March 19, 2019

•

AR

TOP 4 THINGS BRANDS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT AUGMENTED REALITy

Augmented reality (AR) technology has been around for years, but 2017 will be the year that AR finally takes off. AR is a technology that layers digital elements or information onto the user’s view of the real world (think Pokemon Go) via a mobile phone or smartglasses. (Check out this post for more handy AR and VR explainers.)

According to Digi-Capital, the mobile AR market could hit over a billion users and $60 billion in revenue globally by 2021. There’s a reason why Snapchat’s dancing hot dog went viral. It’s because consumers enjoy altering their physical environment and seeing the inanimate come to life. They’ll eventually want AR to contextualize their reality, and it’ll start with their mobile phones.

AR has many practical business applications. Here are a few recent examples:

• Sports teams are using AR for better training and analytics of their games
• Car companies such as BMW and Toyota are using AR to let consumers design their own cars
• Retailers like H&M and JCPenney are using AR as a new way for customers to try on clothes without going to the fitting room

Next, I’ll share the top four things brands need to know about augmented reality to be poised to take advantage of this exciting new technology.

1. AR will start on mobile phones and move to glasses

Today, most AR technology is being accessed via smartphones. That will soon change, as AR becomes more widely available on VR headsets and glasses. This will increase the usability of AR, since your environment wouldn’t be limited to just what’s on your phone screen. You’ll be able to survey everything around you with AR as your guide, adding context (or entertainment) as you adjust your gaze.

Perhaps Google Glasses was ahead of its time, but the market is now ready to welcome AR into the world.

Perhaps Google Glasses was ahead of its time, but the market is now ready to welcome AR into the world. Current AR headsets are expensive, require a direct line to a high-power PC, or provide a limited field of view. But as more consumers start using AR on their phones, they’ll want to move away from looking at a screen to looking through glasses.

2. AR will contextualize our reality 
According to Wareable, “AR overlays virtual 3D objects over the real world to create a sense that they’re in front of you, requiring you to be aware of your surroundings.” This means AR will help us find our way in stores, select a drink at Starbucks, compare products, etc. AR won’t take away from what we have in real life; it’ll enhance our experiences and enable us to explore new things.

3. AR cameras will be fully integrated into everyday lives

We’ve already seen how AR cameras are functioning on social media. Facebook, Snapchat, and now Instagram have AR filters. In the near future, AR cameras will be able to recognize items inside a consumer’s home or environment. Why is this important? AR will provide marketers with even more customer data.

Back in April, at F8, which is Facebook’s developers conference, Mark Zuckerberg showed how AR is becoming a major focus for the social network. He introduced the public to the Facebook Camera Effects Platform, which includes AR Studio, an augmented reality experience authoring tool.

The goal, according to Zuckerberg, is to turn smartphone cameras into the first AR platform, providing an opportunity for artists and developers to create effects for the Facebook camera. Consumers are giving Facebook access to their homes and offices through their camera. So don’t be surprised if after using Facebook’s AR camera effects on your aging refrigerator if you start getting ads about fridges even before you thought about replacing that appliance.

4. AR will solve many pain points

According to Business Insider, AR will help support and enhance business operations. Businesses will be able to provide better customer service and job training. If a customer doesn’t know how to troubleshoot a device or appliance, a technician will be able demonstrate the process by overlaying instructions through AR in real life. AR will allow brands to more personally engage with their customers. This will help create brand affinity and cultivate brand loyalty.

Conclusion

It’s important to understand that AR isn’t like VR. It won’t show us entirely new worlds and environments to explore. AR will help us explore the world in a new way.

Taher Baderkhan, YouVisit co-founder and CTO, agrees. “AR will be another dimension for users to explore a brand or location. It’s a more personal way of exploration. The more options you give your customers, the more they’ll be engaged. “

Cathy Hackl (@CathyHackl) is an Emmy-nominated communicator turned virtual reality and augmented reality speaker and futuristic content creator. She’s also the founder of Latinos in VR/AR and one of the women leading the virtual revolution.

READ MORE

March 19, 2019

•

Education

WHY VIRTUAL WALKING TOURS ARE A WIN-WIN FOR COLLEGES AND STUDENTS

Reaching prospective students with the right message at the right time is one of the most difficult parts of working in admissions. Not only are most prospective students busy with high school, they’re also being bombarded with information from numerous colleges and universities, each wanting their attention.

This is why it’s important for colleges and universities to stand out from their competition by telling their school’s unique story in a way that inspires students to want to know more. A YouVisit Virtual Walking Tour does this in the most engaging way possible, while helping admissions professionals hit their numbers.

