Virtual Reality Movies

The day will come when people look back on two-dimensional, non-interactive movies in the same manner that we now look back on silent films. Yes, people enjoyed silent films, but they were missing out on a whole sensory dimension. The same is true of our current movies as compared to true Virtual Reality (VR) movies. Not only will VR movies offer three-dimensional viewing, they will also likely offer audience-plot interaction. This is the prompting vision for VirtualRealityMovie.com "Virt" could become an one-syllable colloquialism for virtual reality. Similarly, in like manner to the way in which the words "movie" and "video" have become common vernacular for the word phrases "motion picture" and "videographic tape", the terms "Virtie" and "Virteo" may turn out to be terms for large-scale and portable Virtual Reality (VR) amusement media. You may also see virtual reality and "virtainment" for related material concerning virtual reality.

Human beings interact with computers constantly. Every time a cell phone shows an e-mail or a person slides a mouse, they connect to some extent with a virtual world. Many of these connections are pretty small relative to the total environment and are not called Virtual Reality. What percentage of human awareness should be actively involved by the communication with computer-based objects for that interaction to be labeled Virtual Reality? Link to mixed virtual reality has additional info.

One method to have the eyes see different pictures on a screen far away is to have eyes view the screen with polarized lenses. This is how "3D glasses" work in theaters. The interaction of the polarized filters with colors or other features of the picture on the screen changes the pictures, resulting in different perspectives and depth sensation, but this technology has significant limitations. Another method to present one's eyes with different pictures is to use "shutter glasses." Shutter glasses alternatively block the image from first one eye and then the other, in synchronization with images from two alternate views displayed in order on a single screen. When the alternating pictures are shown in sufficiently rapid succession, then the brain combines the two images into a single three-dimensional image. Most Head Mounted Displays (head mounted displays) used in Virtual Reality (VR) are a form of head device that spans: some type of shutter glasses; a somewhat close high-clarity screen with an image that spans more than 60 degrees of the span of vision and moves with head motion; and a specialized mechanism to track head movement. Linked page use of lighting in three-dimensional rendering also discusses these issues.

In order to be truly enveloping, the camera component of a VR medium must create the perception of depth and three-dimensionality. One way to make depth perception is reached using the geometry of an object's outline. An object's outer edges create its outline. When an object's outline covers a second object, then it is seen as closer than the other object. Also, if the outline is bigger than that of a second object thought to be of similar genuine size, then it is seen as closer than the other object. Finally, when an object moves a more distance in reaction to head movement than other things or the background setting, then it is seen as closer. To continue on interesting technologies, see also texture mapping and ray tracing in virtual reality environments here.