Virtual reality and other related technologies have been here for a long time, but the advancement of desktop and mobile systems has dramatically contributed to the popularization of these technologies. In fact, many users now can experience technologies like virtual reality, augmented reality, etc. with various devices. In this article, you will learn about the concepts and differences of various technologies in this field.
People have always wanted to immerse themselves in the dreams, or a new and unknown space. This Enthusiasm is even the case in children’s games when they try to change their surroundings in such a way to associate different atmosphere or take on unrealistic roles. With the growth of technology and progress in graphics capabilities of computer systems, users tended to focus on graphics and 3D games. These games have always tried to immerse you in such way to convince your brain that you are in the playing environment. This thirst went so far that curved displays were introduced to bring you as much as possible into the image space. In this regard, various concepts and technologies have been introduced and discussed so that we will discuss the most important terms among them:
Virtual Reality
These days, with the massive expansion of the use of smart devices, AR or Augmented Reality has become a hot topic. In an AR experience, you look at the real world through a device that can be your mobile phone. This device shows you the real-world image but adds elements to the image or changes parts of it regarding the task for which it is designed.
Augmented Reality
These days, with the massive expansion of the use of smart devices, AR or Augmented Reality has become a hot topic. In an AR experience, you look at the real world through a device that can be your mobile phone. This device shows you the real-world image but adds elements to the image or changes parts of it regarding the task for which it is designed.
For example, imagine you’ve traveled to a historic city in another country. On this trip, you will not be accompanied by any guides to give you interesting and important information about different places. Well, now imagine that you can run an app on your mobile phone, aim it to specific places in the city, and without any problems, and see the full description of that historic location on the image. Also, imagine that you are looking for an address in this foreign city, but you can’t read the text on the boards. Here you can also aim your phone to the board with the right application and view the notes on them in your preferred language.
Today the AR has found a lot of applications in tourism, magazines, stores, and many other fields and become increasingly popular, making it one of the elements of the future digital life in smart cities. It is anticipated that, by 2020, AR will install more than 350 million units (about one million current machines), with revenue of almost $ 60 billion (about $ 2.5 billion). As we mentioned, mobile phones play an important role in the development of this technology, and we can’t ignore the effect of Pokemon Go in the user’s familiarity with the concept of AR.
Mixed Reality
Mixed Reality is very similar to AR, but brings it to a higher level. Instead of putting texts and objects merely on the main image, in MR they are merged into a picture structure and become part of it. For example, imagine choosing a new chair for your desk. The MR allows you to see the intended chair behind your actual desk and check its size or fit. In a simpler sense, this technology allows for a complete interaction between real elements and virtual elements.
Augmented Virtuality
Contrary to the AR, the concept of Augmented Virtuality includes a virtual space that some real elements have been added to. This concept is considered as a branch of the MR and is used in many applications.
Extended Reality
Given the variety of technologies introduced and used in the field of combining of real and virtual worlds, the term Extended Reality has been raised as a general name, which covers all of them. In a simple definition, XR includes any technology-based experience that combines real and virtual elements.
