The development path of virtual reality technology: from the infinite game foreground

The November 3 News, "virtual Reality" is the 90 's more famous "fog" technology (vaporware, long before the completion of the development of the product, and is likely to not be published), But Oculus has brought the technology to people almost single-handedly, and for the first time in the 2012 "Electronic Entertainment Exposition", the Rift head-mounted display with virtual reality technology is on display. The combination of virtual reality and gaming industry is reasonable, after all, the industry has been eager to achieve breakthroughs through virtual reality, and Oculus's push to bring the virtual reality back to the attention and attract many mainstream investors funds.

Just as Oculus called rift "the peace dividend of the smartphone war", the game industry's push for virtual reality technology has benefited many other industries. Innovators around the world are actively looking for a combination with a head-and-wear display, including psychotherapy, special education, space exploration, luxury car virtual test drive, virtual travel, and virtual reality movies. Therefore, virtual reality in the gaming industry can create a lot of benefits, but in the field of non-gaming can also release dazzling luster.

When Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's founder and CEO, announced earlier this year that he would spend $2 billion to buy Oculus, he said "virtual reality technology has started experimenting with the technology in addition to gaming." In fact, some industries have been experimenting with virtual reality technology for decades, such as when the virtual reality of the last century was just entering people's eyes, people began to study how to combine the original virtual reality system with the research and medical industry.

Application of virtual reality technology in medical industry

Dr. Albert Rizzo of the Institute of Innovation Technology at the University of Southern California. Albert Rizzo said that, in the 90 's, he noticed that one of his brain-injured patients had a hard time accepting the treatment he offered, but was easily immersed in the Tetris in Game Boy, Rizzo has been inspired to study digital solutions to brain-damage disorders. Over the next few years, Rizzo with colleagues in computer science to try to figure out whether virtual reality simulation training can improve the patient's ability in the real world. After nearly 20 years of research, Rizzo that the answer to the question is yes.

Rizzo the use of virtual reality technology is not only particularly expensive, but also not very convincing. According to his recollection, he used the Immersadesk 3D virtual reality projection system for the price of up to 125,000 dollars, and the head-wearing display is priced at $10,000 (the device's screen resolution is only 640x480), It also requires expensive SGI workstations for rough head action tracking and 3D modeling at the simulation level.

Surprisingly, even early attempts at virtual reality have demonstrated that this technique is sufficient to provide an immersive treatment environment for those with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other brain disorders, Rizzo by using virtual reality technology to simulate the environment in which the patient was in (such as the battlefield), And then use the inductive topic to awaken the patient's memory, thus helping it to restore normal memory.

Even with today's technology, this virtual therapy, which simulates the battlefield environment, is hardly comparable to the real-world immersion therapy, but it has proven to be effective, at least for general phobias and deep anxiety disorders, and it does have a role to play. Virtually decoupled, a clinical psychologist and training director at the virtual Reality Therapy research company, said that hundreds of clinical studies have shown that virtual therapies are at least as effective as real therapies, according to Sanov Marat Zanov.

At the same time, virtual reality therapy is more convenient and cheaper than real therapy. "In the case of veterans with PTSD, we can't bring them back to the war in Afghanistan or Iraq," Sanov said. "If doctors used to use the" imaging exposure "method to help these patients recover their memories, this method is effective, But patients need to devote a great deal of energy to the treatment process. In a virtual environment, they are more relaxed in their memories. ”

Sanov also points out that virtual reality therapy is quite inexpensive for the treatment of flight phobia patients, and if they also use exposure therapy, they usually need to pay more expensive travel costs, but if the use of virtual therapy, this cost can be completely saved.

While researchers have demonstrated the clinical value of virtual immersion therapies, the resurgence of virtual reality technology continues to drive the technology from academic research to a wider range of medical applications.

