Virtual reality (VR) technology is one of the most popular cutting-edge technologies today. Under the leadership of some world-class technology giants, VR technology is rapidly developing. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook who recently visited China, said in the China Development Forum Forum that 2016 will be the year of consumer VR. Nowadays, various VR products including VR hardware devices and VR content applications have gradually entered the consumer market, which means that VR technology is not far from consumers. However, we found that the vast majority of outsiders still have little or no knowledge of VR technology.
What exactly is VR technology?
VR technology is also called a virtual environment technology or artificial environment. Its definition is a computer simulation system developed by a combination of simulation technology, computer graphics, human-machine interface technology, multimedia technology sensing technology and network technology. Create and let users feel the experience that was originally only available in the real world. Simply put, VR technology takes the user's perception into the virtual world created by it, and lets the user think that everything in front of him is real.
The Japanese light novel "Sword Art Online" is based on VR as the technical background. The author shows us the ultimate form of VR technology in the game field. The protagonist enters the virtual game world by wearing a "helmet" called NervGearVR. It is not controlled by the mouse and keyboard across the screen, but manipulates his torso and action as if in the real world. All senses include sight, hearing and touch. Even the taste and smell are as real. This is also the biggest difference between virtual reality technology and the current computer. It brings an immersive and more substitious experience.
It is worth mentioning that IBM has also been trying to reproduce the scenes in the "Sword Art Online" novel and create the VR version of the "Sword Art Online" game. And just recently, IBM has officially launched the initial test of the game. Although there is still a certain distance from the scene in the perfect reproduction of the novel, it is no longer an unreachable goal to realize the sci-fi scene in the novel. It is.
History of VR development
VR technology can achieve today's results, it can be described as twists and turns. Many people think that VR technology is a product of recent years, but in fact it has been silently developed for half a century. The first VR prototype device officially appeared in 1968. Perhaps many people will question how the technology level at that time might develop such a forward-looking product, but the following video just shows us the most original VR prototype The Sword. Of Damocles: The sword of Damocles:
Unfortunately, due to technical limitations, the sword of Damocles did not show its value, VR technology is also considered to be unrealistic fantasy, and gradually quieted down.
After the 1980s, the level of technology has made some progress, and the theory of VR technology has taken shape. More importantly, the various components that make up the virtual reality experience, including monitors, graphics cards, tracking devices, and sensor gloves, can be used. Purchased independently. At this time, a famous computer scientist Jaron Lanier assembled the first VR head-mounted Eye Phone officially launched in the commercial market, but the price was nearly 10,000 US dollars.
Since then, more head-mounted devices have appeared, but due to various technical limitations, there is not much success. Today, the technical level has a qualitative leap compared to the 1980s. The PPi of display devices has generally reached more than 400, much higher than in the 1980s; the performance of graphics cards has been greatly improved, and complex 3D images can be rendered more quickly; the physical tracking technology is more accurate; the interactive method is more abundant. (soul control, gesture recognition, voice control, etc.).
The American startup Oculus, which was founded in 2012, successfully integrated these technologies and developed the hottest VR device in recent years: the Oculus Rift (head-mounted display device). In July 2014, the company was acquired by Facebook for $2 billion, and this event also marks the beginning of the outbreak of the virtual reality boom in the past two years.
Capital continues to flood into this market, technology giants are exploring the VR field, and new VR startups are emerging, ranging from hardware and software; games, social, film and television, and even professional markets such as military and medical. It shows the "VR glory" that has never been seen before, but this time virtual reality technology will not sink again, and will even become the backbone of a new wave of technological revolution.
Mainstream virtual reality device
Technological breakthroughs have given people confidence in the realization of VR dreams, and many companies are competing to develop VR products. The most representative companies are Google, Samsung, Oculus, HTC and Sony. They have developed their own VR heads: Google Cardboard for mobile, Gear VR for Samsung, Sony PSVR for console, and PC. Oculus Rift and HTCVive.
In fact, these five VR heads correspond to different levels of VR experience. From low to high, the first is Cardboard, which is among the earliest market-oriented ones. As the name suggests, Cardboard's design is very simple, the material is also very common, only a piece of cardboard and a set of lenses can be assembled with several parts, so there are countless imitations on the market today. The Cardboard on the mobile side experiences the VR application by inserting the mobile phone. The experience is quite limited, the picture is blurred, and the immersion is not high. But correspondingly, the price is also very cheap, only $20.
According to Google's official data, as of the end of last year, Cardboard sales have exceeded 5 million, of which one million was recently given to users free of charge with the New York Times. Earlier, Google said that Cardboard is not a profitable product, but a tool that hopes to let more people come into contact with VR.
Then there is Gear VR, which is a high-quality mobile VR head-mounted display created by Samsung and Oculus. It is the leader in the mobile VR headset market. The price is not high, only $99, but compared to Cardboard. The experience is significantly higher than a grade, so it has become the preferred VR experience product for many users.
