4 Virtual reality headsets – A theoretical and pragmatic approach
industries interested in using VR within their sectors should automatically choose VR
headsets when other more suitable visual interfaces exist. This question too will be
addressed here.
Though the term “virtual reality’’ generally refers to professional applications built
around interactive environments, VR researchers and manufacturers are well aware
that the same concepts and core technologies, whether hardware or software, are used
in the video game industry. Examples of this abound, with such VR software as Vir-
tools and Unity, developed primarily for video games, being used for professional VR
applications, both in the past, in the case of Virtools, and the present, in that of Unity.
As for hardware, Microsoft’s input motion control device for Xbox 360 consoles,
Kinect, was rapidly diverted from its original use to be utilised by researchers today
for a whole host of non-gaming VR applications. Needless to say, such technological
strides are owed solely to the enormous wealth of the video game industry, which can
afford to pour huge sums of money into the development of pioneering technology.
There is no need to go on about the enormous financial interests at stake—just look
at the stir caused by Facebook with its purchase of Oculus!
We have been using the term “virtual reality’’ for more than twenty years. This
term is debatable and has been questioned by some. The oxymoronic expression virtual
reality was introduced in the United States by Jaron Lanier in the 1980s.
After an initial reassessment of what virtual reality actually is, we will need to
address a number of issues regarding human sensorimotor response, in both the real
world and in virtual environments. A particular focus will be placed on the sense of
vision, given the visually invasive nature of VR applications, which directly impact
both the sensory perception and the motor response of users. Furthermore, a refresher
course on the five senses—which in actual fact are more than five!—will be provided
for those readers who may not be overly familiar with the topic, myself included at
the start of my career. This review of sensory fundamentals will be enormously helpful
in understanding the problems and the solutions particular to VR headset usability.
In short, to fully exploit the capabilities of VR headsets, a good knowledge of human
vision is necessary.
Virtual reality holds a special position in the usual scientific scheme by cou-
pling human sciences with engineering. This position is an advantage of the intrinsic
interdisciplinary nature of this domain. However, this position is also a difficulty to
overcome, on the one hand in terms of training the actors of the domain, and on the
other hand in terms of recognition for this multidisciplinary foundation on the part
of the various disciplines that enrich it. For example, it would be too simplistic to
consider virtual reality merely as a branch of computer science. Though computers
make it possible to effectively program and simulate the virtual worlds, interaction
of man with these worlds is possible only through software programs and technical
devices compatible with cognitive, perceptive and social processes. Conversely, better
understanding and formalising of the difficulties and characteristics of cognition and
interaction in the virtual worlds offers an empirical foundation to stimulate research
and innovation.
In any virtual reality application, the person is immersed in and interacting with
a virtual environment. He perceives, decides and acts in this environment, a process
schematised in a standard “perception, decision, action’’ loop, which must be achieved
within the technical, physiological and cognitive constraints (Figure 1.1).
我的内容管理
展开
