#Virtual Reality (VR) and #Augmented Reality (AR) technologies have gained a lot of momentum in the last 10 years. While VR gives experience to the users of a new (simulated) environment, AR enhances users' existing environment by overlaying certain objects in digital #3D form. VR makes use of other emerging technologies to crate and present a fake /imaginary scenario, which appears real to the viewer. To achieve this VR designer uses the #immersion concept, where the viewer feels a new world around him/her. Both VR and AR have great potential in areas like #training, #entertainment, #marketing, #tourism, #adventure, #exploration and vising museums and other historical places. VR can provide a #virtual #experience even of new places anywhere across the world like flying along the great canyon of the USA or having an underwater adventure with sea animals in Hawaii or in Indonesian islands.
From 2016 onwards, VR and AR are being adopted
in many training institutes and industries which includes entertainment, health
care, tourism and education. The present trend shows that by 2024, VR and AR
technologies will be impacting our lives in a big way. For instance,
people could be sitting in their homes in India, can put on a
Head-Mounted Display (HMD) headgear and enjoy a soccer or cricket
match, being played in England or Brazil. Likewise, you could be flying across
snow-clad mountains of the Himalayas of India or snow-covered beautiful peaks
of Switzerland or Canada. One could put on a VR headgear and realize the
holographic image of a political leader or film actor/actress or a friend and
chat with him/her as a real person. However, you cannot touch and feel that
person.
The creators and promoters of VR have been
promising such capabilities for a few years. Most people are very excited about
the full-fledged implementation of VR and its availability at an affordable
cost to them. The present generation has been watching, entertainment movies
like Star Trek, Avatar, TV shows, and reading science fiction books. These all
have been giving us great hope about VR. Lately, VR has been used for the
recreation of the environment and magic shows.
Some Basic Terminologies. Some basic technologies used in
VR/AR environment are briefly given below:
· Virtual world. This is an imaginary scenario created through computer simulation of
visual elements, which are adequately rendered with computer graphics. The
designer of the virtual world environment prepares the rules
(Algorithm) for interactions with various simulated
elements.
· Immersion. In this concept, the users are taken away from
local conditions and relocated in a virtual environment. While VR
headsets allow this by occupying their whole field of vision, the attached
headphones achieve similar results with sounds. In this way, the user gets
fully absorbed/ immersed in an imaginary environment.
· Sensory feedback. HMD headgear tracks the position of the
users, within a given space so that the computer renders the changes of
positions. Users moving their heads or bodies are given the illusion that they
are moving in the real world.
Types of Virtual Environment. Although an average person has not had a
chance to experience VR or AR, yet most of them can imagine VR and AR as part
of their future life. The ideas of VR and AR are quite exciting, where
within the comforts of your own place; you can put on HMD headgear and be
anywhere experiencing anything, and chatting with anyone. Types of the virtual
environments are briefly given below:
· Virtual Reality (VR). VR is the computer-generated simulation of a 3D
image environment, created by using computer software. The scene is presented
to the user in such a way that the user tends to believe it as a real
environment. VR is mainly experienced through the user‘s senses of
seeing and hearing for which he/she wears an HMD headset or Digital Gloves
fitted with sensors. VR offers us a near real-life
experience that will take us away from the physical world. Using VR devices
like HTC Vive, Oculus Rift or Google Cardboard, the viewer can be made to
fly across a number of real-world and imagined environments, which could be on
the ground ( Desert, Jungle, Mountains) or underwater. One could be visiting snowbound areas while in Canada while enjoying
summer in Delhi ( India).
· Augmented Reality (AR). AR keeps the real-world (existing scenario) as
the central theme but enhances its outlook by adding digital objects as an
overlay. It gives us a live integrated view by using the camera or a
smartphone. It is predicted that AR will soon catch up with VR in its
market share. In the meantime, AR equipment /gears are becoming more compact
and less cumbersome than those of VR. Likewise, VR doesn’t
allow you to visualize a 3D image interacting with a real-life but AR can.
