, graphical processing power, display technology, and input systems. However, the term Mixed Reality was introduced in a 1994 paper by Paul Milgram and Fumio Kishino, " A Taxonomy of Mixed Reality Visual Displays." Their paper explored the concept of the virtuality continuum and the categorization of taxonomy applied to displays. Since then, the application of Mixed Reality has gone beyond displays to include:

Environmental input

Spatial sound

Locations and positioning in both real and virtual spaces

Image: Mixed Reality is the result of blending the physical world with the digital world.

Environmental input and perception

Over the past several decades, exploration into the relationship between human and computer input has continued, leading to the discipline known as human computer interaction or HCI. Human input happens through different means, including keyboards, mice, touch, ink, voice, and even Kinect skeletal tracking.

Advancements in sensors and processing are giving rise to a new area of computer input from environments. The interaction between computers and environments is effectively environmental understanding or perception, which is why the API names in Windows that reveal environmental information are called the perception APIs. Environmental input captures things like a person's position in the world ( head tracking), surfaces and boundaries ( spatial mapping and scene understanding), ambient lighting, environmental sound, object recognition, and location.

Image: The interactions between computers, humans, and environments.

The combination of all three - computer processing, human input, and environmental input - sets the stage for creating true Mixed Reality experiences. Movement through the physical world can translate to movement in the digital world. Boundaries in the physical world can influence application experiences, such as game play, in the digital world. Without environmental input, experiences can't blend between physical and digital realities.

The Mixed Reality spectrum

Since Mixed Reality blends both physical and digital worlds, these two realities define the polar ends of a spectrum known as the virtuality continuum. We refer to the array of realities as the Mixed Reality spectrum. On the left-hand side, we have the physical reality that we as humans exist in. On the right-hand side, we have the corresponding digital reality.

Augmented vs. virtual reality

Most mobile phones on the market today have little to no environmental understanding capabilities. The experiences they offer can't mix physical and digital realities. The experiences that overlay graphics on video streams of the physical world are augmented reality. The experiences that occlude your view to present a digital experience are virtual reality. The experiences enabled between augmented and virtual reality form Mixed Reality:

Starting with the physical world, placing a digital object, such as a hologram, as if it was there.

Starting with the physical world, a digital representation of another person--an avatar--shows the location where they were standing when leaving notes. In other words, experiences that represent asynchronous collaboration at different points in time.

Starting with a digital world, physical boundaries from the physical world, such as walls and furniture, appear digitally within the experience to help users avoid physical objects.

Image: The Mixed Reality spectrum

Most augmented reality and virtual reality offerings available today represent a small part of this spectrum and are considered subsets of the larger Mixed Reality spectrum. Windows 10 is built with the entire spectrum in mind, and allows blending digital representations of people, places, and things with the real world.

Devices and experiences

There are two main types of devices that deliver Windows Mixed Reality experiences:

1. Holographic devices are characterized by the device's ability to place digital content in the real world as if it were there.

2. Immersive devices are characterized by the device's ability to create a sense of "presence"--hiding the physical world, and replacing it with a digital experience.

Characteristic

Holographic devices

Immersive devices

Example device
Microsoft HoloLens

Samsung HMD Odyssey+

Display
See-through display. Allows user to see the physical environment while wearing the headset.

Opaque display. Blocks out the physical environment while wearing the headset.

Movement
Full six-degrees-of-freedom movement, both rotation and translation.

Full six-degrees-of-freedom movement, both rotation and translation.

Note

Whether a device is connected to or tethered to a separate PC (via USB cable or Wi-Fi) or self-contained (untethered) doesn't reflect whether a device is holographic or immersive. Features that improve mobility lead to better experiences, and both holographic and immersive devices could be tethered or untethered.

Technological advancement is what has enabled Mixed Reality experiences. There are no devices today that can run experiences across the entire spectrum. Windows 10 provides a common Mixed Reality platform for both device manufacturers and developers. Devices today can support a specific range within the Mixed Reality spectrum, with new devices expanding that range. In the future, holographic devices will become more immersive, and immersive devices will become more holographic.

Image: Where devices exist on the Mixed Reality spectrum

It's best to think what type of experience an application or game developer wants to create. The experiences will typically target a specific point or part on the spectrum. Developers should consider the capabilities of devices they want to target. Experiences that rely on the physical world will run best on HoloLens.

Towards the left (near physical reality). Users remain present in their physical environment and are never made to believe they have left that environment.

In the middle (fully Mixed Reality). These experiences blend the real world and the digital world. Viewers who have seen the movie Jumanji can reconcile how the physical structure of the house where the story took place was blended with a jungle environment.

Towards the right (near digital reality). Users experience a digital environment, and are unaware of what occurs in the physical environment around them.

Next Discovery Checkpoint

If you're following the discovery journey we've laid out, you're in the midst of exploring the basics of Mixed Reality. From here, you can proceed to the next foundational topic:

What is a hologram?

See also

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Mixed Reality is a blend of physical and digital worlds, unlocking the links between human, computer, and environment interaction. This new reality is based on advancements in computer vision, graphical processing power, display technology, and input systems. However, the term Mixed Reality was introduced in a 1994 paper by Paul Milgram and Fumio Kishino, " A Taxonomy of Mixed Reality Visual Displays."

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What if the line between your imagination and the real world didn't exist? With augmented reality, not only is that possible, it's here.

AR transforms how you work, learn, play, shop, and connect with the world around you. It's the perfect way to visualize things that would be impossible or impractical to see otherwise.

Apple has the world's largest AR platform, with hundreds of millions of AR‑enabled devices, as well as thousands of AR apps on the App Store. And because Apple hardware and software are designed from the ground up for AR, there is no better way to experience AR.

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What if the line between your imagination and the real world didn't exist? With augmented reality, not only is that possible, it's here. AR transforms how you work, learn, play, shop, and connect with the world around you. It's the perfect way to visualize things that would be impossible or impractical to see otherwise.

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microsoft windows mixed reality first look

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Microsoft Windows Mixed Reality first look

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Microsoft's Mixed Reality headsets are very similar to virtual reality. Tom Warren takes a closer look at the headsets at IFA 2017. Subscribe: http://goo.gl/G5RXGs Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/lfcGfq Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/94XbKx Like The Verge on Facebook: http://goo.gl/2P1aGc Follow on Instagram: http://goo.gl/7ZeLvX Read More: http://www.theverge.com

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What Is Virtual Reality & How Does It Work? | Mashable Explains