YOUVISIT VIRTUAL WALKING TOURS

A YouVisit Virtual Walking Tour enables prospective students to virtually visit a school from anywhere in the world through 360-degree panoramic photos and videos, and traditional 2D photos and videos. Our Virtual Walking Tours are designed to emulate real-life campus tours, so students can get a true understanding of what it would be like to attend. This saves students time and money, but also empowers schools to reach more prospects and inspires physical campus visits.

Our education partners that have embedded a Virtual Walking Tour on their website have reported increases in:

• Inquires
• Applications
• Physical campus visits
• Yield rate

THE SECRET BEHIND YOUVISIT’S PLATFORM

Why do Virtual Walking Tours perform so well? Our virtual experiences are significantly more engaging than other traditional online media. The average time spent on one of our Virtual Walking Tours is 10.4 minutes. This is a lifetime on the web, where successful content might only hold a viewer’s attention for seconds.

We accomplish this engagement by enabling prospective students to see multiple pieces of content within a virtual experience, and by providing them with the power of choice. Viewers can navigate the experience as if they’re actually on a campus tour, or they can move from location to location to learn about the areas they’re most interested in.

Additionally, our virtual experiences are designed to excite students about the school they’re viewing. Then they’re encouraged to take action. Each Virtual Walking Tour includes call-to-action buttons from which prospects can schedule in-person visits, contact the school, and even start the application process. How powerful are these buttons?The average conversion rate for a YouVisit Virtual Walking Tour is 12.3%.

YouVisit’s platform is also designed so students can view our partner’s virtual experiences on the device of their choice. Whether it’s a desktop computer, mobile device, or even in virtual reality, prospective students receive the same engaging experience. Our partners never have to worry that their Virtual Walking Tour won’t be accessible.

Finally, YouVisit’s platform includes a robust analytics engine. This enables our education partners to fully understand how their virtual experience is performing.

When these capabilities are combined, schools have a powerful recruitment tool that can increase their yield rates by up to 20% and physical campus visits by up to 30%.

“I’m so excited the virtual tour will enable us to bring [the University of Central Arkansas] to any high school, community college, or household in the world,” said Courtney Mullen, director of admissions at UCA told her local CBS affiliate. “Our hope is to attract and engage prospective students by enabling them to experience campus before they set foot on the grounds.”

YOUVISIT VIRTUAL REALITY EXPERIENCES

In addition to our Virtual Walking Tours, we also partner with schools to create virtual reality experiences. These experiences can be viewed with a VR headset and on desktop or mobile devices as 360-degree videos.

When a prospective student slides on a VR headset, they can look around in all directions and feel as if they are in the middle of the action. It’s the most immersive way to experience a campus, outside of visiting in real life.

Our partners who’ve created a virtual reality experience take VR headsets on the road to high school fairs and events, and have reported longer lines and more engaged prospective students.

“Prospective students are loving VR,” said Michelle Bartonico, director of marketing and communications at Trinity University. “It is new, unique, and convenient to experience our campus in this way. We recently brought the headsets to a national high school conference and students were blown away, and couldn’t wait to bring their friends to our table to share the experience.”

READ MORE

March 19, 2019

•

VR

WAYS BUSINESSES USE VIRTUAL REALITY

From travel to retail, businesses of all types are starting to consider and use virtual reality. And like many mediums, there are multiple of ways VR can be implemented. Below, we’ve broken down four of the most common uses for virtual reality.

Marketing and Storytelling

In the past several years, virtual reality marketing has exploded. There are several reasons for this, including the technologies current novelty status, but also because VR creates deeply immersive experiences that consumers want–and aren’t likely to forget.

In the retail sector, both The North Face and Toms used VR to promote their brands. In 2015, The North Face place a VR headset in its New York City location, allowing shoppers to experience what it’s like to be at California’s Yosemite National Park and the Moab desert in Utah.

“Every brand wants to forge an emotional connection with its customers,” Eric Oliver, The North Face’s director of digital marketing told Digiday. “Our brand mission is to inspire a life of exploration, so we felt like this was a great way to enhance our storytelling, use technology and transport people to the outdoors.”

Meanwhile, Toms tapped into a similar concept with a VR marketing campaign that empowered viewers to experience what it’s like to go on one of the company’s philanthropic giving trips. To do this, the company set up VR stations at retail stores and other outlets.