· Mixed Reality (MR). In MR, the system manipulates both physical and
virtual (VR) environments by using a very high-speed computing system, smart
sensors and imaging devices. MR interplays both AR -VR types of elements
to create an easily realizable environment. With MR one can play
a video game or baseball to hit the ball or do boxing with an imaginary
opponent. MR allows you to see and immerse yourself in the world around you and
even as you interact with a virtual environment
History of VR. The basic concept of VR goes back to the mid-1930s,
when science fiction writers, inventors, research scholars and thinkers
had imagined a future virtual environment. They imagined how a person could
move to places with the help of creative art and computer simulation
machines. However, the real breakthrough came in 1981, when Edward Link came
out with his” Link Trainer Flight Simulator” for training flight pilots. The
pilot would sit in the cockpit of a mock-up Aeroplan and move various controls
for take-off, ascend, turn, fly descend and land. In response, the
electro-mechanical motors moved the aeroplane accordingly. The pilot was shown
a recorded movie depicting various situations and he was expected to respond.
Further advancement came in 1986; first Head Mounted Display (HMD) was
launched. This followed the development of Data-Glove. By 1991, many amusement
parks in Japan and USA started VR games, where the participants could wear VR
goggles and play virtual games.
Although
VR has been there for many years, its real impact came only after 2010.
In 2014, Google released its HMD (Cardboard goggles), where the viewer used
his/her smartphone, pre-loaded with Google Cardboard App. In this case, goggle
splits smartphone screens into two screens. Each screen shows a different
version of the same image/scene while the human brain interprets the image as 3
D and enjoy watching as if it was real. A great revolution in VR came in 2016
when a new device HMD (Oculus Rift) was created by US inventor Palmer Luckey.
It had infrared cameras to detect the position of the head. By 2020, many more
companies have come up with more efficient HMDs.
Equipment/
Devices for VR/AR
· VR Headsets. We as human beings like to watch visual things
with good quality display for which, the HMD headset is the most important
device. HMD in its small space holds Tracking sensors, Lenses, Headphones, Head
Strap and cables for connecting to the computer. The computer in turn runs the
VR/AR software program. Major supplier of HMD headset includes HTC Vive,
Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR (PSVR) Amazon, Google and Microsoft. Some
immersive headsets are also being offered by Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo and
Samsung. Using an HMD headset, one can experience a
computer-generated world of imagery and sounds. One could also move around
objects by using controllers. These controllers are suitably connected to the
PC / Laptop/Tablet.
· Motion controllers. Nearly all the larger HMD
manufacturers have released a set of motion controllers compatible with their
headsets.
· Hand Tracking. Hand tracking enables headsets to track the
user's hands in VR without any additional hardware.
Applications of VR
Technologies. With the enhanced
capability of computing, image processing, digital photography and sensors, VR
technology can generate realistic images, sounds, and other effects and present
a novel experience to the viewer. VR and AR technologies have revolutionized
the real-life environment by smart sensing, fast processing and displaying. VR
Technology has advanced rapidly to take a larger share of the market related to
entertainment, gaming, sports, education, training and exploration. There are
many HMD headgears available, with varying performance and
prices. You may choose from Amazon or Google or Microsoft store
to match your need and affordable price. Some major applications are indicated
below:
· Education. Since 2015, some leading VR / AR companies and some enthusiastic
educationists have been developing VR applications in the field of
education. There are some research scholars/professors in universities who are
already integrating VR/AR into their lesson plans and providing new
classroom experiences. Unlike in the past where a teacher was delivering
a face to face lecture of one hour and students were taking notes, now with
AR/VR, students can see even a planet and its satellites while the classroom
lecture is in progress. Students can be virtually moved to the Great
canyons of the USA or to the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy for the study
of any historical or archaeological aspect. VR products and
experiences can be shown to students of 10th standard
upward to create curiosity in research. It helps students to become
innovators, creative, and more collaborative. Likewise, medical science
students can me inspired by VR to learn more about the human body where VR
could add lot of value to the anatomy lessons. The students can get a 3D
learning experience by exploring the circulatory, respiratory, and digestive
systems.
· Exploration. This includes adventure and expeditions to remote locations which are
physically very difficult to reach. While still sitting in their training
school, students can explore many locations in deserts, mountainous terrain or
glaciers. With VR people can be quickly moved to Everest, Great Himalayas,
Antarctica and Falkland or even to Moon or Mars-like planets. “Google
Expeditions: is already using VR to allow teachers to act as guides and take
their students through various expeditions all over the world.
· Entertainment. VR can help to develop very exciting and
thrilling films and movies. Likewise, gaming, magic shows, TV shows can
incorporate VR and provide high-quality thrillers for public entertainment.
