What You Wanted to Know About Virtual Reality Diego Rivera-Gutierrez and Stevie CarnellVirtual Experiences Research Group, University of Florida

What is Virtual Reality?Its Definition and Applications

What is Virtual Reality?

“Halo screenshot”, GhostRobo (YouTube)

www.anandtech.com

What is Virtual Reality?

Other uses for VR

● Psychology research - conduct psych studies in VR

● Games - create an immersive game● Training and Education - train or learn

a skill in VR● Art - Interactive Art exhibit ● Data Visualization - navigate multi-

dimensional data● Telepresence - present the user in an

another time or location (e.g. teleconference

● Phobia Treatment - exposure therapy to fear (e.g. fear of heights)

● Architectural and Design evaluation - explore a 3d model of a structure

● VR and Journalism

money.cnn.com

Museum of Stolen Art, Ziv Schneider

Virtual Tour Guides. USC ICT

Formal Definitions of Virtual Reality

Merriam-Webster’s definition: “an artificial environment which is experienced through sensory stimuli (as sights and sounds) provided by a computer and in which one’s actions partially determine what happens in the environment”

“Computer-generated digital environment that can be experienced and interacted with as if that environment were real” (Jerald, 2015)

The Ultimate Display

Proposed by Ivan Sutherland (1965)

HoloLens demoMinecraft

Elements of Virtual Reality

Stereoscopic Displays

Source: http://developer.zspace.com/docs/ui-guidelines/Content/intro.php

Stereoscopic Displays

Source: http://www.wareable.com/vr/virtual-reality-vs-augmented-reality-which-is-the-future

Stereoscopic Displays

Stereoscope (1870s) View-Master (1966)

Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs)

Ivan Sutherland (1965) Ivan Sutherland (1968)

Modern HMDs

Oculus Rift HTC Vive

Tracking

■ GPS■ Mechanical■ Acoustic■ Inertial■ Magnetic■ Visual

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Consumer tracking devices

Leap Motion Oculus Controller (not included, not out yet) Vive controllers (included)

Companies in VR

Getting Started in Virtual Reality

Getting Started in VR: Game Engines

● Unity○ OS: Mac, Windows○ Cost: free personal edition○ Royalties: royalty-free

● Unreal Engine○ OS: Mac, Windows, Linux○ Cost: free ○ Royalties: 5% on all games + apps

● CryEngine○ OS: Windows○ Cost: pay what you want○ Royalties: royalty-free

Getting Started in VR: Headsets

● Google Cardboard○ Starting at $14.99 + cost of

compatible phone (Android or iPhone)

● Oculus Rift○ $599 + cost of compatible, Windows

computer

● Gear VR○ $99 + cost of Samsung Galaxy

Google Cardboard + Unity

● Getting Started Guides○ Android○ iPhone

● Download the following:○ Unity○ Google Cardboard SDK○ Android SDK (as needed)

Unity Terminology

● Assets● Projects and Scenes● Scripts● Game Objects

General Unity Resources

● Asset Resources○ Unity Asset Store ○ Sketchup 3D Warehouse○ Importing Assets

● Recommended Unity Tutorials○ Intro to Unity○ First few lessons of the Survival Shooter Tutorial○ Some VR tutorials

Developing for Google Cardboard

● General Guidelines● Input

○ Cardboard trigger○ External controllers

● Deploying

Optimization

● Performance hits come from assets or code

○ Enable and disable game objects to discover what is causing problems

● Rendering Stats● Level of Detail

Unity’s “Optimizing Graphics Performance”

Questions