Recruitment and Talent Management

Imagine interviewing for a company, and when you ask about its culture, you’re given a VR headset and told to experience it yourself. Companies can use virtual reality to help recruits see their facilities, meetings, and outings. New and potential hires might also meet co-workers and important managers.

Aside from building excitement, companies can also use VR to train employees.

“VR could be used for many other training scenarios that require using equipment that may not be in the same location, or equipment that is too difficult or not available, or even equipment that has yet to be deployed,” Brian Blau, research director for Gartner, told ZDNet.

Collaboration and Communication

Chances are your company is highly collaborative. And nothing can destroy collaboration as easily as distance. Virtual reality has the ability to eliminate and streamline communication between offices and employees, but make distance irrelevant.

“Imagine a videoconference in which you can look around and see avatars of your colleagues, all exploring a model, prototype, or scientific visualization together,” said Michael Grabowski, associate professor at Manhattan College. “You all can be immersed within the design and virtually test or reconfigure the model.”

Product Design and Prototyping

Prototyping in real life can be time intensive and costly. Some company like Ford have ditched physical prototyping in favor of creating models in virtual reality. It’s not a new revolution either. Ford has been designing cars in VR since 1999–long before the tech was fashionable.

Jeff Greenberg, Ford senior technical leader, touted the benefits in cost, time, and quality. He said it allowed Ford’s “designers and engineers more creative freedoms to explore options that in the past would have been too time- or cost-intensive to consider.”

Source:Youvisit

READ MORE

March 19, 2019

•

VR

IS YOUR BUSINESS READY FOR VIRTUAL REALITY?

There is no question that the age of virtual reality is here. With the biggest names in technology betting on it, including Samsung, Google, and Facebook, we can only expect for this to become an everyday tool that changes our lives.

While the release of advanced headsets, including the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive, will feed the VR revolution, businesses need to focus on how VR is being made accessible to the average consumer. The release of more inexpensive options such as Google Cardboard and the Samsung Gear VR headset are great examples of how VR can be more accessible to consumers on an everyday basis.

So what does this mean for businesses? With new VR technology being issued every day, now is the best time to begin experimenting with VR to determine how it can drive business value. Companies from Disney to Virgin Airlines are already latching on to the technology to aid with their marketing and enhance customer experiences. Outdoor footwear maker Merrill enabled users to experience taking a dangerous mountain hike; Volvo also launched a VR experience this year, enabling its users to virtually test-drive its redesigned XC90 SUV.

Creating an Immersive Experience

With virtual reality, businesses have the opportunity to engage their customers and employees in a way that wasn’t previously possible. When a person slides on a VR headset, they are able to access an immersive environment that surpasses any 2D experience available. In VR, the viewer is empowered to interact with and explore the available content in any way they choose.

Allowing the viewer to take the reins means that businesses can create personalized connections with each and every consumer. As such, VR opens the door for companies to create experiences that are informative, compelling, and highly influential. That could mean better marketing for your product or service, faster and cheaper training for your employees, or improved communication and collaboration from your product development team.

Before pursuing a VR experience for your company, you first need to know what you want to get out of the content. As with any type of media or business plan, you must evaluate how the content fits into your company’s goals. What do you hope the viewer gets out of it? Do you want to enhance a real-world experience or show a new concept? The key to a successful experience is catering to your target audience and leveraging VR’s unique capabilities to create a one-of-a-kind experience.

Utilizing Virtual Reality

Virtual reality is such a malleable technology that its business applications are seemingly endless. Some of the following applications already have been put into play by business, while others suggest the technology’s potential.

VR tours.Tours are perhaps the most common application for virtual reality. Real estate agents, hotels, cruise lines, museums, and travel destinations promote themselves using virtual reality tours. These experiences allow potential customers to preview a location, or they can provide customers with an inside look at a company’s operations.

Model creation.Creating a VR model can save companies time and money. These types of models or prototypes allow viewers to examine a product and make changes without the time or expense of building a physical model

Employee training. Virtual reality experiences can provide hands-on training or education for employees. Simulated experiences can prepare employees for hazardous situations or to instruct them on how to use intricate and expensive machinery, without the risk of damage.

Events. Virtual reality can help companies share live events with a wider audience. VR video of an event can put viewers in the front row and make them feel like they are actually there.

Showcasing products. Virtual reality can allow potential customers to explore a product before they purchase it. VR’s immersive images can place a product directly into a customer’s (virtual) hands or empower viewers to see a product in action.

Communications.Many tech insiders have predicted that VR will become the ultimate form of communications. For businesses, this means coworkers could meet face-to-face or collaborate on a product, even though they are thousands of miles apart.

