VR VS AR
As humans and technology evolve, we make life-changing discoveries. For example, Thomas Edison discovered the light bulb or Ralph Baer discovering the first-ever video game console ever exist. We have amazingly gone from small 2D games to 3D to AR to VR. We have had 3D games for a while now but VR and AR are new. What are they? What is the difference?
Virtual Reality
The first big difference is VR immerses you into a complete virtual world completely shutting out the physical world. To do this, VR needs a headset.
The goal of VR is to bring the person into a 3D / artificial virtual of which is created through software. We can experience virtual reality through sight and sound. They increase immersion into the game using a 360_degree display. VR uses 3 main types of tracking.
Head Tracking
Head Tracking is when the display shifts as you tilt your head in any direction (x, y, z). This is also called 6DOF ( six degrees of freedom). The Head tracking system uses gyroscopes, accelerometers, and magnetometers. This type of tracking needs to have low latency. This is because the audience can easily lose interest when there is a small delay in movement when you turn your head, and the screen shifts 100 milliseconds later. The Oculus Touch has now managed to splendid of 30ms of virtual lag.
Motion Tracking
Motion tracking is the tracking of your body itself. As an example, to create a more immersive effect the person would want to see their physical movements in the game like their hand. The Oculus Touch has shown us an example of this by using sensors to calibrate the hand movements and make it as to where you move your hands virtually. Examples of other sources of input for motion tracking are joysticks ( Consoles or pc), and voice controls.
Eye Tracking
The newer VR headsets now have eye-tracking. This is done by infrared sensors inside the headset that monitors your eye moments. This allows the virtual characters to look at where you’re looking. Making the depth of field more realistic. As this is still a new to the tech world, it is still being developed.
Augmented Reality
AR brings digital elements to life by using a live camera(smartphone or smartglasses). It displays a virtual image on top of a real-world object in which creates an illusion. AR has 4 main types:
SLAM
SLAM stands for Simultaneous Localization and Mapping. It is used to view the physical world using physical world keypoints. Robots use this to map their surroundings so it understands the boundaries and can properly orient itself to where it does not destroy nearby objects.
Projection based AR
Projection Based AR is projecting a virtual image on physical objects. This can be both interactive or non-interactive. Your image can be shown in the position and depth to plan a specific task. For example, you how your couch looks in your living room
Recognition based AR
Recognition based AR is when the camera uses AR markers such as QR code to show an object. This only happens when the camera is fully able to read the QR code. It makes it so an object appears on the screen.
Location based AR
Location-Based AR is like a virtual GPS. This especially good for travelers because it will reveal new places/monuments for you to explore by using your smartphone's GPS.
Overall, virtual reality uses a headset to completely change the environment you are in. While Augmented reality adds visual elements to the current environment.
