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Published:
July 11, 2018

Virtual & Augmented Reality For Dummies

Overview

An easy-to-understand primer on Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) are driving the next technological revolution. If you want to get in on the action, this book helps you understand what these technologies are, their history, how they’re being used, and how they’ll affect consumers both personally and professionally in the very near future.

With VR and AR poised to become mainstream within the next few years, an accessible book to bring users up to speed on the subject is sorely needed—and that’s where this handy reference comes in! Rather than focusing on a specific piece of hardware (HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, iOS ARKit)

or software (Unity, Unreal Engine), Virtual & Augmented Reality For Dummies offers a broad look at both VR and AR, giving you a bird’s eye view of what you can expect as they continue to take the world by storm.

* Keeps you up-to-date on the pulse of this fast-changing technology

* Explores the many ways AR/VR are being used in fields such as healthcare, education, and entertainment

* Includes interviews with designers, developers, and technologists currently working in the fields of VR and AR

Perfect for both potential content creators and content consumers, this book will change the way you approach and contribute to these emerging technologies.

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About The Author

Paul Mealy has worked with virtual reality since the release of the Oculus Rift DK1 in 2013. He has architected, designed and developed applications for Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Samsung Gear VR, Windows Mixed Reality, Google Daydream, and Google Cardboard. He has worked with numerous augmented reality hardware and technologies including the Microsoft HoloLens, ARKit for iOS, ARCore for Android and cross-platform solutions such as Vuforia.

Sample Chapters

virtual & augmented reality for dummies

CHEAT SHEET

The terms virtual reality and augmented reality (and others, like mixed reality and extended reality) are thrown about everywhere today, but do you really know what they mean? Virtual and augmented reality are rapidly changing fields, so it helps to know where they are today and where they may be headed in the future.