"We want to reduce the cost of treatment through virtual reality technology to hire more therapists," said Michael Jacobson, CEO of virtually decoupled, "until last year, the technology was more of a research tool, It cannot be used by clinicians in actual clinics. At the same time, the technology has yet to be improved in convenience and practicality, and the cost of setting up a virtual reality system is very high. But with the great impetus of Oculus, the virtual reality technology has gained unprecedented high-speed development. Now that we see more and more industries starting to land virtual reality projects, and people are studying it, it's time for virtual reality technology. ”

Rizzo also believes that the inexpensive high-quality head-and-display devices, including Oculus Rift, are becoming more and more expensive, and virtual reality therapy has already had the necessary conditions to move to actual medical use. At the same time, Rizzo recalls his 2004 attempt to use virtual reality therapy in the treatment of attention deficit disorder, "the psychologists were more cautious about it," said Li, "and they thought the therapy was too complex to be used clinically, and of course the main reason was that they didn't understand it, Also unwilling to pay 2000 of dollars. ”

However, the situation has changed dramatically when Rizzo a similar virtual reality therapy at today's psychology conference. "I don't have to bother to talk about what virtual reality technology is, and there's no need to tell everyone that this is not a science fiction technology, because through the promotion of virtual reality manufacturers such as Oculus, many people have a more comprehensive understanding of it, but also have recognized the feasibility of this technology," "People have taken the virtual reality technology to the stage of history and believe there will be more and better results in the future," Rizzo said. ”

Application of virtual reality technology in education industry

In Ornest Klein (Ernest Cline) 's novel Ready Player One, the author describes a dystopian future world where early childhood education is achieved almost entirely through a head-and-wear display, with the use of laser projection to create a virtual teaching environment. We are still a long way from this fully virtualized classroom, but there are already some schools and teachers who have taken the first steps in virtual teaching.

Matthew Malancosin, the information and communication technology coordinator at Jackson College in Victoria, Australia, is one of those who often uses tablets and Microsoft's Kinect to help students with special needs (such as autistic patients). Last year, when Malancosin experienced Oculus Rift at last year's "Pax game show" in Australia, he knew that it was a great tool to improve the level of emotional commitment of autistic students, who were mostly not comfortable with the standard classroom environment for psychological reasons, The latter tend to cause great psychological stress to them.

"For students with symptoms of sensory treatment, the traditional school environment can put a lot of stress on them," Malancosin said. "In contrast, virtual reality technology can create a quiet learning environment for them in the light of their actual situation." ”

According to Malancosin, he often asked the students to wear Oculus Rift, and then let them go straight to some virtual games like the Titan Cosmic Journey (Titans of space) and Blue Marble (bluemarble), In the game they often need to engage in dialogue and trade with their partners, and it turns out that Oculus Rift is able to teach special children through these games, which is extremely difficult to achieve in traditional teaching. "When they play games, they just click on a different button without having to talk to each other, which relieves their social pressure," Malancosin said. "For them, even working in a virtual environment is a very exciting thing to do." ”

Although these headband monitors have raised concerns about the isolation and anti-social aspects of the learning environment, Malancosin found that virtual reality has actually become a powerful tool for students to improve their social skills. "Now I don't have to get them together, they can talk to each other through these virtual devices, and they want everyone around to know what he's doing, even in the real world." ”

"I think as long as they express what they want to say, at the same time, it's more important than anything," Malancosin added, "especially at the beginning, when students get lost in a new environment in the virtual world, their interests and curiosity are activated. In our teaching environment, language skills and social socialization are the most important. Some parents have expressed their gratitude to me many times, and some parents said: ' My son came home and told me that in your class, the universe has turned around, what a magical thing! ’”

In the past year, Malancosin has become a staunch facilitator of classroom virtual reality technology, saying he is considering mobilizing Oculus to persuade him to sell the idea to different schools. That's why he lent his three Oculus Rift equipment to a nearby teacher for use in the classroom, and he hopes to bring a great virtual reality experience to more schools and students.