Google Expeditions is using VR to allow teachers to act as guides and take their
students through various expeditions all over the world. Discovery
Expedition is well-known for storytelling and visual experiences. With
the help of VR, they are bringing some of the popular content and showing
rare animals and birds.
· Healthcare. AR can be of great help in training doctors and nurses in
surgical procedures and physiotherapy.
· Professional Sports. Training programs like STRIVR can
help professionals and amateur athletes to try out various options while
competing in a simulated ( near-real ) stadium/playground.
· Social apps. In this environment, users can sit at a virtual table
and chat with friends/relatives and share pictures/videos. Facebook
has already launched its VR app of “Social Spaces” in May 2017. Subsequently,
many other technology companies like IBM, Microsoft, Samsung, Google, Microsoft
and Amazon have given great impetus to VR applications.
· Tourism. Tourists can be virtually moved across the world
to rare locations for site sightseeing.
· Vehicle simulators. Caterpillar company is
already using computerized simulators for product development as well as
training purposes. It simulates all the aspects of driving a Caterpillar
vehicle. It could be used for driving heavy-duty earthmoving machinery or even
military tanks / Armored Personnel Carriers (APC) and Bridge Laing tanks.
· Video games. VR offers many new features to develop new range
of video games. Some VR devices simulate hands so that players can interact
with objects by grabbing, pushing, throwing, etc. Users will be able to
experience firing from a machine gun, or a tank or an aircraft or an Attack
Helicopter (AH) or a ship.
Job Opportunities. In the ongoing revolution of IR4.0, Computing,
AI and Manufacturing Technologies have advanced very rapidly. It is expected
that very soon people will be able to use VR to travel back in time and
rediscover many exciting aspects of their lives. It is visualized that by 2030,
VR and AR will bring many changes to the way we work, the way we imagine,
the way we entertain, and the way we communicate with others. To incorporate
these functionalities in VR and AR systems, the market requires, computer
software programmers, AI experts, Digital photographers, Scene creators, experts
in computer simulation techniques, fiction story writers, dreamers,
innovators, and magic makers. Indeed, VR and AR give hope for the creation
of new jobs for people with appropriate skill sets. The job opportunities
in VR will continue to grow, as the gaming industry
grows. Fortunately, you don’t have to be a game developer or
software professional to find a new job in the VR/AR industry. Infect, VR
industry will need support from all those having experience in
computer software for simulation, AI, story writers, visualizers and theme
writers, video photographers, legal experts, marketing and business development
personnel. Common areas of VR/AR jobs are briefly given below:
· Virtual Office. Although people have been interacting through video conferences
and even using a low-cost facility like Skype or having video chat through
Google or WhatsApp, the VR experience is becoming more exciting. The virtual
office is a way of having your physical office located anywhere as per business
needs and personal reasons. With VR you can have the ability to interact with
your customers, suppliers and business partners, located anywhere in the
world.. Since 2014, Facebook has been exploring ways to integrate VR experience
with social networking experience and have made good
progress. It will be possible to conduct your brain-storming /
brain–sketching sessions and interviews from a far off location. With a virtual
office and enhanced internet capability, you can easily get connected with your
far-off team members or special experts, legal experts, as if they were
located next to you.
· Virtual Marketing. Most of the leading marketing agencies are
ready to experiment with VR techniques to attract their
customers. They are looking for experts who can write VR content and
provide new impetus to their marketing strategy. If you are in the
marketing domain, add VR skillset in your CV and grow faster.
· Start own Business. If you plan to start your business in
the VR field, you need to be creative and thinking-outside-the box. Your
business could be in education, training, hospitality, travel, adventure or
sports. There are already many players in the VR business. Therefore, you need
to decide how you would provide some exciting experience/ benefits to your
customers. Don’t be know-all and you must pick up the right professionals
with skills in story writing, plotting, drawing/sketching and marketing.
You may have a business partner with technical and financial resources and
adopt a win-win strategy to make your marketing plan succeed.
Suggested Action Plan for Job Seekers. If you are interested to pursue your
career in the VR field, you may quickly decide to learn all needed new skills
and quickly move on into VR technology. Do not suffer from “Pyrolysis
through Analysis” and move fast to the first grab opportunity in this very
exciting and upcoming field of VR. Some basic steps to get aligned to VR/AR
technology are briefly given below:
· Subscribe to VR and AR magazines/ journals or
online forums on VR and study content related to your interest in the VR
industry.
