Virtual Reality – Dreaming with your eyes open

Published On: April 2018

Global Virtual Reality market – Forecast 2027

Ever thought of going to mars or swimming with dolphins in the Antarctic. With the help of virtual reality, the user can experience all the things by sitting in one place. The technology in the area of virtual reality has reached a level that user can virtually feel the artificial environment with the help of components like head mounted displays, haptic gloves and many more. Not only in the area of gaming and entertainment but also in marketing, virtual reality is finding its roots to enrich business opportunities. Technically, virtual reality is a computer-generated three-dimensional artificial environment which is interactive to the user. Based on the technology the virtual reality experienced by a person is classified as Non-immersive, semi-immersive and fully immersive virtual reality techniques. These vary on the type of device or instrument used for creating virtual reality such as head mounted displays, Omni-directional treadmills and many more.

There is a wide variety of application of virtual reality which includes architecture, sport, entertainment, education, healthcare, The Arts and many more. Most of the technologists believe that the future of entertainment is VR. Virtual reality creates 360-degree environments which help users to completely immense in the virtual world by providing 3D viewing experience.

Growing demand for HMD in Gaming and Entertainment

Head mounted displays (HMD) is a sort of computer display which is worn on the head as a mountable or wearable device. In significant cases, HMD’s are used in entertainment and gaming sector which provides total immersive experience for the user. Gaming sector has undergone lots of changes with the developments in technology. From arcade games to computer and mobile games the technology has spurred the area and resulted in various components. In recent years, virtual Reality has gained its roots in the gaming sector and led to the development of head-mounted displays. Oculus VR which is owned by Facebook, Inc. released first HMD Oculus Rift which is being widely used in the gaming industry. The gaming in HMD allows players to make different motions to operate the game thereby making players feel in the virtual world. The ability to track the motion and orientation of users head is the distinctive feature in an HMD which is the primary growth factor. Many developers are sticking to HMD technology since they do not require any other additional hardware for controlling.

The compact size and light weight of HMD are the significant reasons that they are being adopted in various applications. Virtual reality offers technology upgrade and cost savings. Virtual reality is changing the scenario of how the entertainment industry is. The technical developments steered to rise of virtual reality movie theatres and virtual reality theme park rides. Virtual reality in theme parks is finding stronger base by offering roller coaster rides. These rides combine a real-world roller coaster with a head-mounted display, in which the visuals can be changed by using animation techniques.

VR in marketing! Is it worth?

In the 21st century, technology in consumer electronics has dramatically changed the people’s lives and the way of marketing by organizations. Many organizations adopted virtual reality in their businesses after the progress made by them in gaming and entertainment industry. Virtual reality marketing is a type to promote products or services using virtual reality technology. Virtual reality in marketing offers public to experience destinations, products and many things with the help of technology.

Since the customer engagement levels are high in the case of VR, many organizations started adopting this technology to market their products. The companies using these technologies can utterly immense their customer by showing the product and make them feel their products or services. Major brands like Coca-Cola and McDonald’s started using VR to create marketing campaigns. McDonald’s released an application which can be usable through cardboard of happy meal boxes holding users smartphone thereby providing VR experience. Marriot hotels launched Teleporter which is a Virtual Reality device capable of combining video, audio, and sensation to make the users transport to different destinations. The Teleporter fuses live action 360-degree video with photoreal computer-generated imagery (CGI).   By providing a lively environment with the help of virtual reality, many organizations started deploying VR as their part of marketing strategy.

5G implementation will boost VR

5G technology will be a boost to mobile data performance which benefits the virtual reality. Industry experts consider that the onset of 5G technology will reveal the full potential of virtual reality. There will be a lot of data to be processed within the input mechanisms of VR. 5G faster speeds and lower latency helps in bridging the gap between the VR and speed data requirements. Technologists estimate that by implementing 5G in virtual reality helps in improving traffic capacity, network efficiency and decrease latency over 4G.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, virtual reality is the creation of a virtual environment in which user can experience as if he is in that virtual world. With the technical advancements, virtual reality is finding applications in every vertical. Most of the key players like Google and Facebook are constantly innovating to develop cost-effective portfolio. In the coming years, virtual reality will be more accessible and probably help in changing the way of communication.