However, the biggest shortcoming of Gear VR is that it can only support the designated Samsung flagship mobile phone. Perhaps one of the original purposes of Samsung's development of Gear VR is to promote sales in the mobile phone market. However, it is said that some giants such as Google are currently developing high-performance mobile VR headsets, which may shake the current status of Gear VR.
Then there is PSVR. Sony has just released the price and delivery date of the consumer version of PSVR products in the past few days. The minimum matching parts of $399 will be officially shipped in October. Compared with the mobile terminal, the PSVR with the PS4 host as the computing terminal is obviously much higher in the VR experience. Of course, the price is also a hundred thousand miles. The PSVR low kit plus the PS camera and Move manual controller not in the kit, as well as a PS4 game console, requires at least $900, and Oculus and HTC devices require higher costs.
However, Sony's cleverness is that PSVR can rely on the PS4 to run. Before the launch of PSVR, Sony has used nearly 40 million PS4 users. Such a large potential user group may help Sony to gain huge advantages in the early market. Conducive to future promotion plans.
However, the situation of Oculus Rift and HTC Vive is not so optimistic. According to the survey, there are only about 20 million users who have PC devices that can support the operation of these two devices. Users who do not have high-end computers will need to spend at least $1,500 for both products. Coupled with the simultaneous competition between the two, the early performance may not be too satisfactory.
Oculus Rift and HTC Vive are both desktop-level high-end VR head-mounted displays. The performance of the two models is similar in all aspects, but there are obvious differences in the way they are used. The Oculus Rift is mainly oriented to the sitting experience. The first generation can only track the head movements; the HTC Vive is equipped with a spatial positioning tracking system that allows the user to move around in certain areas. Both have their own advantages and disadvantages, or the focus on the application field is different. Vive is more suitable for the B-end market such as enterprises and experience stores because of its space requirements, while Rift is more suitable for individual players and families.
In addition, in addition to the mobile terminal and the host end display, there are many excellent independent head-mounted devices (VR-integrated devices) in between, and various somatosensory peripheral manufacturers such as Leap MoTIon (sense controller) Virtuix Omni (VR treadmills) and Manus VR (data gloves) are constantly optimizing their products, and the VR experience is becoming more realistic step by step.
VR development is in a state of full bloom
In general, the development of hardware will show a full-fledged attitude in the short term. However, the major mainstream heads in the market have been officially launched, and most people's eyes have turned to the content. It must be said that the lack of content is also an important constraint affecting the spread of VR technology to the outside world. To a certain extent, the construction of VR content is more difficult than the development of VR hardware. VR head display has decades of research, but the content is completely a new field of expansion. At present, all major companies are still in the trial and error stage, using the traditional experience and new technology theory to try to find New directions for expansion.
Although this process is difficult, we are not without results. VR technology was originally considered to be the most suitable for the game field. A Beijing company also hosted the world's first VR e-sports competition (WVA), which attracted many domestic and foreign players. Various horror games have also achieved unexpected results, such as "The Kitchen" has scared many players to scream.
Later, everyone found that VR technology seems to have greater potential in film and television content, and many companies and even famous directors have begun to try to shoot VR movies. Oculus, the VR technology leader mentioned above, set up the Oculus Story Studio studio focusing on VR content in January last year, and collected talents from top-level animation and film production bases such as Pixar and DreamWorks. Currently, four representative works have been launched. Lost, Henny, Dear Angelica, and Bullfighter. Two weeks ago, the world's first VR cinema was located in Amsterdam and will be distributed to many European countries this year.
In fact, VR technology has a wide range of applications, and its potential has even exceeded computer and smartphone technology. In addition to the two most influential industries, games and film and television, it has certain applications in live television, news reports, medical beauty, travel and sports training, but it is limited to the current technical level and cannot play a bigger role. Value, and with the advancement of technology, their future market will not be smaller than the game and film industry.
Even so, VR still has a long way to go with the daily life of the general public. The promotion of equipment is a big factor, but the author believes that the most important thing is the lack of quality content, so that everyone mistakenly believes that VR is just a kind of thing for them. Optional technology.
In this regard, Nevile Spiteri, CEO of the Open Virtual Reality Platform and Community WEVR, believes that the most important thing to do with VR content is to start with "small". Nowadays, all aspects of VR are still in the initial stage of development. It is more meaningful to analyze the pain points of the users and the development direction of the market by continuously improving the small works, rather than making a large and large work that is flawed.
It can be seen that people's doubts about the future of VR technology are gradually fading. More companies want to join in, and VR technology will grow faster and faster. For enterprises that have already entered the market, the most important thing is Keeping pace with the development of technology, stopping is equal to retreating. For new entrepreneurs, it is imperative to quickly become familiar with the new environment and then confirm their entrepreneurial direction. In the early stages of development of such an emerging technology, any company or anyone can become one of the protagonists in this competition.
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