· Read VR/AR blogs and articles by VR experts. You
may find some of these on YouTube. These bloggers could be your mentors.
· Read some basic books on VR/ AR and get familiar with VR
terminologies and equipment and devices.
· Search on the internet and find a course that
helps you learn new VR skills which companies are looking for. These skills
could be related to 3D Animation, Modelling, Story writhing, Visualizing/ Theme
writing, Object-Oriented Programming (OOP, Digital photography, Some of such
courses are offered free by MOOC, Coursera, Udacity
and some leading universities. You could search and examine their course
contents.
· If you want to get into the VR Gaming field, you
should start playing available video games. Simultaneously, start training in
VR/AR skills and this could be face to face in your local area.
· Actively participate in VR seminars, VR
webinars, Conferences and Symposiums happening in and around your workplace.
· Through an internet search, find people who are
already in VR space to network with them and stay up-to-date in the VR field.
· May join a professional network like LinkedIn
and learn from various posts/ articles. You may post your updated CV with VR/AR
skills on LinkedIn and some members may offer you a job.
Challenges. Like any new technology entering the market, VR/ AR
also has many gains, hopes and challenges to enter into the industrial world
and scale up its business. Some basic challenges which are manageable are
briefly given below:
· Cost. VR /AR is a very young industry and future customers are very computer
savvy. They have high expectations of efficiency but ask for a low cost.
· Presenting like Real. VR / AR companies are facing the big challenge
of how to present stories and make those look real.
· Health Hazards. There is a fear that pronged wearing of HMD gear could cause
fatigue to the participant.
Future of VR and AR. VR and AR have a very bright future and are being welcomed by all
industries namely, education, training, entertainment, gaming, movies, magic,
healthcare, , tourism, social media interaction and online shopping. In
the near future, people could simulate any environment and feel as if they were
actually there. One could fly across the oceans, deserts or rain forests,
to explore other countries. VR and AR have no boundaries since one could travel
to any country/ city in the world. The future of VR, AR and MR will be in
Education, Adventure, Exploration, Research or Underwater studies. As
per Super Data Research reports, the sale of various Headgears (HMD)
and VR goggles during 2018 was around 700000
units. The annual VR revenues in 2018 reached $3.6
billion as against a forecast of $3.3 billion. Despite some drop in
sales during 2020-2021(Corona pandemic), VR and AR are on track with very good
growth.
Summary. VR has moved rapidly from entertainment/ video games to other
industries like education, training, healthcare, tourism and marketing. VR, AR
and MR is providing new opportunities for taking adventure/ excursion, which
could be across over the high mountains or across
the sea, or underwater or in deep caves or
thick jungles. VR and AR are getting more popular in the field of education,
research and training VR/AR is considered very useful for training pilots
in-flight manoeuvres, commandos in preparing to combat through complex hostile
environments, doctors in practising surgeries, Policemen to practice
investigating crime cases. Likewise, there are many applications and the future
of VR/ AR is very bright.
AR though started late but has caught up with VR
very fast. AR can help to carry out complex tasks like laying underground power
cabling. It can show diagrams showing wires and interconnection.
“Poke-man Go” is a simple example of AR where players can hold their
smartphones or tablets and see the poke-man character appearing in front of
them.
With so many companies experimenting with VR/AR
technology, soon VR will become a reality in most jobs. The latest survey
shows that nearly 60% of U.S. product developers are already working on VR/ AR
projects, with applications ranging from Gaming, Entertainment, Education,
Healthcare, Travel and even Military Applications.
For its accelerated growth it needs experts from various fields like computer software, animation, digital videography, theme writers and visualizers, story writers, even experts from sociology and psychology to study the impact of VR products. Thus VR/AR technologies give great hope for many new jobs. The VR industry needs people who are critical thinkers, innovators and visualizers. VR products would have elements of AI. It is therefore right time for young professionals to get set and go for courses/ programs being offered in the VR field. Those who have good competence in skills related to VR/AR will have an edge over others and that will help in growth and success in their career. Young professionals of today must be ready with the required skills to grab the coming opportunity. They say “Well begun is half done”, Therefore, take off in the right direction with full determination and the world is there to support your VR initiative
Comments