The Future of Virtual Reality by Marcus Tucker
Sometimes 3-D just does not cut it. Certainly, there are moments when viewers feel immersed in a 3-D motion picture, yet if one is in a movie theater, for instance, and decides to turn their head away from the screen, the immersion effect fails. A lot of the time viewers want something more interactive than this. Viewers want something that gives them the power a director has, that ability to look at what he or she wants to look at. Virtual reality gives viewers that power. Virtual reality is created when a setting of any size is completely filmed in 360 degrees. By filming the entire setting, as in doing so from different perspectives, a director is able to combine this footage and recreate the whole setting. Once this process is finished a viewer with virtual reality hardware can access this setting in its entirety despite being physically located anywhere in the world.
In my Introduction to Digital Publishing class at Stevenson University, I had the pleasure of using Google Cardboard to enter a virtual reality. I was struck by how my movements brought me to different areas of the virtual environment. I immediately understood the vast impact virtual reality can have in the classroom setting. An article entitled, “Virtual Reality: Learning Goes to Higher Level,” by Greg Miller talks about the opportunities of virtual reality: “students will be able to go to places that they couldn’t previously go to…say, the inside of King Tut’s tomb,” (Miller). By making classwork more interactive, student participation will grow immensely. New York school teacher, Katrina Roman, can attest to this as, “the topic of ancient history doesn’t usually set students abuzz.” After her students had the experience of of Google Expeditions and visited ancient Aztec ruins they, “shouted out details they noticed,” and “shot [their] hands up to answer…questions” (Quaid).
Out of numerous stories of how Google Cardboard can change education, I find the prospect of virtual reality use in the medical field the most exciting. In, “Watch A VR Surgery Livestream With Your Phone And Google Cardboard,” Niels Broekhuijsen says VR, “can bring significant value in terms of productivity and education”. On April 14, Dr. Shafi Ahmed performed a tumor removal surgery that was recorded POV-style and was made available to watch live for anyone with VR hardware. This innovation in pedagogy will benefit medical students who want to see their future operations performed up close.
Virtual Reality is exciting on the business front as well. Last year, a virtual reality production company called Jaunt made a cliff-diving video [provided below] for The North Face, a company that specializes in outerwear and outdoor products. For the outdoorsy customers of The North Face, this video—which has the viewer bungee jumping off a cliff—was a brilliant marketing-strategy as the bond between customer and brand becomes strengthened.
Virtual Realityworks just as well for high fashion industry.YouVisit CEO, Abi Mandelbaum, says, “We can offer that kind of immersion and intimate access that’s delivering that next-level potential to the industry.” By allowing consumers to virtually attend fashion shows the industry stands to vastly expand its market since potential buyers will not be turned off by, “airfare, hotel stays, and, of course, an initial invitation to attend.” Early statistics of virtual reality use in the fashion industry look good, “13.3 percent of consumers make a transaction or sign up to communications from a brand while viewing virtual reality content, compared to 5 percent for non-VR experiences,” according to Mandelbaum.
Even artists like Bjork and Muse are making music videos that incorporate the interactivity of virtual reality. Bjork’s 2015 song, Stonemilker, is accompanied by a music video [provided below] that was shot with 360-degree cameras. Bjork, who has always been a musical pioneer, says the, “beautiful 360 panoramic view…matches the cyclical fugue like movement of the song.” Indeed, the viewer is surrounded by an amazing beach view, which is very fitting as this was where Bjork wrote Stonemilker. The intimacy that she and the video’s director, award-winning Andrew Huang, intended for the video have is definitely achieved.
Muse’s 360-degree music video [provided below] for Revolt takes place in a dystopian future where chaos looms everywhere. One click to the left and a missile is sent the viewer’s way; another click to the left and the viewer will be in the face of an angry, attacking rioter. This experience was engaging and becomes truly astounding when the viewer realizes that the ways to watch this video are limitless. This replay factor is good news for musical artists, established and otherwise, who want to see their views skyrocket.
As a musician, I see a lot of potential in virtual reality and think that artists are just scratching the surface of what can be done with it. The music videos I have seen are interactive in the sense that the viewer can use controls to look at whatever they desire. Yet, to be fully immersed, I would have liked to had a screen so that my physical surroundings do not ruin the experience. With this in mind, I have my eyes set on how virtual reality could breathe life back into music sales. Imagine the incentive to purchase a physical copy of an album that has a pair of Google cardboard enclosed in it,or to purchase the album online and with it, the app, which contains interactive music videos. This is something I hope to do, as for one, I would love my supporters to not only hear my world, but see it as well and create their own adventure in it!
Of course there are some hurdles that virtual reality must overcome. As someone who wears glasses, I found Google Cardboard very awkward because they did not fit snuggly over my glasses. This issue is something that can perhaps be fixed relatively easily if virtual reality designers take into account a significant portion of consumers will have eyewear.
Another vision-based issue is the practical use of virtual reality for blind people. Lorenzo Picinali from De Montfort University is one of several researchers who are developing ways of making virtual reality useful to the blind. One project he is undertaking deals with using virtual reality to help blind people make mental representations of new environments easier.
Virtual reality games for the blind are in the works, too, he says. Picinali says that virtual reality soccer for the blind is underway which will allow the user to use audio cues (the sound of a rolling ball, for example) and a controller to play the game. Knowing that virtual reality is a future open to the sighted and the blind is reassuring considering that in traditional gaming, over the past ten years,“over 400 audio games have been developed, which is very small compared to video games,” according to a paper by the University of Cairo, Egypt.
Another potential hurdle for virtual reality is the phenomenon called, “cybersickness,” which gives the user a similar feeling to motion sickness. However, after doing some snooping, there are some rather holistic ways of preventing cybersickness, they can be found here: http://riftinfo.com/oculus-rift-motion-sickness-11-techniques-to-prevent-it