Virtual Reality
In the following discussions, the fiction of virtual reality will be separated from the science and current technology and techniques as well as future possibilities will be focused on.
Abstract
Virtual reality represents both the hope and the hype of computer science. With its promise of providing highly interactive and responsive interfaces to computer applications, virtual reality suffers from a media blitz that threatens its success before it becomes reality. The term virtual reality conjures up notions of science fiction in many people's minds. Despite an abundance of hype, virtual reality is slowly emerging as an important new way of interacting with computer applications and simulations. Virtual reality is an attempt to provide an interactive, immersive interface to a synthetic, computer-generated world. It is the logical extension and coupling of recent progress in the fields of computer graphics and human-computer interaction (HCI). In the following discussions, we will attempt to separate the fiction of virtual reality from the science. In addition to providing a general introduction to virtual reality, we will focus on current technology and techniques as well as future possibilities. Discussions include history, display devices, interaction devices, design tools, and applications. Before delving into the details and technology of virtual reality, let us first consider what we mean by the term virtual reality.