Prior to the exploration in depth, designated definitions are necessary for the concepts: Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR), and Extended Reality (XR). Here are what each stands for, with clear examples aiding vivid understanding and visualization.
Virtual Reality (VR)
Virtual Reality (VR) is an experience created through human-interactions with a computer-generated three-dimensional simulation. Users can interact within the environment via the use of virtual reality devices — generally including headsets and controllers.
In VR, areas of exploration and investigation are unbounded, meaning that its only limit is the imagination of the user him/herself experiencing or creating the virtual world.
But here’s a driving question: can video games also be considered as virtual reality, since players can hover within the artificial environment that is computer-generated? Speaking from the rudiment of VR experience, the answer is: “sort of, but no.” Users should be able to confront the feeling of reality, through interacting in the VR environment, like they’re actually involved inside the world rendered in front of their eyes. VR is more from displaying images on a 2D screen.
Visual and auditory experiences on the environment should match-up with the user’s motion, such as the movements of their head or eyes. So that when the user turns their head to the right, more of the right-side scenes and sound can be viewed and heard from the user’s perspective.
Objects in scenes should appear volumetric or three-dimensional, giving the fundamentals of the sense of reality. VR headsets use stereopsis, in order to “trick” the brain to believe that it’s viewing a volumetric object through displaying images taken on different angles at each eye.
Simply, through VR, people can visit, do, and experience anything they are willing to, unconstrained from the conditions of their physical environment.
Augmented Reality (AR)
Augmented Reality (AR) is an interactive experience with the real-world, where computer generated scenes are displayed, allowing the enhancement of reality. Users of nowadays are familiar with AR experience delivered by their smartphones or tablets acting as an intermediary. However, the kernel of augmented reality is through the integration of smart glasses, which enables users to conveniently and naturally interact in their AR experiences without any difficulties.
Users can measure the length or height of a certain object using their smartphones, with no necessity for carrying old-school analogue measuring tools. Products can be experienced more efficiently even before purchasing it, by “pre-placing” the item on the desired location, or simply try it; visualize its suitability. People can amplify their social interactions through applying AR filters on instantly or previously taken images.
Here’s one of the examples that will show up in the adjacent future. Whenever people are lost on a street, they use the map utility to guide them through the road, to their destination. Illustrate the scene when the user’s smart glasses displays the detailed directions on the real-world, simply allowing the user to walk through the guided path even without deeply staring on the phone, figuring out where the hell he/she is currently at.
The application of AR in people’s real-world interactions magnifies the efficiency and convenience of major daily processes, further reducing time usage; enabling them to accomplish more in a fixed amount of time.
Mixed Reality (MR)
Mixed Reality (MR) is the blending of virtual reality and augmented reality, where a bidirectional interaction between the physical world and the digital world is enabled. The environment of a user’s physical world is applied on the virtual world; vice versa. Here, depending on the usage context, the “ratio” of interaction between the physical world and the digital world is swayed. For instance, users can set up a workshop on the physical space, interacting with the avatars of other users on different geographical locations, using AR devices. Or, this workshop can entirely go virtual, hosted on a virtual space; users interact through VR devices.
Try not to confuse mixed reality as a separate concept from virtual reality or augmented reality. Rather, understand it as an “invisible string” managing the interaction between VR, AR, and the physical world. The concepts of VR and AR are incorporated in mixed reality. VR or AR itself does not comprise the capability of understanding and interacting with the changes of the physical world and applying it on the user’s visual or audio feed. While, in the realm of MR, the physical world provides active feedback on the user’s perception of reality, a blended product of VR and AR.
Take a brief overview of the future enabled by mixed reality here, on Microsoft’s introduction video of Mesh, a MR-enabled interaction platform. Moreover, if interested in the world of MR, also check out the documentation provided by Microsoft.
Extended Reality (XR)
Despite its first-time mention here, Extended Reality (XR) is the ultimate key to unlock the future of the Metaverse. This concept refers to “all real-and-virtual combined environments and human-machine interactions generated by computer technology and wearables, where the ‘X’ represents a variable for any current or future spatial computing technologies.” As the concept of XR has recently emerged, and considering the unprecedented vast development in technology, it is challenging to have a straightforward illustration of the world enabled by XR.
Though, for simplicity, try to understand it as humanity’s anticipated eventual destination of the Metaverse, where generations can purely transverse between the physical and virtual world, like the OASIS from Ready Player One (2018).
Industries can create digital twins that enables them to shift up production efficiency by simulating the entire manufacturing process. People can create their own world; they can express themselves to a further degree — customizing avatars of different looks, species, sex, etc. And there are many more to be expected.