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One of the biggest challenges that virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) face today is the lack of consumer device availability. This is especially true for AR, where the best form factor experiences (glasses or headsets) are out of reach for all but the most dedicated early-adopter tech enthusiasts.
Major technological changes such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) rarely take place without disrupting a number of existing industries. Some of the industries that will be affected are obvious (such as gaming and entertainment). But many more industries may not even have VR or AR on their radar today, to their detriment.
If you’re interested in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), you’ve likely asked yourself one or more of the questions you’ll find here. In many cases, there aren’t definitive answers available, but I tell you what I think and what many of the leading experts in the fields of VR and AR have said. How will virtual and augmented reality affect me?
When designing for augmented reality (AR), it’s important to follow some helpful design principles. Design principles are a set of ideas or beliefs that are held to be true across all projects of that particular type. AR is no exception. Design principles are typically created through years of trial and error within a field.
Unlike virtual reality, where manufacturers have generally been building toward a single form factor (a headset that covers the head/eyes, headphones, and a pair of controllers), augmented reality is still trying to find the form factor that suits it best. From glasses to headsets, from large tablets to mobile phones to projectors and heads-up displays (HUDs), augmented reality is available today in a number of different forms.
With so many augmented reality devices still in development mode, it can be difficult to look forward to future hardware. Near-future hardware for augmented reality is often just current-generation hardware that has yet to see release. Let’s take a look at what you can expect to see in the near future for augmented reality hardware.
Consumer-grade is a bit of a misnomer for most of the current augmented reality (AR) hardware solutions that you’ll find here (with notable exceptions such as Mira, ARKit, and ARCore). Most of the current generation of AR headsets focus their attention on enterprise-grade solutions. Additionally, many of the current generation of AR headsets are being sold in development mode, where preorder kits are available for developers but not at a scale for mass consumption.
Designing for virtual reality (VR) experiences is unlike other application designs. The immersive nature of VR presents a whole new set of challenges. Consider the following points and best practices when designing for VR. VR design: Giving the user control A basic tenet of VR is giving users control over their surroundings.
Consumer-grade virtual reality is steadily getting lighter, cheaper, and more polished, but it still has a number of technical hurdles to overcome to truly reach its mass consumer potential. Fortunately, renewed interest in virtual reality the past few years has led to an influx of investments in the field, which should accelerate uncovering solutions.
Options for consuming content are readily available for virtual reality (VR). VR devices cover a spectrum from high-end options to low-end options to everything in between, with more devices being released every day.High-end consumption devices for VR include headsets such as the HTC Vive, the Oculus Rift, or Windows Mixed Reality headsets.
If you’ve been paying attention to the tech world recently, you’ve likely heard a number of new terms being thrown around — virtual reality, augmented reality, extended reality, and mixed reality — and you may have wondered what they mean. To help make sense of it all, here’s a breakdown of each of those terms, how they’re alike, and how they’re different.
Augmented reality (AR) apps are really just emerging. AR technology is difficult to develop because we don’t yet understand all of the applications. Which is even more reason to experiment to see how AR will truly come in handy. Keep reading to learn about comfort zones, interfaces, and text in AR apps. AR app design: Understanding comfort zones Understanding users’ interaction within their comfort zones is important, especially for AR applications that may be more focused on getting work done.
As you set out to design your augmented reality app, you will need to consider how the user will interact with objects. Most virtual reality (VR) interaction takes place via a motion controller, but most headset-based augmented reality (AR) devices utilize a combination of gaze and hand tracking for interaction.
If you plan to design for virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR), you will need the right tools and software. Whether you choose traditional design tools or ready-made models when designing for VR and AR, you’ll need to keep the user in mind. Keep reading to learn more about VR and AR design tools. Traditional design tools for VR and AR A number of popular 3D computer graphic programs are currently on the market.
In the beginning stages of any VR or AR project, consider how you’ll distribute your content to your users. Unlike websites or traditional computer applications, which can be run on a wide variety of equipment without issue, sharing your VR or AR content with users will likely be heavily dependent on the particular combination of hardware and software available to your audience.
It has long seemed like augmented reality exists in virtual reality’s shadow. The idea of visiting fully virtual worlds separate from our own has long captured the public’s imagination and taken precedence over the “augmenting” of our existing world. On the other hand, augmented reality has long held many practical applications in enterprise environments, such as industrial manufacturing.
Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) have some similar core technologies but differ in a number of ways. These differences have likely contributed to their current state of technological maturity.Neither technology has advanced far enough to be considered “mature,” but VR has made large strides over the past few years.
Augmented reality’s near-future fate is in an awkward place to predict. With manufacturers still very much in early release, pre-first-consumer generation mode, it makes the future a bit hazy. After all, how can we predict the future of augmented reality if we aren’t even sure about the present?Using the Gartner Hype Cycle, you find that Gartner analysis of AR has placed mass-scale adoption at around five to ten years out.
As the dust has settled on the first generation of VR, the VR hype, while perhaps not totally dead, has died down to a dull murmur. And that is a good thing for VR. In the tech world, hype comes easily. Tech products and perhaps entire tech industries have been propped up based on hype alone. These products burn brightly for a short time, and often they’re reduced to ashes just as quickly.
With the levels set for the first generation of virtual reality hardware, we can now take a look at the upcoming generation of virtual reality devices and see how they compare. As you’ll see, these headsets’ offerings vary considerably in experience quality, just like the first-generation offerings did, but the quality scale has been moved forward from the first generation of virtual reality.
The future of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) looks to be an interesting one. Although both VR and AR have been utilized in small doses in various industries in the past, both have experienced a resurgence in interest both publicly and within commercial industries in the past few years. VR rose to public prominence with the Kickstarter release of the Oculus Development Kit 1 in 2013, and AR saw a large boost with the announced releases of ARKit and ARCore in late 2017.
The idea of virtual and augmented reality has a much more prominent place in history than you might think. In 1935, a short story called “Pygmalion’s Spectacles” by American science-fiction writer Stanley G. Weinbaum told the tale of a professor who invented a pair of goggles that enabled a user to trigger “a movie that gives one sight and sound … taste, smell, and touch… .
As we look at how virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) will impact our world, we need to consider the technology hype cycle. Technological waves go through various peaks and troughs before they reach mass consumer adoption.Information technology research firm Gartner once proposed what it called the Gartner Hype Cycle, a representation of how the expectations around transformative technologies play out upon release.
The terms virtual reality and augmented reality (and others, like mixed reality and extended reality) are thrown about everywhere today, but do you really know what they mean? Virtual and augmented reality are rapidly changing fields, so it helps to know where they are today and where they may be headed in the future.
When designing for virtual reality (VR), it’s important to follow best practices to optimize the user experience. The term design principles refers to a set of ideas or beliefs that are held to be true across all projects of that type. For VR, these principles vary from traditional design.Some examples of design principles within two-dimensional design include designing on a grid or creating a visual hierarchy of information to direct users to the most important information first.
Before jumping straight into designing the visuals of your final virtual reality or augmented reality application assets, roughly sketch out how you believe your interface should lay out in the virtual world. This is often called the “UX design stage” or “wireframing stage.”There are a number of different options for wireframing out your experience, from low-fidelity options such as paper prototyping, to standard 2D tools you may already be familiar with, to full-blown applications dedicated solely to building complex virtual reality or augmented reality prototypes.
Consumer-grade virtual reality headsets have experienced an explosion of growth since the initial offering of the Oculus Rift DK1 in 2013. A field that had been quiet for decades on the consumer front suddenly experienced a massive jump in growth, inviting numerous tech giants to fund their own headsets to capture the potential of virtual reality.
Besides price and headset design, there are also a number of different approaches each manufacturer is taking in regard to the virtual reality experience it offers. The following information looks at some of the most important virtual reality features. Room-scale versus stationary experience in virtual reality Room-scale refers to the ability of a user to freely walk around the play area of a virtual reality experience, with his real-life movements tracked into the digital environment.
If you plan to dip your toe into the virtual reality (VR) waters, you probably are curious about what kind of VR devices you can lay your hands on. Two of the major companies to emerge in the VR world are Lenovo and Oculus. Take a look at their VR device offerings. VR devices: Lenovo Mirage Solo The Lenovo Mirage Solo is similar to the HTC Vive Focus.
Virtual reality (VR) devices are still in their infancy. But, it you are hoping to get a feel for what current VR devices have to offer, you might give Pimax, Looxid, or Varjo a try. Take a peek to see what these VR devices have to offer. VR devices: Pimax 8K Pimax is a Chinese startup that appeared on Kickstarter in 2017 and surprised many with a claim that the company had plans to release the world’s first 8K headset.
Virtual reality fully immerses users in the content, creating new experiences and environments, and more than any technology to date, encouraging users to have empathy for new people and situations. Augmented reality’s strengths dovetail with many of virtual reality’s weaknesses. The nature of augmented reality and its access to the real world make it a perfect candidate for applications that require real-world interaction with other users or objects.
Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) have a large number of use cases spread across any number of industries. VR lends itself readily to the entertainment industry.VR has very strong roots in gaming. Gamers tend to be early technology adopters. Plus, they often have the powerful computer systems needed to run the highest-end VR headsets.
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