Key+elements+of+Virtual+Reality

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Virtual Reality is extremely difficult to design, as there are several factors to be kept in mind when doing so. This page will discuss the four key elements attributed towards a well designed VR concept.

//This is a image of a user manipulating a virtual environment.// //The user would be able to see an audience// //and address their audience accordingly.// //(Virtual Reality For Mental Health)//

=Key Elements=

Virtual World

 * More specifically the //content// of a given media.
 * "An imaginary space often manifested through a medium" (Aalborg, 2004).
 * Includes a description of a collection of objects in a space and the rules and relationships governing those objects.
 * **Example:** [|Imagined Reality] - Experiences we have in our thoughts and dreams or that we experience second hand in novels and films. (Craig, 2003). When one reads a book - a world is generated in the mind. Most of the time this is not real and is imaginary but the level of immersion is still high.

Immersion

 * Also known as a sense of being present and mentally immersed in an environment
 * **Mental Immersion:** Is the goal of most media creators. This involves the suspension of disbelief as the immersive level is targeted towards the brain.
 * **Physical Immersion:** Is popular in VR concepts. It involves bodily entering into a medium through a synthetic stimulus.
 * Example of this is done through what is called "Haptic Devices" which involve the sensation of 'touch'. This is crucial in being immersed in an environment because one required feedback that they can physically 'feel'.
 * **[|Mimesis:]** Is a crucial concept at this level because it is defined as how real and consistent within itself a story world is. (Craig, 2003).
 * Immersion varies greatly across people and hence is hard to pin point or work towards in a specific manner.

Sensory Feedback

 * Participants require this key element in order to be able to be totally immersed in such an environment.
 * **Ways to receive sensory feedback:** when the user is in control to be able to position themselves in the enviroment.
 * **Ways to aid in this process:** Many VR systems use position tracking devices in order to keep their users under control (for safety reasons too), but simultaneously making them feel like they are in control to mirror the real world they are trying to create.
 * **Aural Feedback:** Sound should get louder as the object gets close to the user because those are the laws of physics that are practiced in a real environment.
 * **Visual Feedback:** Their field of view (being able to see the entirity of the situation) should be similar to how they see in the real world. Hence their sight should not be cut off by badly designed frames that they have to wear when participating in the VR experience.
 * **Haptic Feedback:** Being able to touch what they see and making sure that when they do touch them, they mirror the size, weight and feel of the object in the real world. For example when the user picks up paper it should not be as heavy as a chair.
 * **Example:** a VR system can be used to simulate something such as a 'sensation of flying'. This program could be designed for those who have a fear of heights. In this case they would be hung from the ceiling in their virtual world, but gravitational factors have to be considered in regards to the kind of feedback this user would receive to make his/her experience more or less real.

Interactivity

 * All the above three elements attribute towards the last one being able to be excecuted properly.
 * For the Virtual Reality system to be //**authentic**// it should be able to respond to the users actions accordingly. Even factors like **//time delay//** in between when the user picks an item up and is able to 'interact' with it may cause the user some discomfort when things dont seem to work the way they do in the 'normal' world that they are used to.
 * Users should be able to //**change locations**// as they want, //**pick up and move objects**// as they please, and //**flip switches**// between environments within the Virtual Realm.
 * The environment should be **//Collaborative//** in order for them to be able to interact with one another in the case of multiple users.



//This is an example of what our virtual environment platform would look like.// //It would be spacious enough to allow the user to move around.// //(Virtual Reality Experience)//

=Wiki Links similar to this one=


 * Virtual Reality
 * Augmented Reality
 * Virtual Sphere

=Works Cited=

Aalborg University. (2004) Volume rendering in 3D Visual Data Mining. Faculty of Engineering and Science. Online at: [|http://www.vrmedialab.dk/pr/studerende/projekter/report-Volume%20Rendering%20in%203D%20Visual%20Data%20Mining.pdf]. Accessed February 25th 2006.

Craig, A.B. Sherman, W. __Understanding Virtual Reality: Interface, Application,__ __and Design__. California: Morgan Kauffman Publishers, 2003.

Vallino, Jim. (2005). Introduction to Augmented Reality. Rochester Institute of Technology. Online at: [|http://www.se.rit.edu/%7Ejrv/research/ar/introduction.html]

Images
Virtual Reality for Mental Health - Online at:  Accessed February 25, 2006.

Virtual Reality Experience - Online at: <[|http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.caesar.de/typo3temp/98ee733372.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.caesar.de/1304.0.html&h=229&w=298&sz=13&tbnid=q57SkTRKJmVoIM:&tbnh=85&tbnw=111&hl=en&start=3&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dvirtual%2Breality%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D]> Accessed February 25th, 2006.