With companies including Google and Facebook developing VR departments, there is no question that this technology will live much longer than the average fad. In order to remain competitive and retain a large consumer audience, businesses should start thinking about how VR can be implemented into their strategy. With its ability to showcase the world around us in a whole new way, this technology will become an integral part of the world of entertainment and marketing, shifting how we conduct business.

This post originally appeared in All Business.

READ MORE

March 19, 2019

•

VR

6 MUST-READ VIRTUAL REALITY PREDICTIONS [2018 EDITION]

The worlds of virtual and augmented reality are changing incredibly fast–and we’re always looking to the future. That’s why we reached out to thought leaders in the VR/AR space to get their predictions for the year ahead. (We also culled a few quotations from the web.) Enjoy!

TAHER BADERKHAN

I think you have to be looking at AR, and how people are looking at it and responding to it. Particularly now that Apple’s moving there and everyone will have it on their phone. AR will be very popular, but it’ll take longer than expected to reach a critical mass. VR will continue to grow in 2018, but AR might grow at a faster rate, since everyone will have it.

Taher Baderkhan is the CTO and co-founder of YouVisit. Follow Taher on Twitter.

CATHY HACKL

2018 will be a big year for VR and one of the reasons will be 2018 FiFA World Cup. Companies like NBC Universal/Telemundo are betting on VR to bring the fans closer to the action of the world’s largest sporting event. Bringing fans to sidelines of the matches will prove fruitful for brands that invest in VR for the event. It will help with further adoption of VR in the mass market.

With prices coming down and specs for running HMDs becoming less constrictive, VR will see a rise in adoption. The critical part of the debate on VR adoption and hitting mass market will also come down to content. The need for high quality content that is not only visually pleasing and narratively enticing, but that also keeps vection to a minimum will be more important than ever. This provides a huge opportunity for content creators. We’re already seeing studios like Chris Milk’s Within raise millions of dollars because great VR content is what the market will crave.

Augmented reality will also lead the way in this transition. The future of VR is tied to the future of AR, and AR will impact all aspects of life. The success of both technologies will also depend on having better connectivity, faster processors and of course AI is at the core if it too.

With VR the ultimate goal is to eventually create reactive content.

Cathy Hackl is an AR and VR producer and speaker. Follow Cathy onTwitter.

ADARIO STRANGE

Where VR will go in 2018 isn’t dependent on hardware or software; it depends on marketing and outreach. Right now, the VR industry is living off of a small, passionate community of VR enthusiasts, and big players are hoping that group will just organically grow into a mainstream-sized audience on its own. But tech cycles and attention are shorter than in the past (think early days of the internet), so success will depend upon VR hardware/software/content makers working harder to more rapidly pull the mainstream into high-end VR experiences (not things like Google Cardboard/Gear VR).

However, the biggest challenge will be a fight for “attention” as Apple’s ARKit rises to prominence over the next 12 months. Because of ARKit (and competing AR platforms), the focus on “virtual objects” will rapidly shift toward AR. VR companies need to anticipate this and become more aggressive about quickly engaging consumers who aren’t tech enthusiasts. Overall, in the short term (18 months), VR will be most successful in VR arcades (VR esports, secondary movie experiences, dating) and cafes-like facilities (VR therapy, education, etc.) from large players like IMAX VR and smaller, indie location-based facilities.

Inside out, 6DoF tracking, tetherless VR headsets will find a prominent place and make VR easier in 2018, but the key challenge will still be around pulling user attention away from their newly AR-enabled iPhones (and, of course, the non-immersive aspects of OTT content viewing services like Netflix, Hulu, etc.). VR needs eyeballs, and the fight for those eyeballs is only getting harder.

Adario Strange is a tech analyst for Mashable and host of the MARS Magazine podcast. Follow Adario on Twitter.

PJ MORREALE

We can expect to see exponential growth and a widely expanding utilization of VR and AR in 2018 within industries that have been reluctant to get onboard thus far. As metrics improve and the real-world results of these immersive technologies becomes more trackable and measurable, business executives will see VR as less of a fringe technology and more of an essential engagement and conversion tool for their brands.

Also, be ready to be surprised, as we’ve likely not seen a technology so well positioned to make a dramatic impact on the way people communicate since Marconi’s invention of the radio.

PJ Morreale is the senior director of YouVisit Studios. Read PJ’s recap on his trip to Vienna to attend IVRPA, where he spoke on a panel titled ‘Follow the Money: Monetizing Virtual Reality Today and in the Future’here.

