Reality technologies are becoming increasingly common in various aspects of modern life. For example, in the gaming world, Pokemon Go is a forerunner of integrated augmented reality while Oculus has become the most well-known brand for virtual reality devices.
Augmented reality (AR)
Augmented reality (AR) merges the real world with the digital world by using a device’s camera to add interactive digital elements to the user’s physical environment. Its ultimate goal is not to replace the real world with a digital one, but rather to enhance it with computer-generated creations.
AR recognition is relatively simple. First, the physical environment is scanned through the user’s camera, and specific points in space are recognized and stored by the device. Once virtual points are established, the device’s programmed AR solution will display computer-generated content onto the environment.
A popular method for recognizing data is the use of markers, or real-life visual cues that trigger AR solutions. In most cases involving markers, a user would point their camera to scan the physical marker in the real world, and an AR solution would be displayed on-screen within the programmed confines of the marker.
AR has a variety of uses. One well-known example of AR is in the mobile application, “Pokemon Go.” Players can catch on-screen Pokemon displayed on top of their physical environment, simulating the feeling of being a Pokemon trainer. Other popular examples of AR include facial filters popularized by social media apps like Snapchat and Instagram.
While AR has multiple uses for entertainment, it also has practical applications that are becoming increasingly popular in various industries. In medicine, tools like Proximie allow medical professionals to handle procedures from a distance using AR technology. AR can also give doctors a more visual, interactive way to explain complex concepts to their patients. In education, AR is being used to display mathematical and scientific models in 3D, as well as to enhance children’s learning through AR visualizations of storybooks or flashcards.
The possibilities of AR are endless. Because of its essential interaction with the real world, AR is often seen as a technology that must go mainstream before virtual reality does. From a designer’s perspective, there is a variety of tools that can be used to create and customize AR, from Facebook’s Spark AR Studio to Adobe Aero, to a multitude of third-party platforms which––when compared with virtual reality and mixed reality––are fairly easy to code from scratch using HTML or Javascript.
Of course, AR is not perfect; design constraints often include the need for flat surfaces, and a lack of such can make on-screen solutions appear distorted. A better understanding of 3D space by designers will allow AR to flourish at a greater capacity.
Augmented reality is used in the popular mobile app game Pokemon Go. Source: The Verge
Virtual reality
Unlike augmented reality, virtual reality (VR) goes beyond enhancements and fully replaces the user’s environment with a computer-generated world. By strapping on headset products like the Oculus Rift or Google Daydream, users can become immersed in digital experiences that give the impression of being inside an artificial world.
VR headsets blackout external vision and focus users on the screen in front of them. By utilizing sound and graphics, and reacting to the user’s eye and body movement, the end result of VR is a very real first-person experience. For example, the experience and emotional appeal (and even the stomach-dropping sensation) of riding a rollercoaster could be effectively replicated with VR technology right from one’s own home.
In general, VR aims to provide users with experiences that are not easily accessible or are impossible to get in the real world. VR’s ability to fully immerse users in an artificial reality is its greatest strength over other immersive technologies.
Currently, the gaming industry has been VR’s most impacted industry. One of VR’s greatest barriers to mainstream usage is high costs; for example, someone interested in playing a VR video game would need to purchase a smartphone or video game console, a VR headset to connect to (which alone may cost up to $800), the VR video game itself, and quite possibly additional VR accessories, such as touch/motion controllers. Along with AR technologies, VR can often take great technical expertise to create. However, the VR industry as a whole is continuing to address these pain points while integrating this technology into more industries.
A brief graphic overview of the differences between AR, VR, and MR. Source: RubyGarage
Mixed reality (MR)
Mixed reality (MR) overlays the real world with virtual content and allows users to interact with both the real world and virtual world simultaneously. It is in its own category of reality technology, although it has characteristics of both AR and VR.
Similar to AR, MR places computer-generated objects onto the real world. It uses the real world to build out a digital experience, and will often utilize extra sensors –– like those found in VR accessories –– to track and align the physical world to the virtual one.
The Microsoft Hololens is a great example of a mixed reality device. It focuses on four aspects of user experience: how the user sees the world, how to keep digital content in place, how to make digital content feel real, and how to keep the user comfortable. These areas present one of the most interesting challenges of mixed reality and its design potential: it must create both a physical experience as well as a virtual one.
The Future of Reality Technologies
Ultimately, reality technologies are set to become the “new normal.” For designers, this means entering a new world of creation and interaction, from motion design to a shift from 2-D to 3-D to sensor design.
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