However, in the short term, Malancosin more worried that the promotion of virtual reality technology in class will be hindered by the lack of quality teaching software. "I feel that despite the fact that many school information coordinators are optimistic about the future of virtual reality technology, there is a lack of quality teaching software and sales of related equipment have been on the way," Malancosin said. "It is hard to prove that virtual reality technology is very suitable for classroom teaching." ”

"I think one of the problems is that virtual devices like Oculus Rift are still dominated by games and movie playback," Malancosin continued, "which is understandable, after all, is the best way to keep them profitable, but if companies are willing to focus on and invest in virtual teaching, I think it can be a huge success, after all, many schools now want to introduce similar advanced technology, and schools are a very potential market. ”

Malancosin predicts that in the next few years, the education industry and the team will pay more and more attention to the role of virtual reality technology in teaching, and some of the quality of teaching software will be developed, once these conditions are available, the entire education industry may change, Students in the school can not only understand the unique charm of the Louvre or the Great Wall outside Wanli, but also through a virtual globe to understand the evolution of the Earth's history, in addition to virtual reality technology can play the role of assistant in mathematics class and so on.

"For example, when teaching area and volume, a teacher can draw a 3D image of an object on the podium, allowing the students to learn more about mathematics," Malancosin said, "which will undoubtedly greatly enhance the efficiency and interest of teaching, and is a very useful tool for both teachers and students. ”

From space exploration to film production

The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has proven that the 3D virtual reality scene has helped to enhance understanding of spatial relationships. JPL has integrated the data from the rover into a virtual model on the surface of Mars, allowing people to view the Martian surface freely via a headset, a new form of space exploration that makes the public feel very interesting, of course, JPL also said that virtual reality technology has significantly improved the efficiency of researchers.

"We conducted a joint trial with the Curiosity and Opportunity Mars rover team, and we found that in contrast to the use of ordinary 2D images for cartography, scientists wearing a head-and-wear display often produced more accurate maps of the Martian surface." "JPL's mission Operations innovation Manager Jeff Norris (Jeff Norris) said.

Norris believes that the improvement in cartography is mainly due to the sense of ontology (when the wearer rotates his head, the virtual display image can also change) and the 3D stereo image of the head-wearing display, these factors are also very important for JPL's next virtual reality project, The project mainly helps users to operate a robotic arm with a virtual reality interface.

According to JPL in related video, a Kinect device will track the user's arms and body movements, and the user will see the virtual screen of the robotic arm on the headset, and the user will feel the arm is his arm. The real robotic arm tracks the user's arm movements and then returns the corresponding image back to the user's monitor to complete the remote control. The technology is used by technicians on Earth to manipulate robots in outer space.

"The idea of this project is actually very simple, that if you want to control the robot's arm, just use your arm to manipulate it remotely," Norris said, "We use virtual reality technology to make you feel that the robotic arm is actually an extension of your arm, or a part of your body, Then you can easily control the robotic arm by adjusting your head movements and vision. ”

In addition to controlling the robots, JPL hopes that virtual reality technology will allow astronauts to "see" the virtual images of their spacecraft, as the current space station and space shuttles do not allow. With a head-and-wear monitor, astronauts can get a mock view of the spacecraft and surrounding objects from angles and positions that are not in normal condition, "we designed the windows on the spacecraft so that people can see the world around them as they do in the space station, But virtual reality technology provides images that are often difficult for astronauts and engineers to see. "said Norris.

Not all environments that use virtual reality technology are as serious as they are. Immersive video production start-up company condition one hopes to create a new visual experience through Oculus Rift, whose first film, Zero Point, was released on October 28, a film weighing about 70 pounds (about 32 kg), Equipped with 4 red epic 3D cameras, the artifact was able to take a 5K-level 3D panorama of 60 frames per second, and when the video was stitched up seamlessly, viewers were able to see 360-degree movie footage, no matter which direction they were facing, Can see everything around them as they do in the real world.

The author had seen the early demo of the film at a meeting of the electronic Entertainment Fair earlier this year, it was like being in a crowded, claustrophobic scene, "We're trying to capture the sense of" being "and the feeling that someone is invading your space," Condition one CEO Denmark Dennis Danfung, director of 0, said, "You may want to leave, although they are looking at the camera, but you feel they are looking at you and you cannot change the feeling that they are with you in the virtual reality world." ”

Using virtual reality technology to shoot a movie also means losing the cinematic techniques used by many traditional directors, "All basic principles of filmmaking are no longer applicable in virtual reality," says Dennis, "as a photographer, I've been used to staring at frame for years, Then put the images and stories into this box, but now we are in the scene and want to put people in the story. ”

"In traditional filmmaking, you're playing a finely trimmed image to the audience," Dennis continued, "But the film we're shooting has a panoramic experience for the audience, and then they choose the viewing angle and the content they're interested in." "In an early scene at 0, I stared at a soldier who was knocked down during a training exercise in the sea, until he pointed his hand violently at a corner and shouted to his comrades not to go that way, I turned my head to the direction he was referring to, just to see his comrades in the neck was hit the picture.