JESSE SCHELL

• Through 2018, overheating VR phones will still be a problem. Freezing them will be common.
• By the end of 2018, a major new VR-centric game genre will appear.
• Madden 2018 will have a VR edition.
• By the end of 2018, there will be at least three movies playing on fears of VR.
• By the end of 2018, Comcast will have a VR channel
• By the end of 2018, there will be a leading VR social platform, and it won’t be the old guard.

Jesse Schell is CEO of Schell Games. Predictions above are excerpts from this UploadVR article. Follow Jason on Twitter.

LUCAS RIZZOTTO

Eye tracking will be central to the medium. There’s no doubt in my mind that this particular enhancement will play a big role in the second wave of major VR devices–for one thing, it solves a number of big technical challenges, allowing engineers to optimize performance by focusing system resources where the user is currently looking (lowering VR’s high barrier to entry). It can also simulate natural focus realistically and give way to new eye-tracking centric game play elements that will open the door to much more immersive experiences.

Lucas Rizzotto is an interaction and experience creator, technologist, and designer. The above quotation comes from her post on Medium. Follow Lucas on Twitter.

Source:Youvisit

READ MORE

March 19, 2019

•

VR

THE 10 BEST VIRTUAL REALITY MARKETING CAMPAIGNS

Virtual reality marketing is becoming increasingly important, as it enables marketers to give customers the closest experience they can get of a product, service, or place without physically being there. This level of engagement and awareness impacts consumers more than traditional media because it creates strong emotions and memories that have been linked to real behavior change.

But what do successful virtual reality marketing campaigns look like? Below, in no particular order, are the 10 best VR marketing campaigns in recent memory.

1. Thomas Cook

U.K. travel agency Thomas Cook launched the “Try Before You Fly” campaign in late 2014 to promote VR as a tool for travel agents. The agency produced a range of experiences such as a helicopter tour of New York City for customers to test at 10 of the travel agency’s stores in the U.K., Germany, and Belgium. The campaign resulted in a 190 percent increase in New York travel revenue for the agency in 2015.

2. Visit Houston

Recently, Visit Houston set out to eliminate the belief that Houston is little more than cattle and tumbleweeds. The DMO partnered with YouVisit to create a unique virtual experience that enabled viewers to explore the best parts of Houston from any device, including VR.

Visit Houston’s experience (embed above) transports viewers to Minute Maid Park, the Houston Space Center, and the Houston Ballet, among others. Mike Waterman, president of Visit Houston, toldAdweek, “We’re trying to provide new visitors with experiences that are memorable, and therefore, marketable. We sat down and thought about the 12 most interesting venues that would entice people to watch the content. The hope is that once people see the content, they’ll be so excited that they’ll book a ticket to Houston.”

3. Marriott Hotels

Marriott Hotels launched its Teleporter 4-D sensory experience in September 2014, which allowed users to take a journey through VR versions of London and Hawaii, complete with motion, sounds, and even sprays of water to feel like the ocean. While the campaign was short-lived, it caught the attention of both tech and travel press, creating enough buzz for customers to want to book their next vacation at Marriott.

4. The North Face

In order to promote The North Face brand to its adventure-seeker audience, the company launched several VR experiences in 2015 at store locations in San Francisco, New York, and London. Its “The North Face: Climb” experience took users to new heights in Yosemite National Park and Moab, while “The North Face: Nepal” allowed users to experience winter in Nepal. The brand garnered lots of recognition as a leader in VR for the retail market.

5. Absolut Vodka

Absolut Vodka launched “Absolut Reality” in summer 2015 to offer live video streams to its customers who couldn’t get sought-after tickets to concerts such as the Bob Moses show in Brooklyn, N.Y. The use of drones and other enhanced video technology created a virtual experience so realistic that fans felt as if they could almost touch the stage. Not only did the experience solve a problem for customers not able to get tickets, but it also allowed the brand to reach a broader audience by partnering with the music market.

6. Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia 2015

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia 2015 created “Mirror to the Soul,”a five-minute VR experience of the event that highlighted everything from backstage to front row seats at the show. By giving viewers from around the world access to the show helped bridge the gap between designers and brands and their consumers who often don’t get to be a part of the fashion-week conversation.

7. Volvo

Launched in late 2014, Volvo Reality was the world’s first virtual reality test drive, created for users to experience the Volvo XC90 in a Vancouver landscape. The immersive experience allowed the company to put users in the driver’s seat months before the car was available in showrooms. The marketing campaign was so successful that Volvo reported reaching 238 million media impressions.

