Virtual+Reality

= Virtual Reality =

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==The three "I"s make a triangle of Immersion, Interaction, and Imagination. Most virtual reality researchers and enthusiasts are familiar with the first two "I"s, essentials to a virtual reality system. According to Burdea and Coiffet, imagination (or what the user brings to the environment) compared to immersion and interaction, is the most important feature of any virtual reality system.==

==The first attempt to create a synthesized sense of reality could be traced back to [|Morton Heilig], who introduced in 1960 the "Sensorama" that should have become the ultimate theater providing all the sensory signals to make cinema indistinguishable with reality. The Sensorama looked like an arcade machine and was outfitted with handlebars, a binocular-like viewing device, a vibrating seat, and small vents that could blow air when commanded. In addition, stereophonic speakers were mounted near the ears, and close to the nose, a device for generating odors specific to the events viewed on the film. Unfortunately, the attempts for marketing the Sensorama have been unsuccessful.==

==Morton Heilig (1926-1997) was called the "Father of Virtual Reality" in several books and articles. He was one of the great visionaries of our time, he was a Philosopher, Inventor, Filmmaker and in general a man who looked towards the future and was way ahead of his time.==

==[|Ivan Sutherland] has been credited being the "father of computer graphics". In 1965 he published an article entitled "The Ultimate Display" in which he writes, "A display connected to a digital computer gives us a chance to gain familiarity with concepts not realizable in the physical world. It is a looking glass into a mathematical wonderland". In 1966 he started the development of the first computer-based head-mounted-display (HMD) at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory. A mechanical arm linked to the ceiling determined where the viewer was looking, and half-silvered mirrors placed in front of the eyes overlayed the miniature CRT images onto the view of the world (see Fig.2). Sutherland recognized also the potential for computers to generate the images for the flight simulators instead of video cameras and scale models, and teamed up with David Evans in 1968 to form "Evans & Sutherland" that now sells the most sophisticated flight simulators in the world.==

==Ivan Sutherland is considered by many to be the creator of Computer Graphics. Starting with his Ph.D. thesis, Sketchpad, Sutherland has contributed numerous ideas to the study of Computer Graphics and Computer Interaction. Ivan introduced concepts such as 3-D computer modeling, visual simulations, computer aided design (CAD) and virtual reality.==

==Many scientist and engineers from different fields were exploring the potentials of a synthesized reality during the 70s and 80s. Famous developments were, e.g., the molecular docking system of Frederick Brooks at the University of North Carolina in the US, or the SuperCockpit of Thomas Furness III at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.==

==According to [|Brooks], a virtual reality can be defined as the user experience to be effectively immersed in a responsive virtual world. In March 1999, there were more up to 100 such installations.==

Military
==In the 1970s and early 1980s many researchers were working on flight helmets and modern simulators, but their work was classified and was not published. However, funds for defense were cut and some researchers switched to the civilian sector (Burdera & Coiffet, p.7).==

NASA
==The National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) was another agency of the American government interested in modern simulators. It needed simulations for astronaut training since otherwise it is impossible to recreate conditions existing in outer space. In 1981, on a very small budget, NASA created the prototype of a liquid crystal display (LCD)-based HMD, which they named “Virtual Visual Environmental Display” (VIVED). NASA scientists simply disassembled commercially available Sony Watchman TVs and put LCDs on special optics. The majority of todays HMDs use the same principle. The original VIVED became “Virtual Interface Environment Workstation” (VIEW) in 1989.==

==The term "virtual reality" has been introduced by Jaron Lanier **(1989)**, who founded VPL Research in the US in 1989, when he introduced the DataGlove and the EyePhone on the market.==

==Howard Rheingold is an author of a book "Virtual Community" (1993). You can read this book [|online]. Look at the chapter seven "Japan and the Net."==

==Mark Pesceis an initial adaptor and instigator of VRML. A cyber-mystical-philosopher, author ("The Playful World", "True Names" (contrib.), regular contributor to FEED (feedmag.com)) and lecturer/instructor/teacher (interactive media). Currently, Pesce is designing and coding Plexus, a Web2.0 address book and social networking tool.==

==The first commercial head-mounted displays, called EyePhones, were introdused by VPL in the Late 1980s. These HMDs used LCD displays to produc a stereo image, but at extremely low resolution and virtual scenes appeared blurred. Oterh drawbacks were high price ($11,000 each) and large weignt (2.4kg).==