According to Dennis, in this type of virtual reality movie, visual and auditory cues are important to keep the audience's attention, and many filmmakers learn a lot in the process of filming such films. "A traditional film producer's brain is not designed for a virtual reality," says Dennis, "but I'm more interested in the new media of virtual reality, so we're going to give up control of the storyline, we're going to create a whole new visual experience, And by trying to find a way to deliver strong stories and grand scenes, we have to give the participants (i.e. the audience) the control of the movie plot, allowing them to enter into a particular storyline based on their choices, an experience that is no doubt unprecedented and very fresh. ”

Using virtual reality technology to promote brand value

In addition to academic research institutions, government departments and artists actively explore the application of virtual reality technology, many companies are also beginning to try to use this technology to improve their brand value.

The carmaker, for example, uses Oculus Rift to create a "virtual test Drive" experience for its upcoming RC F limousine. Will Nicklas, the Lexus marketing department's corporate cooperation manager, said the company decided to use a virtual reality simulator to allow more people to take part in the test drive because the existing RC F prototype was less than enough to satisfy the consumer's Nicholas.

After 8 weeks of intensive research and development, RC F Virtual test drive simulator began to put into use. The simulator, which had appeared at a particular auto show or retailer's store, would sit behind a real RC F-steering column and then wear a Oculus Rift DK2 head-mount display, which could be a test-drive experience on a virtual Fuji track.

Although the simulator's driving experience is hard to achieve fidelity in the Forza Motorsport game, Nicholas says they want to bring more of their car-drivers feel. "After all, we still have a few prototypes for people to actually drive, so the virtual test drive shows the high quality process used in the car's dashboard and in some detail," said Nicholas, "which allows the test-makers to physically connect with the car while gripping the steering wheel or stepping on the accelerator pedal. At the same time we even simulate the RC F seat height and steering wheel angle adjustment and other detail functions. ”

"While we haven't got any direct feedback from the consumers who bought the car after the virtual test drive, we did ask if we could sell the simulator to him," Nicholas added, "And he really liked the simulator." ”

The tourism industry has also begun to promote consumer experience through virtual reality technology. YouVisit is a company that provides online virtual tours to users early in the world, using panoramic photos to show users the sights of resorts, hotels, restaurants, and university campuses, while users can zoom in and out on the image on the monitor. In recent months, YouVisit has introduced virtual reality technology, bringing 1000 of classic data to the Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear virtual reality, and a cardboard-box-style display equipped with smartphones, called "Travel boxes" (Tour box).

This virtual display system is not easy to develop, after all, virtual reality technology is still in the initial stage, and the virtual reality market is not mature. "One of the major challenges of developing system development on virtual reality hardware is that it's a new technology that doesn't have a standard user interface," says Abi Mandelbaum, chief executive of YouVisit, "and our team spends a lot of time setting these standards , for example, if navigating in the course of a virtual tour, and using only the head action to complete the selection without the keyboard and mouse, we have now succeeded in creating some standards that conform to the real world content. ”

Although it is still in its early stages, Mandelbaum believes that virtual travel will become popular in a short time, and that many hotels, attractions and businesses have started to use youvisit services, and that these needs have increased. According to Mandelbaum's introduction, although some corporate customers just take virtual travel as a marketing tool to attract more tourists to the field to spend, but the advantages of this presentation is also obvious, such as the benefit of the scenic environment, lower costs and shorten the distance between the attractions and the outside and so on.

Although the current wave of virtual reality has not yet appeared a real consumer hardware devices, but many industries and enterprises have begun to explore the great potential of this new technology, perhaps the game will convince consumers to buy virtual reality equipment home, But the application of this technology in the field of Oculus is likely to achieve the ambitious goal of the so-called "ultimate computing platform". (Half edge)

(Responsible editor: Mengyishan)