8. Savannah College of Art and Design

In spring 2015, the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in Georgia mailed 5,000, branded virtual reality headsets to students who were accepted into the school, but hadn’t yet enrolled. The VR experience immersed users into the SCAD campus, giving students a 360-degree, first-hand understanding of what college life at SCAD would be like. The school plans to expand its VR program by sending headsets to specific high schools and teachers as well as creating videos of university events such as the university fashion show.

9. McDonald’s Happy Meal VR

Earlier this year, McDonald’s announced that its Swedish location would be turning it’s Happy Meal boxes into foldable VR headsets. The promotion, which is being called Happy Goggles, essentially lets people purchase makeshift VR headsets. Viewers can play a ski game that’s fit for the whole family.

10. Toms

Back in 2015, Toms gave the traditional retail business a shot in the arm by introducing virtual reality to the mix. The philanthropic shoe company, which gives away a free pair of shoes for each pair that is purchased, created a VR experience of what it’s like to actually go on a shoe giving trip to Peru. It then setup nooks in retail stores where potential customers could view the VR experiences.

Source:Youvisit

READ MORE

March 19, 2019

•

Future tech

AR, VR, MR, RR, XR: A Glossary to the Acronyms of the Future

Immersive technologies won’t always be defined by 

AR, VR, MR, RR, XR: A Glossary to the Acronyms of the Future

hardware, but it seems no one can agree on how they will be defined.

Virtual reality (VR) began its climb back into the social consciousness in 2013 with the launch of the well-documented Kickstarter campaign for the Oculus Rift. In the four years that have passed since, things have become more complicated. Augmented reality (AR) has finally begun its ascent and Microsoft has muddied the waters with the HoloLens purporting to deliver ‘mixed reality’ (MR). Each of these terms currently refers to a unique experience defined by its hardware, but new platforms are already beginning to emerge capable of combining more than one immersive reality technology.

At Google’s recent I/O conference, Mountain View, head of AR and VR for Google, Clay Bavor,raised an interesting point in a tweet: “VR / MR / AR / RR are not separate and distinct things. They’re convenient labels for different points on a spectrum.”

Bavor reinforced this in a blog post on Medium, in which he stated: “If VR and AR are two points on a spectrum, what should we call the spectrum? Here are a few ideas – immersive computing, computing with presence, physical computing, perceptual computing, mixed reality or immersive reality. This technology is nascent, and there’s a long way to go on our definitions, but for now, let’s call this immersive computing.”

That spectrum, captured in the image above by CNET, illustrates Bavor’s key point. One might argue that defining each of the technologies that appear on this spectrum (which does currently dive deeper than simply AR, VR and real reality (RR)) is a case of semantics, but it’s still worthwhile taking time to step back and recognise the common vernacular each term now represents.

Augmented reality (AR):

Technology which supplements real reality (RR) with computer generated imagery of any kind should be defined as augmented reality (AR). At present, this would include devices such as Google Glass, smartphones (through various applications), Nokia’s City Lens, and evenPokemon Go or Snapchat.

Mixed reality (MR):

Mixed reality (MR) is similar in definition to AR, however opposed to simply placing images and text over the top of RR this technology aims to create an environment in which the user will treat the objects as if they are really there. This can be seen with applications such as Skype and video viewing on Microsoft’s HoloLens, but also extends to 2D video wherein an observer is able to view a user of virtual reality (VR) within the environment that their head-mounted display (HMD) is showing to them. A user in a virtual space which entirely encompasses their vision viewed from the outside can still be defined as MR.

Virtual reality (VR):

Virtual reality (VR) is technology that shuts the user away from RR, instead replacing every aspect of their reality artificially. A vast range of HMDs exist for this, though the current leaders in the field remain the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, PlayStation VR, Samsung Gear VR and Google Daydream. All of these HMDs completely fill the user’s field of view and replace RR audio.

A new emerging trend is to define any content using these emerging technologies as ‘XR’. However, XR is also used to define ‘cross reality’, which is any hardware that combines aspects of AR, MR and VR; such as Google Tango.

In time, it’s likely at any AR, MR or VR will become defined as ‘XR’ as the hardware matures to incorporate more than one immersive reality technology, or ‘immersive computing’ as Bavor wishes to define it. However, for now it’s important that the industry recognises the differences between each acronym to avoid confusion amongst the consumer audiences that will define the success of each, or all, of these technologies and their applications.

Source:VRFOCUS

READ MORE