Introduction to Virtual,
Augmented and Mixed
Reality
Wole Oyekoya, PhD
Associate Professor
Email:
[email protected] Website: http://www.wolex.com/
What is Virtual Reality?
• Virtual Reality (VR) is a computer-generated digital
environment that can be experienced and
interacted with as if that environment were real.
• Ideal VR system enables users to:
• physically walk around objects
• touch objects (haptics)
• smell
• feel sensation (such as heat)
VR is Communication
• System communicates with human and responds
very well to human interaction (directly or
indirectly)
• Shape
• Motion
• Sound
• Physics
• Touch
• Emotions
• …
Evolution of VR
• 1830s to 1990s
Images courtesy of The VR Book (with permissions from original sources)
1800s - Stereoscope
• Earlier version of
stereoscopic 3D TVs
• Used mirrors angled at
45 deg to reflect images
into the eye from the
left and right side
• Kaleidoscope – hand-
held (sold over half
million)
• Conceptually similar to
Google Cardboard
1900s
• 1900s moved towards interaction
• head-worn gun pointing and firing
device
• first flight simulator (1928)
1960s
• Heilig’s Stereoscopic Television
Apparatus Patent
• Philco Headsight
• included head tracking
Heilig also
created the
experience of
being fully
immersed in a
film
Immersive CAVE Displays
• Multiple form factors
• four-sided
• six-sided
•Iowa State VRAC C6
•Duke’s DiVE
• hemispherical
University College London
UCSB’s AlloSphere Duke’s DiVE Virginia Tech
Current Head Mounted Displays
• HTC Vive Cosmos
• Oculus Quest
• Microsoft HoloLens 2
• Playstation VR
•…
Microsoft Hololens
Playstation VR
Oculus Quest HTC VIVE Pro
Applications
• Entertainment, Gaming and Social VR
• Collaborative worlds
• Theme Parks
• Science/Engineering Analysis
• Planning/Architecture
• Online branding / VR Marketing
• E-Commerce
• Manufacturer and retailer based
• Web Presence
Applications
• Oil and Gas Exploration
• Immersive Scientific Visualization
• Flight Simulation
• VR-based Therapy
• Military Training
Architecture/Marketing (VR)
Basketball Simulation (VR)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X67SAe3BMsk
Driving Simulation (VR)
Behavioral Studies (VR)
https://youtu.be/lq-uxFnotHc
Photorealistic Avatar
• Scanned with 3D body scanner (Structure sensor)
• Animated with Mixamo (or Photoshop CC)
Birdly Experience (VR)
• Birdly experience from
the Zurich University of
the Arts, the user,
wearing a VR headset,
flaps his wings while
flying over virtual San
Francisco.
• A motion platform and
fan provide additional
sensory stimulation.
Augmented Reality
• Augmented reality (AR)
adds digital elements to
a live view often by
using the camera on a
smartphone.
• Examples of augmented
reality experiences
include Snapchat lenses
and the game Pokemon
Go.
• In AR, you interact with
the virtual objects.
The Mixed Reality Continuum
Paul Milgram‟s Reality - Virtuality Continuum (1994)
22
What is Mixed Reality?
• MR systems combine virtual and real objects
• They run interactively and in real time
• They register (align) virtual and real objects with
one another
• In MR, you interact with both virtual and real
objects
23
The Ultimate MR System
“Augmented Reality, a New Way of Seeing”, S. K. Feiner, Scientific
24
American, April 2002
Collaborative Mixed Reality
https://youtu.be/1I2Hvwygzm8
Mixed Reality
• Why Mixed Reality?
• Significant activities in CG, visualization, VR and
computer vision
• Multi-disciplinary - good framework for collaborative
projects
• Collaborative mixed reality allows us to study:
• Behavioral tracking
• Immersion experience
• Distributed heterogeneous systems
VizSpace
Is this VR/AR/MR?
VizSpace
VizSpace
Integrates touch and hand interactions beneath the screen
VizSpace
Tools
• Unity
• Adobe Fuse
• Mixamo (animation)
• Blender
• Autodesk Maya
• Autodesk 3DS Max
Unity3D
• Cross-platform game engine with a built-in IDE
developed by Unity Technologies.
• Graphics Engine uses:
• Direct3D (Windows, Xbox 360)
• OpenGL (Mac, Windows, Linux)
• OpenGL ES (Android, iOS)
Additional Resources
• https://learn.unity.com/tutorials
• https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/index.html
• https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop.html
• https://www.adobe.com/products/fuse.html
• https://www.mixamo.com/
